Jacobs, Helen Hull
Tennis
b. Aug. 8, 1908, Berkeley, CA
d. June 2, 1997
A fine tennis player in her own right, Jacobs is unfortunately best known for her long, losing rivalry with Helen Wills. It began when the seventeen-year-old Wills beat the fourteen-year-old Jacobs in a practice set, 6-0, that took just seven minutes. Jacobs wanted to play another set, but Wills refused and left the court.
Jacobs lost to Wills in the finals at the 1928 U. S. Nationals, the 1929 and 1932 Wimbledon tournaments, and the 1930 French Nationals. When Wills planned a European tour in 1929, she chose the third-ranked Edith Cross as her playing partner, passing over Jacobs, who was ranked second. That fueled speculation that there was a feud between the two, although both persistently denied it.
The two met again the finals at the U. S. Nationals in 1933, when Wills was suffering from a bad back. Jacobs won the first set 8-6 and Wills won the second 6-3. With Jacobs leading 3-0 in the third set, Wills suddenly went to the umpire's stand and announced she couldn't continue, thereby defaulting the match to Jacobs.
Jacobs in 1933 became the first tennis player to win the Associated Press female athlete of the year award. She also won the U. S. National singles title in 1932, 1934, and 1935, but Wills didn't compete in the tournament in any of those years.
In the 1935 Wimbledon finals, Jacobs had match point in the second set when she returned a lob into the net, then lost four straight games and the match. Jacobs won her only Wimbledon title the following year, when Wills didn't enter. They met for the last time in the Wimbledon finals in 1938, but it was no contest. Jacobs had torn the sheath of an Achilles tendon in a quarter-final match and, though she couldn't run, she refused to default. Wills won again, 6-4, 6-0.
The outgoing Jacobs was a very popular player, usually a crowd favorite against Wills, whose cold demeanor did not charm fans. She had an excellent backhand drive and was a fine volleyer. Jacobs was also a fashion leader, the first woman player to wear shorts at Wimbledon, in 1933.
In addition to her five major singles championships, Jacobs won national doubles titles with Sarah Palfrey in 1932, 1934, and 1935, and with Billie Yorke in 1939, and she teamed with George M. Lott Jr. to win the mixed doubles championship in 1934. She retired from serious competition in 1940.
While still playing, Jacobs wrote two instructional books, Modern Tennis (1933) and Improve Your Tennis (1936). Her autobiography, Beyond the Game, was also published in 1936.