Pénélope Julie "Diddie" Vlasto Serpieri (; 8 August 1903 – 2 March 1985) was a female

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from France. She won the silver medal at the

Paris Olympics Paris Olympics Paris has played a role in hosting the Modern Summer Olympics twice before 2024. 1900 following the first Modern Games Olympics in Athens Greece then in 1924. Now more recently, in 2024 starting July 26th. Paris will be the second ...

in 1924 in women's singles, losing the final to

Helen Wills Moody Helen Newington Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known by her married names Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) du ...

. Vlasto also won the version of the French national championships in 1924 that was open only to French nationals. She was a doubles partner of

Suzanne Lenglen Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World ...

in many doubles tournaments during the early 1920s. She was born as Pénélope Julie Vlasto on 8 August 1903, in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, France. According to Wallis Myers of the ''

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'' and ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', Vlasto was ranked in the world top ten in 1923 and 1926, reaching a career high of world No. 8 in 1923. She married Jean-Baptiste Serpieri on 17 February 1927.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (2 titles)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

¹Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here for 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

References

External links