Max Decugis

      Max Decugis
      Max Decugis 001.jpg
      Max Decugis standing near a tent in 1913
      Full name Maxime Omer Mathieu Decugis
      Country  France
      Born (1882-09-24)24 September 1882
      Paris, France
      Died 6 September 1978(1978-09-06) (aged 95)
      Biot, France
      Singles
      Career record 239–62
      Career titles 33
      Highest ranking No. 6 (1910, Karoly Mazak)[1]
      Grand Slam Singles results
      French Open 1R (1925)
      Wimbledon SF (1911, 1912)
      US Open 1R (1925)
      Other tournaments
      WHCC SF (1913, 1914)
      WCCC F (1919)
      Olympic Games Gold medal.svg Gold Medal (1906)
      Doubles
      Grand Slam Doubles results
      Wimbledon W (1911)
      Other Doubles tournaments
      WHCC W (1914)
      WCCC W (1913)
      Olympic Games

      Silver medal.svg Silver Medal (1900)

      Gold medal.svg Gold Medal (1906)

      Bronze medal.svg Bronze Medal (1920)
      Mixed Doubles
      Other Mixed Doubles tournaments
      WHCC W (1912, 1913, 1914, 1921)
      WCCC W (1913, 1919)
      Olympic Games Gold medal.svg Gold Medal (1906, 1920)

      Last updated on: 14 September 2012.
      Olympic medal record
      Men's tennis
      Competitor for a Olympic flag.svg Mixed team
      Silver 1900 Paris Doubles
      Competitor for  France
      Gold 1920 Antwerp Mixed doubles
      Bronze 1920 Antwerp Doubles
      1906 Intercalated Games
      Gold 1906 Athens Singles
      Gold 1906 Athens Doubles
      Gold 1906 Athens Mixed doubles

      Maxime "Max" Omer Mathieu Decugis or Décugis (24 September 1882 – 6 September 1978) was a male tennis player from France who holds, together with Rafael Nadal, the French Championships/French Open record of winning the tournament eight times (a French-only tournament before 1925). He also won three Olympic medals at the 1900 Summer Olympics (Paris) and the 1920 Summer Olympics (Antwerp), his only gold medal coming in the mixed doubles partnering French legend Suzanne Lenglen.[2][3]

      He won the French Championships in 1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913, and 1914 (also 14 times in doubles and seven times in mixed). The interruption of World War I denied Décugis the opportunity to defend his 1914 title. Décugis was also a four-time runner-up, having lost the final in 1902, 1906, 1920, and 1923. He won the International German Championship in 1901 and 1902.

      In major tournaments, Decugis reached the semi-finals of both the 1911 and 1912 Wimbledon Championships and the 1913 and 1914 World Hard Court Championships.

      In May 1910 Décugis twice defeated Anthony Wilding at Wiesbaden, first in the final of the Wiesbaden Cup, in four sets, followed by a victory in the final of the Wiesbaden Championship in three straight sets.

      He was ranked World No. 6 for 1910 by Karoly Mazak, whilst A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph ranked Decugis as World No. 10 in both 1913 and 1914.[1][4]

      His father was a merchant at Les Halles, the company's name was Omer Décugis et fils,[5] however the accent mark on the é is missing from Max Decugis' birth certificate, and appears inconsistently in later English-speaking sources (such as the Ayres' Almanacks edited by Arthur Wallis Myers) but apparently never in any French-speaking sources. The origin of the family name Décugis, spelled with accented é in an 1842 source, is "from Cuges-les-Pins."[6]

      Max Decugis playing at the Margitsziget court in Budapest, Hungary in 1908

      Grand Slam finals

      Doubles

      Titles (1)

      Year Tournament Partner Opponents Result
      1911 Wimbledon France André Gobert United Kingdom Josiah Ritchie
      New Zealand Anthony Wilding      		 9–7, 5–7, 6–3, 2–6, 6–2

      Runners-up (1)

      Year Tournament Partner Opponents Result
      1912 Wimbledon France André Gobert United Kingdom Josiah Ritchie
      New Zealand Anthony Wilding      		 6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 5–7
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      References

      1. ^ a b Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis, p. 38.
      2. ^ Photo with Lenglen
      3. ^ Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement Page 97 Bill Mallon, Jeroen Heijmans – 2011 "Max Décugis was the winner of a record six Olympic medals (four gold, one silver, one bronze) for lawn tennis between ... Although the Olympic tournaments during that era attracted many of the world's top players, Décugis's greatest ."
      4. ^ United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 422.
      5. ^ Journal des tribunaux de commerce Volume 38 Auguste François Teulet, Eugène Camberlin, Paul Camberlin – 1889 OMER DÉCUGIS et fils et Cie – M. Omer Décugis et fils et Cie, qui exploitent aux Halles centrales une importante maison de commission, ont acheté dans le courant de l'année 1882, pour l'annexer à leur maison,"
      6. ^ Étienne Michel Masse Mémoire historique et statistique sur le canton de la Ciotat Page 147 1842 "L'expression chemin carré ne doit pas être rendue par chemin charretier ; il n'y avait pas de charrette en ces temps-là ; nous avons même lu plusieurs procès- (1 ) Le nom de famille Décugis si commun dans nos contrées n'est que celui de Cuges à l'ablatif latin avec la préposition de ; De Cugis , venant de Cuges , sorti de Cuges."
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      See also
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      Last modified on 10 June 2013, at 17:17