As impressive as America's current women's tennis stars are, none is as dominant as HELEN NEWINGTON WILLS was in her day. When TIME put her on the cover in 1929--for the second time in three years--Wills was in the midst of winning four straight Wimbledon singles titles. She won 31 major championships in all.
In 1918 Dr. Clarence A. Wills took his quiet pig-tailed daughter to a sunny tennis court in Berkeley, Cal., and handed her a racquet which she swung at first like a nightstick. She missed the first ball. She changed her grip and hit the next one. Within...
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