Lili de Alvarez

Lili de Alvarez (May 9, 1905 - July 8, 1998) was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, and a journalist.

Related Topics:
May 9 - 1905 - July 8 - 1998 - Spanish - Tennis champion - Author - Journalist

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Elia María González-Alvarez y López-Chicheri was born at the Hotel Flora in Rome, Italy 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 competition then the Saint-Moritz ice-skating championship at sixteen. She won her first tennis tournament at age fourteen. An all-around sportsperson, Alvarez was an alpine skier, equestrian and an auto racer who won the "Campeonato de Cataluña de Automovilismo" at age nineteen.

Related Topics:
Rome, Italy - Switzerland - Ice skating - Saint-Moritz - Alpine skier - Equestrian - Auto racer

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Lili de Alvarez 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 made it to three consecutive finals at the Wimbledon Championships. According to American tennis champion Helen Wills, whom Alvarez lost the Wimbledon title to twice, Alvarez' game was an "unusually daring one."

Related Topics:
Wimbledon Championships - Helen Wills - Wimbledon title

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In 1929 Alvarez teamed up with the Dutch player Kea Bouman to win the ladies doubles title at the French Open. The following year Alvarez won the Italian Open singles title, an accomplishment that was not repeated by another female Spaniard for sixty-three years until Conchita Martínez won the Italian championship in 1993.

Related Topics:
Dutch - Kea Bouman - French Open - Italian Open - Conchita Martínez

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In 1927 Lili de Alvarez authored a book in English published in London under the title "Modern Lawn Tennis." In 1931, she shocked the staid tennis world by playing in the Wimbledon Championships in a divided tennis skirt specially made by designer Elsa Schiaparelli that was the forerunner of shorts. That year Alvarez began reporting on the political events in Spain for the British newspaper, the Daily Mail.

Related Topics:
London - Skirt - Elsa Schiaparelli - Shorts - Political events - Daily Mail

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In 1934 Lili de Alvarez married the Count of Valdéne, a French aristocrat and diplomat. 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 and in 1951 gave a speech titled "La batalla de la feminidad" at the Hispanic-American Feminist Congress. Over the years she wrote several more books.

Related Topics:
French - Feminist movement

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Lili de Alvarez died in Madrid in 1998.

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