Lenglen–Mallory match at the 1921 U.S. National Championships
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The Lenglen–Mallory match at the 1921 U.S. National Championships was a second-round match between French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen and American tennis player Molla Mallory at the 1921 U.S. National Championships, an amateur tournament that has since become one of the four modern professional Grand Slam tournaments. Mallory defeated Lenglen in the match, with Lenglen retiring from the match in the first game of the second set after losing the first set. It was Lenglen's only competitive amateur loss after World War I, and her only competitive amateur match in the United States during her career.
Molla Mallory vs. Suzanne Lenglen | ||||||||||
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Date | August 16, 1921 | |||||||||
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Tournament | U.S. National Championships | |||||||||
Location | West Side Tennis Club Forest Hills, New York | |||||||||
Mallory (left) and Lenglen (right) |
Lenglen had entered the match on a 108-match win streak, including one victory over Mallory, a five-time U.S. National champion in singles. Following the loss, she withdrew from all other competitive events on the remainder of her United States tour, including the doubles event at the same venue (which she had entered with Mallory) and the mixed doubles event a few weeks later at Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Lenglen did not play another competitive match until March 1922, at which point she began an all-time record 179-match win streak that was intact when she retired from competitive tennis in 1926. During this win streak, she defeated Mallory two more times to establish herself as the better player as viewed by the media and tennis historians. A professional tour in the United States that began in 1926 helped further restore her reputation outside of Europe.
The match was enshrouded in controversy over Lenglen's health during the match. Lenglen had been sick with bronchitis in the lead-up to the match back in France and it is unclear whether she was in better health by the time of the match. She retired in the match after coughing repeatedly up to that point. Although the French Tennis Federation (FFT) accepted Lenglen's statement that she had still been ill, the FFT vice president resigned in disagreement, having seen Lenglen's condition at the match. The American media did not accept that Lenglen was in bad health either, accusing her of making an excuse for losing and coining the phrase "cough and quit" to describe her attitude. Another more minor controversy was the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) not providing her with alcohol during the match, which they had promised in spite of Prohibition.