1922: Suzanne Lenglen strikes a blow for tennis democracy, then christens the “House that Suzanne Built” in the fastest Wimbledon final ever

Centre Court turns 100 this year. During that time, this bastion of propriety and tradition has also borne witness to a century’s worth of progress and tennis democratization. For its centennial, we look back at 10 of its most historic and sport-changing matches.

Suzanne Lenglen d. Molla Mallory, 6-2, 6-0

1922 Wimbledon final

Would you be surprised to learn that the first match played in Centre Court was delayed by rain? On Monday, June 26, 1922, at 2:45 P.M., Great Britain’s King George V stood ready to ring a gong to officially open the brand-new, 12-sided, 13,000-person stadium for play. But showers delayed him for an hour. Finally, at 3:45, the opening contest, between two of George’s British subjects, Leslie Godfree and Algernon Kingscote, began. Godfree served, Kingscote hit his return into the net, and the forward-thinking Godfree reached over to retrieve the ball as a memento.

While there was patriotic appeal to Godfree vs. Kingscote, the most anticipated opening-round match at Wimbledon that year featured a Frenchwoman, Suzanne Lenglen. The balletic 23-year-old known to her many devotees as La Divine was as responsible as anyone for the All England Club’s move from its original SW19 location on Worple Road to more spacious grounds on Church Road.

Three years earlier, when Lenglen played her first Wimbledon final, the 8,500-seat Centre Court on Worple Road couldn’t handle the overcapacity crowd. That Centre Court really had been in the middle of the old facility. The new arena on Church Road wasn’t, but the name stuck. It wasn’t until 1980, and half a century of expansion at the club, that Centre Court would occupy the middle point of the grounds again.

“A line stretched more than a mile and a half from the underground station to the entrance to the All England Club,” one Wimbledon official wrote of the crowd that came to see Lenglen in an early-round match in 1922.

The fact that the defending champion was even deigning to play the entire tournament was something new, and a bit of a shock to many. Until that year, Wimbledon’s entrants had competed in an “all-comers” tournament for the privilege of taking on the previous year’s winner in the Challenge Round. The custom was an aristocratic relic that the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills had jettisoned a decade earlier. Whether it was Lenglen who decided to break that custom and play every round, or the club that requested she do so, seems to be a matter of historical dispute. Either way, the result was a blow for tennis democracy—and star-power: The more of La Divine the fans got to see, the better it was for tennis.

Not that any of the all-comers stood much of a chance of beating her. This was a woman who would go 332-7 for her career; win 179 straight matches at one point; and take home 45 titles in a single season. (Even the Big Three can’t collectively match those numbers.) As expected, Lenglen soared and twirled her way to the final with the loss of just 18 games. There she would have a rare chance for revenge. The previous summer at Forest Hills, an ill Lenglen had been forced to default in a highly anticipated match against America’s best player, Molla Mallory, who would go on to win the tournament. It was the only loss the Frenchwoman would suffer after World War I, and the London press wasted no time in hyping the “feud” between the the cross-Continental combatants as the rematch approached.

There was so much rain in London that year that the women’s final was played five days after it was originally scheduled, on a Wednesday. And it didn’t stop then; showers delayed the start time until 7 P.M. By then, Lenglen was on the verge of a nervous collapse, and nearly defaulted again. Once on the court, she lost the first two games to Mallory, and the two women exchanged words at the net. Challenged, Lenglen became Lenglen again, winning the next 12 games in dominant fashion.

The 26-minute match is still the shortest final in Wimbledon history.

“Lenglen now displayed her full repertoire of fluent, imaginative shots, and hit winner after winner,” one of her biographers wrote.

The 26-minute match is still the shortest final in Wimbledon history. When it was over, Lenglen raised her racquet above her head and announced, “Now, Mrs. Mallory I have proved to you today what I could have done in New York last year.”

She had also christened Centre Court, the house that Suzanne built, as only she could.