Wills, Helen Newington 1905-

TENNIS CHAMPION

Bright New Star.

On 19 August 1923 seventeen-year-old Helen Wills achieved national prominence when she won the women's singles final at the U.S. Championships, defeating the powerful Norwegian-born, seven-time U.S. champion, Molla Bjurdstedt Mallory. In the process Wills captivated the American public with her athleticism, her youth and striking beauty, and her poise both on and off the court. In fact, she exhibited so much public reserve that in 1922 New York Evening Mail columnist Ed Sullivan had dubbed her "Little Miss Poker Face." Wills soon became the dominant American woman tennis player of the 1920s.

Democratic Tennis—a New Wave.

Wills launched a new trend in U.S. tennis. Unlike many of the players of her own and earlier generations, she was not from the privileged eastern upper classes with their private-school training. She was, instead, the daughter of a California...

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