📍Nice, France
1899 – 1919“I was born in Paris in May 1899, the daughter of Charles Lenglen, who had inherited an omnibus company and grown wealthy, and his wife, Anaïs. In 1904 my father sold the business and we moved to Marest-sur-Matz, near Compiègne in northern France, where we spent our summers, and every winter we went south to Nice, to a villa across the street from the Nice Lawn Tennis Club, on the sunny Riviera. As a child I was often unwell, but I was quick and graceful, and in Nice I became a champion at diabolo, performing tricks with the spinning top in front of crowds on the Promenade des Anglais. In June 1910, just after my eleventh birthday, my father bought me a toy racket and set up a court on the lawn at Marest, and within a month he had bought me a proper one. He became my coach, and a very strict one: he placed a franc coin on the court as a target for my serves and drilled me until I wept. In Nice he persuaded the club to let me play, though children had never been allowed on its courts, and I trained with the club's professional and practised against the men. At fifteen I won the World Hard Court Championships, and in 1919, at Wimbledon, I won the first of six singles titles, wearing a short, sleeveless dress and a bandeau, and leaping across the court like a ballet dancer. The newspapers called me La Divine. The courts in Nice where I learned the game are still there, and the second court at Roland Garros is named after me.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today