The New York Times, June 12, 1988

TWO WOMEN BIGGER THAN BABE RUTH

by GRACE LICHTENSTEIN

WHAT selective memories sports fans have.
Most tennis buffs, if asked about the greatest rivalry in the women's game, would undoubtedly cite Chris Evert versus Martina Navratilova. On the contrary, «The Goddess and the American Girl» argues that more than a half-century ago -- before television ruled sports, before tennis stars were millionaires -- Suzanne Lenglen of France and Helen Wills of California were the most ballyhooed rivals the sport ever produced. Amazingly, their «rivalry» consisted of one single match, played under chaotic conditions on the French Riviera in 1926. What's controversial about the book is its book's implication that Lenglen and Wills could lay claim to the twin titles of the best female players in history.
Larry Engelmann, who teaches history at San Jose State University in California, builds a persuasive case for both arguments in this overlong, overdue dual biography. It is a measure of the tennis world's collective amnesia that both women have been largely forgotten, even though, in the 1920's and 1930's, they were bigger headliners than Jack Dempsey or Babe Ruth.
Lenglen, the «Goddess» of the title, is considered the greatest player yet by some tennis writers who saw her. A flamboyant character on and off the court, she was revered and feted by kings and film stars all over the globe. At home on the Riviera she was a high-strung empress, who screamed at bad line calls, gulped cognac between games and suffered nervous breakdowns. «She was the first female athlete to be acknowledged as a celebrity outside her particular sport,» according to Mr. Engelmann. She died young and tragically at 39, of anemia, just two days after Helen Wills won an amazing eighth Wimbledon singles title.
Lenglen could not have asked for a better foil than Helen Wills. Suzanne, hardly a beauty, was a fiery pioneer who «shattered» the «Victorian decorum of women's tennis» by shortening her skirts and donning ermine for parties. She also was among the first to defect from the ranks of amateur tennis (amateur federations managed to control the game right up until the 1960's) in order to play for money.
Wills, Lenglen's junior by six years, was pretty, calm, possessed of a ferocious concentration on court, and as American as apple pie... or as Chris Evert. Even her nicknames sound familiar: Little Miss Poker Face, the Ice Queen, the American Girl. She was as devastatingly dominant from 1926 through the mid-1930's as Ms. Evert was in the 1970's. She enjoyed the company of men and was married more than once, but remained childless. The resemblance, however, ends there. Apparently, Wills's shyness and her fierce determination to win every single point turned her into an aloof, occasionally nasty woman.
Nevertheless, Mr. Engelmann is unquestionably correct in calling Wills «our first sporting heroine». And the road her career took to that pinnacle was made possible early on by the challenge from across the ocean of the great, tempestuous Lenglen. Wills was only 21, but a star ascending with the force of a Steffi Graf forehand, when she and Lenglen surmounted all kinds of monetary and other obstacles to play their epic match before a tempestuous, unruly crowd in Cannes.
«The Goddess and the American Girl» is at its best in describing the encounter, which was more like an Ali--Frazier bout than a women's tennis match. It made the front pages of newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic. It was listened to via delayed radio transmission by thousands. It captured the imagination of the European and American general public, fans and nonfans alike, more than any other sporting event in the pre-Super Bowl universe. It was surely the century's most exciting athletic contest involving a woman, with the possible exception of the Billie Jean King -- Bobby Riggs match in 1973.
WHO won? If you don't know, I won't spoil your fun by telling. In any case, the temperaments of the two women, plus the stupidity of the ruling tennis establishment, conspired to keep Lenglen and Wills apart for the rest of their careers. Not long afterward, the Frenchwoman was in eclipse, while Wills became such a habitual winner that -- shades of Martina -- sportswriters eventually suggested she should play men instead.
Mr. Engelmann recreates the Lenglen--Wills era (also the era of Bill Tilden, Babe Ruth, Red Grange and other sporting giants) in such detail that practically every shot hit by these women seems to be included. Despite the numbing overabundance of detail, however, the book is valuable in restoring these heroines to their rightful pedestals. Nor can there be any doubt that both women helped dispel myths prevailing in their time about women's lack of physical skills.
In the end, Helen Wills (now 82 and living in retirement in Carmel, Calif.) tells the author she thinks she could have held her own against Chris or Martina. That's part of the fun of sports history. Was Hank Aaron the equal of Babe Ruth? Could Secretariat have beaten Citation? «The Goddess and the American Girl» demonstrates that women athletes can hold the same fascination for us as any other charismatic superstars.
Suzanne Lenglen vs Helen Wills. 6:3, 8:6. February 16, 1926. Cannes, France.