Marguerite Marie Broquedis (; married names Billout-Bordes; 17 April 1893 – 23 April 1983) was a French
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player.
Biography
Broquedis was born on 17 April 1893 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques. She moved with her family to Paris around the turn of the century and started playing tennis on two dusty courts that were part of the
Galerie des machines
The Galerie des machines (officially: Palais des machines) was a pavilion built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Located in the Grenelle district, the huge pavilion was made of iron, steel and glass.
A similarly-named structure wa ...
1912 Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, b ...
at Stockholm where she won the gold medal in outdoor singles by beating German Dora Köring 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final. In mixed doubles, she won the bronze medal partnering Albert Canet. In 1913 and 1914, she won the French championships,The French championships were only open to players from French clubs at the time. beating 15-year-old Suzanne Lenglen in the 1914 final. Broquedis, nicknamed "the goddess", is also known for being the only player to ever beat Lenglen in a fully played singles final. She also took part in the 1924 Olympics at
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
but couldn't win any medal there.
She won the singles title at the French Covered Court Championships on six occasions (1910, 1912–13, 1922, 1925, and 1927).
From 1925 to 1927, Broquedis had another successful time in her tennis career, reaching the singles semifinals at Wimbledon in 1925, and the quarterfinals twice at the (now fully international)
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 ven ...
in 1925 and 1927. Moreover, she won the mixed doubles title partnering
Jean Borotra
Jean Laurent Robert Borotra (, ; 13 August 1898 – 17 July 1994) was a French tennis champion. He was one of the " Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Borotra was imprisoned in Itter Castle ...
at
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in 1927. She was ranked world No. 9 by A. Wallis Myers in 1925.
Broquedis died in