By the age of eight, Lenglen showed early signs of athletic ability. She was an excellent runner, swimmer, and bicyclist. Her father believed that her ability at diabolo, a game played with a top balanced on a string between two sticks, contributed to her later poise under pressure at tennis tournaments.
On the French Riviera, Lenglen and her father admired the tennis players both for their skill and their social stature. Her father ardently studied the tactics and maneuvers of the players. However, when Lenglen requested a racket, he bought her an inexpensive one with the idea that hers was a passing fancy. Within a month, he purchased a more expensive racket, and had a special backboard constructed for her to practice against. Since there were not many tennis instructors around, her father decided to teach her himself. After observing the women of the time playing a patient, careful placement style of game, he decided it was not right for his energetic, enthusiastic daughter. After observing the men's style of more aggressive play, he decided to teach his daughter accordingly. The unintended result was that her father revolutionized women's tennis. Having no female role model for his daughter, he taught her to play with the strength and speed of a man, but with the grace of a woman.
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