Lilí Álvarez

Lilí Álvarez at the1926 Wimbledon Championships ladies final
Full name	Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri
Country (sports)	Spain (−1936) France (1936–)[1]
Born	(1905-05-09)9 May 1905 Rome,Italy
Died	8 July 1998(1998-07-08) (aged 93) Madrid, Spain
Plays	Right-handed
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 2 (1927,A. Wallis Myers)[2]
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	SF (1930, 1931, 1936, 1937)
Wimbledon	F (1926,1927,1928)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open	W (1929)
Wimbledon	3R (1937)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	F (1927)
Wimbledon	QF (1926, 1936)

Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri,^[a] also known asLilí de Álvarez^[b] (Spanish pronunciation:[liˈliˈalβaɾeθ]; 9 May 1905 – 8 July 1998), was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist.^[7]

She was born at the Hotel Flora in Rome,Italy, during a stay by her affluent Spanish parents.^[8] She was raised in Switzerland and from an early age began competing in a variety of sports. At age eleven, she won her firstice skating competition, and then at age 16, she won theSt. Moritz ice skating championship. She won her first tennis tournament at age fourteen. An all-around sportsperson, Álvarez was analpine skier,equestrian, and anauto racer who won the Campeonato deCataluña de Automovilismo at age 19.

Álvarez was a pioneer in women's tennis in Spain and was her country's most dominant player during the 1920s. Between 1926 and 1928, she reached three consecutive singles finals atWimbledon. According to AmericanHelen Wills Moody, who defeated Álvarez twice in Wimbledon singles finals, Álvarez' game was an "unusually daring one". She also competed at the1924 Summer Olympics.^[9]

In 1929, Álvarez teamed up with the Dutch playerKea Bouman to win the women's doubles title at theFrench Championships. The following year, Álvarez won the singles title at theItalian Championships, an accomplishment that was not repeated by another female Spaniard for 63 years untilConchita Martínez won the Italian Open in 1993. Álvarez andBill Tilden were the runners-up in the mixed doubles competition at the1927 French Championships.

In 1927, Álvarez authored a book in English published in London under the titleModern Lawn Tennis.^[5]

In 1931, she shocked the staid tennis world by playing at Wimbledon in a divided tennis skirt specially made by designerElsa Schiaparelli that was the forerunner of shorts (pictured).^[10] That year, Álvarez began reporting on thepolitical events in Spain for the British newspaper theDaily Mail.

According toWallis Myers ofThe Daily Telegraph and theDaily Mail, Álvarez was ranked in the world top 10 from 1926 through 1928 and in 1930 and 1931, reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1927 and 1928.^[11]

In 1934, Álvarez marriedJean de Gaillard de la Valdène, the Count of Valdene,^[12][13] a French aristocrat and diplomat, and from 1936^[1] she played for three years on the international tennis circuit as "Countess Valdène".^[4] In 1939, she lost her only child and the couple soon separated. She returned home to Spain in 1941 where she continued to be active in sports and began writing on religious and feminist topics, publishing her bookPlenitud (Fullness) in 1946. She actively supported the worldwidefeminist movement and in 1951 gave a speech entitled "La batalla de la feminidad" at the Hispanic-American Feminist Congress. Over the years, she wrote several more books.

When asked in 1993 about modern Spanish tennis, Álvarez favored a combative and bold playing style rather thana defensive and thus negative conception and criticized the lack of fast courts in the country, claiming that no champions can be born on clay court. She was disappointed thatSergi Bruguera didn't take part in Wimbledon afterwinning Roland Garros and showed enthusiasm forConchita Martínez'sWimbledon semifinals run, noting that while she had previously shown talent it was the first time she had shown a champion's disposition.^[14]

Álvarez died in Madrid in 1998.

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1926	Wimbledon	Grass	Kitty McKane Godfree	2–6, 6–4, 3–6
Loss	1927	Wimbledon(2)	Grass	Helen Wills	2–6, 4–6
Loss	1928	Wimbledon(3)	Grass	Helen Wills	2–6, 3–6

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1929	French Championships	Clay	Kea Bouman	Bobbie Heine Alida Neave	7–5, 6–3

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1927	French Championships	Clay	Bill Tilden	Marguerite Broquedis Jean Borotra	4–6, 6–2, 2–6

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

• Lilí Álvarez at theInternational Tennis Federation

• 1905 births
• 1998 deaths
• Spanish female tennis players
• Spanish female racing drivers
• Spanish female single skaters
• Spanish feminist writers
• Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
• 20th-century Spanish women writers
• 20th-century Spanish writers
• French Championships (tennis) champions
• Olympic tennis players for Spain
• Tennis players at the 1924 Summer Olympics
• 20th-century Spanish journalists
• Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
• Naturalized citizens of France
• 20th-century Spanish sportswomen

• Pages with Spanish IPA
• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from November 2020