Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri, also known as Lilí Álvarez (; 9 May 1905 – 8 July 1998), was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist.

Life

She was born at the Hotel Flora in Rome,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, during a stay by her affluent Spanish parents. She was raised in Switzerland and from an early age began competing in a variety of sports. At age eleven, she won her first

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

competition, and then at age 16, she won the St. Moritz ice skating championship. She won her first tennis tournament at age fourteen. An all-around sportsperson, Álvarez was an alpine skier,

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

, and an auto racer who won the Campeonato de

Cataluña Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

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 at Wimbledon. According to American Helen Wills Moody, who defeated Álvarez twice in Wimbledon singles finals, Álvarez' game was an "unusually daring one". She also competed at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The o ...

. In 1929, Álvarez teamed up with the Dutch player Kea Bouman to win the women's doubles title at the

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

. The following year, Álvarez won the singles title at the Italian Championships, an accomplishment that was not repeated by another female Spaniard for 63 years until

Conchita Martínez "Conchita" Martínez Bernat (born 16 April 1972) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was the first Spaniard to win the women's singles title at Wimbledon, doing so in 1994. Martínez also was the runner-up at the 1998 Austral ...

won the Italian Open in 1993. Álvarez and

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional ...

were the runners-up in the mixed doubles competition at the 1927 French Championships. In 1927, Álvarez authored a book in English published in London under the title ''Modern Lawn Tennis''. In 1931, she shocked the staid tennis world by playing at Wimbledon in a divided tennis skirt specially made by designer

Elsa Schiaparelli Elsa Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was a fashion designer from an Italian nobility, Italian aristocratic background. She created the Schiaparelli (fashion house), house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, w ...

that was the forerunner of shorts (pictured). That year, Álvarez began reporting on the

political events Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

in Spain for the British newspaper the ''Daily Mail''. According to Wallis Myers of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily 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. In 1934, Álvarez married Jean de Gaillard de la Valdène, the Count of Valdene, a French aristocrat and diplomat, and from 1936 she played for three years on the international tennis circuit as "Countess Valdène". 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 book ''Plenitud'' (''Fullness'') in 1946. She actively supported the worldwide

feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...

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 than ''a defensive and thus negative conception'' and critiziced the lack of fast courts in the country, claiming that no champions can be born on clay court. She was disappointed that Sergi Bruguera didn't take part in Wimbledon after winning Roland Garros and showed enthusiasm for

's Wimbledon semifinals run, noting that while she had previously shown talent it was the first time she had shown a champion's disposition.Para Lilí Álvarez, "ha nacido una nueva estrella"

Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since ...

, 3 July 1993 Álvarez died in Madrid in 1998.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3 runner-ups)

Doubles (1 title)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Lili 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 of Spain Tennis players at the 1924 Summer Olympics 20th-century Spanish journalists Spanish expatriates in Switzerland