She was the best tennis player in the world, the only Chilean to win a Grand Slam, but few remember her

In March Cristián Garín and Alejandro Tabilo have played spectacular matches in major tournaments in the United States a country where decades ago a Chilean racket achieved world fame and number one.

Do you know who I’m talking about?

While they refresh their memories, Tabilo is in the hands of his Chilean counterpart, Garín continues to compete in Miami and Jarry drops down the rankings without having set foot on American soil. It’s tennis fast, relentless and for these latitudes In 1937, a Chilean lifted the Forest Hills trophy – the predecessor tournament of the US Open – after a final that did not last an hour.

The journalist Juan Carlos Cappello, in the prologue of his book, Miss Lizana of Chile, 49 minutes of fame, count like this:

“In this heat Saturday, September 11, 1937, when the summer of the northern hemisphere said goodbye, Ana Lizana Lizana, a young Chilean woman (she was under 22 at the time), small in physique and of modest origin, With his great talent and sympathy, he culminated his legitimate personal aspirations and realized the hopes of his people. He triumphed – to the surprise of connoisseurs – on the center court of the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, one of the cathedrals of world tennis, located in the suburbs of New York. That afternoon, she became United States champion and became an idol for Chile and Latin America. Ana Lizana in just 49 minutes allowed herself to win the tournament and achieve two notable records ; she did not lose a set during the entire championship and was the first Latin American to win this title”.

This is how Cappello’s book begins and I have to admit that, even though I knew of the existence of Anita Lizana and had seen audiovisual recordings on YouTube had never taken the brunt of what this national racket had achieved at such a young age and in such a short career, since the world wars in Europe, marriage and family have slowed this dizzying rise.

But… where does this national prodigy come from?

Daughter of Roberto Lizana, tennis teacher at the german club, located in Quinta Normal, Anita literally lived and grew up on the edge of a tennis court. His uncle Aurelio Lizana, also a tennis player and teacher, he was well aware not only of his niece’s talent, but of her strong devotion . Clotilde, Anita’s sister, tells it like this in Miss Lizana from Chile:

“We all dedicated ourselves to tennis, but even if it gave us time, Anita loved it as a way of life. I didn’t think of anything else… he slept with his racket… at the weekend I waited for the members to leave (…) to go to the courts or do gymnastics in the gardens of the Quinta”.

There goat girl Lizana has been described as gay, rebellious, independent and rebellious, complex characteristics not only for the time and for our country, but for his father, a traditional man who viewed his daughter’s ambitions with ambivalence.

But the numbers proved why the youngest of the Lizana clan, Well, when she was under fourteen, she became champion of Chile for the first time. . In total, she was national champion five times and in South America she was vice-champion in Buenos Aires and champion of the South American tournament in Montevideo.

It is important to note that in these years tennis was an unpaid sport , Anita Lizana’s international career was therefore in danger. His parents could not fund overseas trips or a technical team, but such was the furor caused by his punches and skill that a number of people who believed in his potential raised 120,000 pesos in a fundraiser. Thanks to this financial effort, little Lizana was able to pack her bags and leave.

Let’s listen to Cappello:

“He made his debut at the Thally-Ho Championships in the South East of England. He won the tournament without dropping a set. Then he triumphed in tournaments in Bradford, Sheffield, Newcastle and Hurlingham. Finally, he went to France to play at Roland Garros and lost in the third round (…) In 1935, after Roland Garros, Ana Lizana returned to England and reached the final of the prestigious Queen’s Club, the important championship before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon itself, he reached the third round.

In Chile, Anita’s European successes were all the rage and the columnist and novelist Joaquín Edwards Bello (1887-1968) summarized it thus: “If someone had told us… that a 20 year old girl’s racquet would be able to produce a national vibrational wave, we would surely have smiled… Anita Lizana’s racquet sounds amazing! it is the stick of Chilean life today”.

Despite the economic obstacles the Lizana family had to go through and the social objections that worried the parents of our national racket – in a Chile where it was frowned upon for a woman to devote herself to something as unfeminine as sport and to travel the world alone – Anita emerged triumphant at his debut and in his second season in Europe (1936) repeats the feat of Thally-Ho, lost in the final at Bournemouth, successfully defends the title of Hurlingham and becomes champion of Ireland and Scotland. For the second time he fell in the third round at Wimbledon and finished world number eight , according to A. Wallis Myers, the journalist and well-known international tennis guru.

It seems incredible, but already in 1937 “Miss Ana Lizana from Chile” she was the number one player in the world . She was the first Latin American to achieve this. The first Chilean to achieve it. A Chilean woman has achieved in the United States what no Chilean or Latin American man has achieved and the prestigious New York Times, despite the fact that he was not the favorite of the experts, wrote the following about this woman who grew up playing in the stadium:

“It’s (surprising) for the thousands of people who came to see the little Chilean in action. He is an athlete guided by a strategic brain, who gives his muscles the right orders at the right time.”

As Cappello reminds us, it was no surprise that Anita won the final. He had not lost a set in the championship and had achieved extraordinary campaigns on the old continent. It just wasn’t the favorite of the American trade press.

Hans Gildemeister, one of the most important and successful national rackets in our history, won, together with the Ecuadorian Andrés Pérez, Forest Hills in 1986 and in Cappello’s book he helps us measure the feat of our compatriot: “Anita marked a milestone around the world. His mark will be difficult for Chilean tennis players to match. When I played in Forest Hills, I was delighted to see the name of a Chilean on the plate of the champions”.

In October 1937, Anita Lizana returned to Chile, where she was received by President Arturo Alessandri in La Moneda and from there she would return to the old continent to marry the tennis player and golfer Ronald Ellis in 1938, passing from Ana Lizana from Chile For Ms Ana Lizana-Ellis from Scotland

To be continued…