Lilí Álvarez

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri,Template:Efn also known as Lilí de ÁlvarezTemplate:Efn (Script error: No such module "IPA".; 9 May 1905 – 8 July 1998), was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist.[1]

Life

File:Lilí Álvarez.jpg
Lilí Álvarez at the 1931 French Championships wearing her controversial "robe-pants"

She was born at the Hotel Flora in Rome, Italy, during a stay by her affluent Spanish parents.[2] She was raised in Switzerland and from an early age began competing in a variety of sports. At age eleven, she won her first ice skating competition, and then at age 16, she won the St. Moritz ice skating championship. She won her first tennis tournament at age fourteen. An all-around sportsperson, Álvarez was an alpine skier, equestrian, and an auto racer who won the Campeonato de Cataluña de Automovilismo at age 19.

Álvarez was a pioneer in women's tennis in Spain and was her country's most dominant player during the 1920s. Between 1926 and 1928, she reached three consecutive singles finals at Wimbledon. According to American Helen Wills Moody, who defeated Álvarez twice in Wimbledon singles finals, Álvarez' game was an "unusually daring one". She also competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics.[3]

In 1929, Álvarez teamed up with the Dutch player Kea Bouman to win the women's doubles title at the French Championships. The following year, Álvarez won the singles title at the Italian Championships, an accomplishment that was not repeated by another female Spaniard for 63 years until Conchita Martínez won the Italian Open in 1993. Álvarez and Bill Tilden were the runners-up in the mixed doubles competition at the 1927 French Championships.

In 1927, Álvarez authored a book in English published in London under the title Modern Lawn Tennis.[4]

In 1931, she shocked the staid tennis world by playing at Wimbledon in a divided tennis skirt specially made by designer Elsa Schiaparelli that was the forerunner of shorts (pictured).[5] That year, Álvarez began reporting on the political events in Spain for the British newspaper the Daily Mail.

According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Álvarez was ranked in the world top 10 from 1926 through 1928 and in 1930 and 1931, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1927 and 1928.[6]

In 1934, Álvarez married Jean de Gaillard de la Valdène, the Count of Valdene,[7][8] a French aristocrat and diplomat, and from 1936[9] she played for three years on the international tennis circuit as "Countess Valdène".[10] In 1939, she lost her only child and the couple soon separated. She returned home to Spain in 1941 where she continued to be active in sports and began writing on religious and feminist topics, publishing her book Plenitud (Fullness) in 1946. She actively supported the worldwide feminist movement and in 1951 gave a speech entitled "La batalla de la feminidad" at the Hispanic-American Feminist Congress. Over the years, she wrote several more books.

When asked in 1993 about modern Spanish tennis, Álvarez favored a combative and bold playing style rather than a defensive and thus negative conception and criticized the lack of fast courts in the country, claiming that no champions can be born on clay court. She was disappointed that Sergi Bruguera didn't take part in Wimbledon after winning Roland Garros and showed enthusiasm for Conchita Martínez's Wimbledon semifinals run, noting that while she had previously shown talent it was the first time she had shown a champion's disposition.[11]

Álvarez died in Madrid in 1998.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3 runner-ups)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1926 Wimbledon Grass Template:Flagicon Kitty McKane Godfree 2–6, 6–4, 3–6
Loss 1927 Wimbledon (2) Grass Template:Flagicon Helen Wills 2–6, 4–6
Loss 1928 Wimbledon (3) Grass Template:Flagicon Helen Wills 2–6, 3–6

Doubles (1 title)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1929 French Championships Clay Template:Flagicon Kea Bouman Template:Flagicon Bobbie Heine
Template:Flagicon Alida Neave		 7–5, 6–3

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1927 French Championships Clay Template:Flagicon Bill Tilden Template:Flagicon Marguerite Broquedis
Template:Flagicon Jean Borotra		 4–6, 6–2, 2–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Template:Performance key

Tournament 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 Career SR
Australian Championships A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
French Championships 1R A QF A A SF SF 3R A A 1R SF SF 0 / 8
Wimbledon A F F F 4R 1R 3R A A A 2R 4R 4R 0 / 9
U.S. Championships A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
SR 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 17

See also

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ "Cuando el fútbol no era el rey: Los deportes en el espacio público" Page 192 Carles Sirera Miralles 2011 "Un buen ejemplo de las múltiples contradicciones que esta dualidad podría haber generado es la controvertida biografía de la tenista, varias veces subcampeona en Wimbledon, Lilí Álvarez. Nacida en 1905 en Roma, su madre era la esposa .."
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  5. ↑ Béla Kehrling, ed. (24 June 1931). "Külföldi hírek [International news]" (in Hungarian) (PDF). Tennisz és Golf (Budapest, Hungary: Egyesült Kő-, Könyvnyomda. Könyv- és Lapkiadó Rt.) III (13): 253. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ "Air et cosmos" 682–699 1977 "Le comte Jean de Gaillard de la Valdène, qui s'était distingué comme pilote durant la première guerre mondiale, est décédé à Lausanne dans sa 82" année "
  8. ↑ Mémorial aéronautique: qui était qui? p83 Marcel Catillon 1997 "de GAILLARD de LA VALDÈNE Jean. Né le 2 septembre 1895. Décédé le 26 août 1977. AS 1914–1918 avec 5 victoires aériennes homologuées. Affecté à l'escadrille Spa 95. Repose dans le cimetière de Bollène (Vaucluse). "
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Cite error: Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".Script error: No such module "Namespace detect".
  11. ↑ Para Lilí Álvarez, "ha nacido una nueva estrella". Mundo Deportivo, 3 July 1993

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External links

Template:French Open women's doubles champions Template:Authority control

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