Image by yusufk53 on Pixabay · Pixabay License
Helen Wills
Sign in to saveAlso known as Helen Wills Moody, Helen Wills Roark, Helen Newington Wills, Helen Wills Moody Roark
American tennis player (1905–1998)
OverviewAI-generated
Helen Newington Wills was an American tennis player, writer, and poet. Born in Fremont in 1905, she represented the United States in tennis, including participation in the 1924 Summer Olympics. She was right-handed and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
Wills won the U.S. National Championships in 1923, 1924, 1925, and 1927. Her achievements included receiving the Associated Press Athlete of the Year award and induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Beyond sports, she worked as an autobiographer and published works such as *Shady Way*, *First Ones*, *Memory Locker*, *Money, Madness & Murder*, and *Tennis*. She died in Carmel-by-the-Sea on January 1, 1998.
Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Thesportsdb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 6
Top works
- Shady Way
- First Ones
- Memory Locker
- Money, Madness & Murder
- Tennis
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Full name
- Helen Newington Wills
- Country sports
- United States
- Born
- ( 1905-10-06 ) October 6, 1905, Centerville, California , US
- Died
- January 1, 1998 (1998-01-01) (aged 92), Carmel, California , US
- Height
- 5 ft 7.5 in (1.71 m)
- Int tennis hof
- 1959 ( member page )
- Career record
- 398–35
- Highest ranking
- No. 1 (1927)
- French open
- W ( 1928 , 1929 , 1930 , 1932 )
- Wimbledon
- W ( 1927 , 1928 , 1929 , 1930 , 1932 , 1933 , 1935 , 1938 )
- Us open
- W ( 1923 , 1924 , 1925 , 1927 , 1928 , 1929 , 1931 )
- Wightman cup
- ( 1923 , 1927 , 1929 , 1931 , 1932 , 1938 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Sports profile
- Sport
- Tennis
- Position
- Tennis Player
- Nationality
- United States
via TheSportsDB
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Helen
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Fremont
- Place of death
- Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Occupation
- novelist
- Participant in
- 1924 Summer Olympics
- Field of work
- poetry
- Sport
- tennis
- Country for sport
- United States
- Image
- Helen Wills Moody 1932.jpg
Show 8 more facts
- Commons category
- Helen Wills Moody
- date of birth
- 1905-10-06
- date of death
- 1998-01-01
- handedness
- right-handedness
- birth name
- Helen Newington Wills
- member of
- Phi Beta Kappa Society
- competition won
- 1932 French Championships
- floruit
- 1900-01-01
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) during her career, including 19 singles titles.
Wills was the first American woman athlete to become a global celebrity, making friends with royalty and film stars despite her preference for staying out of the limelight. She was admired for her graceful physique and for her fluid motion. She was part of a new tennis fashion, playing in knee-length pleated skirts rather than the longer ones of her predecessors, and was known for wearing her hallmark white visor. Unusually, she practiced against men to hone her craft, and she played a relentless predominantly baseline game, wearing down her female opponents with power and accuracy. In February 1926 she played a high-profile and widely publicized match against Suzanne Lenglen which was called the Match of the Century.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Helen Wills” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.