Henri Cochet

Henri Jean Cochet (December 14, 1901 – April 1, 1987) was a champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Born in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, France, Cochet won seven Grand Slam singles titles in the French, American, and British championships, failing to win only in Australia. 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 Kramer, 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. [Writing in 1979, Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.]

The Four Musketeers were inducted simultaneously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1976. Cochet died at age 85 in Paris.

Grand Slam record

French Championships
*Singles champion: 1922, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932
*Singles finalist: 1933
*Doubles champion: 1927, 1930, 1932
*Doubles finalist: 1925
*Mixed Doubles champion: 1928, 1929
*Mixed finalist: 1930

Wimbledon
*Singles champion: 1927, 1929
*Singles finalist: 1928
*Doubles champion: 1926, 1928
*Doubles finalist: 1927, 1931

U.S. Championships
*Singles champion: 1928
*Singles finalist 1932
*Mixed Doubles champion: 1927

Notes

External links

* [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=76 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile]