Henri Jean Cochet (14 December 1901 – 2 April 1987) was a champion
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Born in
VilleurbanneVilleurbanne is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France.It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France after that of Paris. Villeurbanne is the second-largest city in the department.-History:The current location of...
, Rhône, Cochet won eight
Grand SlamThe four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles titles in the French, American, and British championships, failing to win only in Australia. He also won the
World Hard Court ChampionshipWorld Hard Court Championships, frequently considered as the precursor to the French Open was held from 1912 till 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The venue, was the clay courts of the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, with one exception, namely 1922, when they were held at the Royal Leopold...
(the official clay court championship of the world) in 1922 and the
World Covered Court ChampionshipThe World Covered Court Championships were part of a series of three world championships sanctioned from 1913–1923 by the International Lawn Tennis Federation . The tournament was played indoors on wood floors, and its venue changed from year to year among several countries...
(the official indoor court championship of the world) in 1922 & 1923. He was the World No. 1 player for three consecutive years, 1928 through 1930.
He is the only male player who failed to defend all 8 of his Grand Slam Singles titles.
Jack KramerJohn Albert Kramer was an American tennis player of the 1940s. A World Number 1 player for a number of years, he is a possible candidate for the title of the greatest tennis player of all time. He was considered the father and the leading promoter of the professional tennis tours...
, the long-time tennis promoter, and a great player himself, in his 1979 autobiography included Cochet in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.
The Four Musketeers were inducted simultaneously into the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
in
NewportNewport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
,
Rhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
in 1976. Cochet died at age 85 in
ParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Grand Slam tournament record
French Championships
- Singles champion: 1922§, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932
- Singles runner-up: 1933
- Men's Doubles champion: 1927, 1930, 1932
- Men's Doubles runner-up: 1925
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1928, 1929
- Mixed Doubles runner-up: 1930
Wimbledon
- Singles champion: 1927, 1929
- Singles runner-up: 1928
- Men's Doubles champion: 1926, 1928
- Men's Doubles runner-up: 1927, 1931
U.S. Championships
- Singles champion: 1928
- Singles runner-up 1932
- Mixed Doubles champion: 1927
§: the 1922 French Championship was a non-international event is not considered a slam
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