The Two Helens of Berkeley

First Published, July 2022

Lawn tennis didn’t develop as quickly on the west coast as it did in the eastern U.S. However, the west coast players caught up by the early 1900’s and produced a string of U.S. Open champions, such as Maurice McLoughlin who won the U.S. Open singles in 1912 & 13, Mary K. Browne who won in 1912,13 & 14, Bill Johnston who won in 1915 & 19, plus Robert Lindley Murray who was the winner in 1917 & 18. Many California players passed throught the Berkeley Tennis Club on their way to national rankings and titles, including two of the clubs most successful alumni - Helen Wills Moody and Helen Hull Jacobs. When you read the many similarities in the lives of these two tennis champions it would be easy to assume that they were lifelong friends, but the actual story is quite different.

Consider the following:

They were born relatively close together – Wills in 1905 and Jacobs in 1908
Both were talented juniors at the Berkeley Tennis Club where they were coached by William “Pop” Fuller
When the Jacobs family moved from San Francisco to Berkeley, the house they moved into had just been vacated by the Wills family
Both won the National Junior Championship two years in a row – Wills in 1922 & 23, Jacobs in 1925 & 26
Both are graduates of the Anna Head School (a college prep school for women) and the University of California, Berkeley
They were Wightman Cup teammates for six consecutive years -- 1927 through 1932
Both were ranked number one in the world – Wills 1927 through 1933 & 1935 & 1938, Jacobs 1936
Both won Wimbledon Singles titles – Wills eight times between 1927--38, Jacobs 1936
Both won the U.S. National Championship Singles titles – Wills seven times between 1923--31, Jacobs 1932, 33, 34, 35
Both were Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year—Jacobs 1933, Wills 1935
Both were on the cover of Time magazine – Wills 7/26/26 & 7/1/29, Jacobs 9/14/36
Both were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame -- Wills 1959, Jacobs 1962

Despite all these commonalities, they really had no relationship at all other than the times they faced each other on the tennis court. They seldom spoke to each other, but both insisted that there was no feud between them. Jacobs was quoted as saying “We weren’t friends, that’s all. There was no antagonism.”

As it turned out, besides outstanding tennis games and a common educational background, they had little in common. Wills, with her ever present visor, was much more conservative in dress and demeanor. In fact, she was sometimes referred to as the “Ice Queen” in the press, due to her unwavering composure when on the court. Empirical evidence does suggest that Wills was the better player of the two by winning six of seven Grand Slam finals in which they faced each other.

Jacobs, who spent her early years living in the Arizona desert with her mother and mine inspector father, was much more outgoing and evolved into being the complete opposite of Wills in court apparel. On August 15, 1933, she became the first woman to wear shorts in a major tournament during the U.S. National Women’s Championship at Forest Hills and, from that point forward, she always wore her trademark white shorts with a blue stripe down the side when she played. Coincidentally, 1933 was also the year that Bunny Austin was the first player to wear shorts on Center Court at Wimbledon.

It was said that Wills felt that Jacobs was emulating her tennis career dating back to their teenage years and that was the primary cause of their estrangement. If true, she never stated that publicly. However, she did publicly criticize Jacobs for wearing shorts at Forest Hills, which I am certain did not help their already strained relationship.

Many other tennis champions, such as Hazel Wightman, Don Budge and Frank Kovacs, were members of the Berkeley Tennis Club over the years, but no members had a more interesting tennis relationship (or lack thereof) than the two Helens of Berkeley.

Good Collecting.

Frank Slazenger - American Lawn Tennis Pioneer

The Dayton Steel Racquet Company