Lea Pericoli was only 20 when in the mid-1950s she revealed three inches of midriff during the Kent tennis championships at Beckenham while also wearing what was described as “the shortest skirt ever seen in England”. It was her first match on grass, and she was firmly beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Hazel Redick, the “primly dressed” South African champion. “I wear nice dress, but I must play better in it,” Pericoli admitted.
Pericoli brought fashion and freedom to the tennis court at a time when most women players dressed soberly, despite being restricted in their ability to move. She was nicknamed “the Lollobrigida of Italian tennis”, a reference to the glamorous Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. Others described her as a worthy successor to “gorgeous” Gussie.