Singles, Women

The women’s field was strong, owing mainly to the presence and grace of Suzanne Lenglen, easily the dominant women’s player in the world, and considered by some as the greatest female player of all time. Dorothy Holman and Kitty McKane of Britain were also top players. The strongest international players missing were Molla Mallory (né Bjurstedt) of the United States, a Norwegian emigré who had won a bronze medal in ladies’ singles at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm; Dorothea Lambert Chambers of Great Britain, a four-time Wimbledon singles champion who had won the Olympic singles gold medal in 1908; and Elizabeth Ryan of the United States, who would be runner-up in 1921 at Wimbledon to Miss Lenglen, but who was best known as a doubles player. It is unlikely they would have challenged Miss Lenglen. Lenglen won the gold medal without losing a set, and gave up only four games. In her first three matches, she won both sets at love, lost one game to Sigrid Fick in the semi-finals, and three to Dorothy Holman in the finals.