born July 2, 1904, Paris, France
died Oct. 12, 1996, Saint-Jean-de-Luz
French tennis player and sportswear entrepreneur.
He was noted for a methodical game in which he tried to outlast his opponents. He won the Wimbledon (1925, 1928) and French (1925, 1927, 1929) singles titles and became the first foreigner to win the U.S. championship twice (1926, 1927), the second time beating Bill Tilden . He also won various doubles matches. Nicknamed "the Crocodile," he retired in 1929 to form a sportswear company that featured a crocodile (later an alligator) emblem on its clothes.