René Lacoste

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René Lacoste (right) together with Otto Froitzheim at a match in Berlin, 1929

René Lacoste (actually Jean René Lacoste ; became famous as Le Crocodile or L'Alligator ; * July 2, 1904 in Paris , † October 12, 1996 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz ) was a French tennis player and fashion designer . After his successful tennis career, he founded the fashion company Lacoste , which is still known worldwide today and is highly recognizable thanks to its logo .

Beginnings

René Lacoste was born on July 2, 1904 in Paris to a wealthy family. He didn't start playing tennis until he was 15 , after persuading his father to let him. His great success is also attributed to his relationship with his father. The latter had given him an ultimatum; he was only allowed to pursue his tennis career if he became a world-class player within five years. The International Tennis Hall of Fame , according to his great success is attributable less but his talent as a discipline and strategic thinking.

successes

René Lacoste won the bronze medal in doubles together with Jean Borotra at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 . In 1926 and 1927, he was the leading tennis player in the world. As a single player he won the French Open in 1925, 1927 and 1929 , the US Open in 1926 and 1927 and the Wimbledon final in 1925 and 1928 . With his fellow players Henri Cochet , Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon , known as " The Four Musketeers ", he won the Davis Cup for France in 1927 and 1928 . The Davis Cup victory in 1927 is considered his greatest success ever. France won the Davis Cup for the first time by defeating Bill Tilden ; the team kept this title for five years until 1932. In 1928, however, Lacoste lost the opening game against Tilden; his lung disease was slowly emerging and his game got worse from time to time. René Lacoste retired in 1929 at the age of 25 after winning the Davis Cup again that year. He and his team were inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976 .

Le Crocodile

Lacoste's nickname The Crocodile ( The Crocodile his own account) goes back to a bet from the year 1923rd He played for the French Davis Cup team and bet with his team captain that he would win the next game. To win this important game, he should be given a crocodile leather suitcase. Lacoste lost to the Australian James Anderson in Boston . Another version of the origin of the name, according to which a reporter called him an alligator because of his tenacity, was discarded by Lacoste himself.

Robert Georges, a good friend of Lacoste and also an athlete, drew the striking logo of a crocodile with a big mouth in 1927, which René Lacoste wore embroidered on his shirt from then on. A little later, Lacoste decided to develop a new shirt that was further than the usual ones at the time and in which you could therefore play much better.

Second career

In 1933 he founded the clothing company Lacoste together with André Gillier and brought his famous polo shirt into mass production. As a result of its tennis origin, it was white and the model was called the Jersey Petit Piqué . He made his nickname "Le crocodile" the logo of his sporting goods company, which from then on was embroidered on all products. It was the first company logo to be seen on a shirt. The shirts were made exclusively in white until 1951. To this day, the crocodile remains the trademark of its sports collections. After his son Bernard took over the company in 1964, the company continued to expand. The company had its most successful period in the 1970s when, in addition to the traditional white tennis shirts, it also launched fashion in different colors. In 2000, the French designer Christophe Lemaire was commissioned to revise the logo and give it a more modern look.

family

René Lacoste married Simone de la Chaume, a golfer . Together they had three children, two boys and a daughter - their daughter Catherine Lacoste also became a golfer and won the US Golf Open in the 1960s . Her son Bernard Lacoste (1931–2006) took over his father's company in 1964. In 2005, Bernard passed the business on to his brother and René Lacoste's second son Michael, who now runs the business, for health reasons.

Grand Slam successes

  • French Open
    • singles
      • Title: 1925, 1927, 1929
      • Finale: 1926, 1928
    • Double
      • Title: 1925, 1929
      • Final: 1927
  • Wimbledon
    • singles
      • Title: 1925, 1928
      • Final: 1924
    • Double
      • Title: 1925
  • US Open
    • singles
      • Title: 1926, 1927
    • Mixed
      • Finale: 1926, 1927

swell

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Wilson: Obituary: Bernard Lacoste, James Freedman. In: New York Times. March 23, 2006, accessed February 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ The French Musketeers. In: Tagensanzeiger.ch. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Lacoste, René
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lacoste, Jean René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French tennis player and fashion designer
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1996
Place of death Saint-Jean-de-Luz , France