Lenglen at 118

May 24 has arrived, and that means it's time again to honor La Divine herself, groundbreaking Hall of Famer Suzanne Lenglen, on the 118th anniversary of her birth.



As for the mix of old and new...


Has it already been a full year since I chronicled the life and times of the eight-time slam singles champ, 21-time overall major title winner and two-time Olympic medalist with a different selection of photos, videos, stories and commentary for every day of last year's Roland Garros?

Why, yes, it has. Here's the link to that collection:


With my interest piqued last year, I returned earlier this season with a special post that collected all the various accounts of the famed "Match of the Century" that featured Lenglen against U.S. counterpart and nearly total opposite, both on and off court, Helen Wills in their only meeting:


As for some new additions to the Backspin Lenglen Log...


Being still oh-so-Lenglen, the French woman continues to make the occasional appearance today. But not in any ghostly way, of course. A year after celebrating her with a Doodle on her 117th birthday, Google included Lenglen in the group of honorees for International Women's Day in March.

Historical heroine #7: French tennis star Suzanne Lenglen, who broke down barriers in the sport ?? #IWD #GoogleDoodle pic.twitter.com/z5crX5Kxsc

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) March 8, 2017

And Lenglen's memory isn't totally lost on the new generation of Pastries, either. 18-year old Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, a wild card singles entrant in this year's RG women's main draw, was a part of a recent unofficial La Divine tribute of her own...

????Whatch out, Suzanne Lenglen BLACK*???? is on the place

A post shared by Tessah Andrianjafitrimo ?????? (@tessahandrian) on Oct 21, 2016 at 12:04pm PDT

So, with play set to begin in a few days on the terre battue of Lenglen Court in Paris...


It seems appropriate to say that... "Suzanne has left the building." But only temporarily.



All for now.