The Goddess and the American Girl: The Story of Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills.

The Goddess and the American GirlThe Story of Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills, by Larry Engleman (Oxford University Press, 4" pp., $21.95)

THIS JEWEL of a book deals with the remarkable careers of two of the greatest players ever in women's tennis. Suzanne Lenglen burst onto the scene in 1914 at the age of 14 and rapidly became the dominant woman in the game. Helen Wills of Berkeley and San Francisco, who was six years younger, finally caught up with Miss Lenglen on the Riviera in 1926. Mr. Engleman gives vivid portraits of tbe two stars, Miss Lenglen flamboyant and temperamental, Miss Wills the clean-cut, modest, classically beautiful American girl. He also revels in the surrounding atmosphere: those pink Riviera clay courts, the sun-drenched fagades, the blue of the sea and the cloudless skies, the dukes and duchesses, movie stars, and international athletes. Miss Lenglen managed to beat Miss Wills that summer in the only match the two ever played together, but Miss Lenglen was already on the way down, sinking into neurosis and ill health toward an early death. Helen Wills, with her white visor and powerful strokes, went on to win eight of nine Wimbledon singles titles, losing only in her first appearance in 1924. Between 1927 and 1933 Miss Wills did not lose a set in singles competition, and she won 180 consecutive matches. Before reading this book, I would have guessed that Alice Marble was the greatest woman tennis player. During 1946 and 1947, I happened to play many of the best women players on the grass at the West Side Tennis Club, where Miss Marble was in a category all by herself But, then, I had never even seen Helen Wills play. She had a reputation for emotional coldness ("Little MissPoker-Face," though she was a tall woman); on the evidence of this book, he"coldness" was a combination of total concentration and little patience with trivia. She wanted to get on and get off, and, at her peak, the interest lay in timing her matches, the score being a foregone conclusion. She was interviewed extensively for this book, and her comments are perceptive and often memorable. JEFFREY HART