Henri Cochet: French Battler
"The Ball Boy of Lyon" and his Wimbledon 1927 Legacy
With Roger Federer staging a comeback of gargantuan proportions in this years Wimbledon final, many were uttering that he could become the first person since 1927 to come from two sets down in a Wimbledon final and then go on to lift the famous trophy.
Though Federer’s quest in achieving this feat ended a little short, Henri Cochet made no mistake way back in 1927 when he produced not one but three of the most amazing comebacks in the history of Tennis, if not sport as a whole.
Henri Cochet's Early Years
Henri Jean Cochet was born in Lyon, France on 14th December 1901, the very city where he would see his first taste of Tennis, due to his father working as a secretary at the local club. Cochet would attend the club and would be a ball boy on a regular basis for the players, thus earning himself the nickname “Ball Boy of Lyon”. It was these courts on which he acted as a ball boy that he practised to improve his own game and in 1921 he set off to Paris to enter a tournament where he met and beat Jean Borotra in the final.
Thanks to such fine performances the two of them were selected for the French Davis Cup team the following year, the very surroundings where they became friends with both René Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon, these four Frenchmen would come to be known as “The Four Musketeers”, all of which are now members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, inducted in the same year, 1976. They were all part of many Davis Cup winning teams for the French as they won the prestigious event six straight times between 1927 and 1932.
Henri Cochet's Achievements
While playing Tennis, Cochet racked up many accolades including eight grand slam victories, five of which occurred on home soil in the French Championships, two took place in London at Wimbledon and his final major triumph took place at the U.S. Championships. It was at the U.S. Championships where he shot to international fame when he toppled six time reigning champion and legend of the sport, Bill Tilden, in the 1926 quarterfinals. Regardless of this victory, it would pale in comparison to what he would achieve one year later at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon 1927
When Cochet arrived in London for the championships he would’ve had little idea of the legacy he would leave behind for himself. It all began in the quarterfinals when he was trailing by two sets to future hall of famer Francis Hunter, and yet, the number four seed, Cochet, would manage to rally back and claim the last three sets and run out the victor 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 6-4. Then in the semis he would once again slay Bill Tilden, but this time it was in a more heroic fashion as he was two sets down, yet again, and three points away from being ousted, however, Cochet dug deep and somehow won the next seventeen points and from there he went on the achieve the seemingly impossible, or at least the highly improbable, the final score being 3-6 4-6 7-5 6- 6-3. The small Frenchmen (5' 6" and 145lbs) had been overpowered by Tilden in the first two sets and trailed 5-1 in the third set but a new Cochet come to the fore and he began to take risks and hit the ball early in order to overcome his adversary, the world number one at the time and widely considered the best player ever by his contemporaries.
After having battled his way to the final one would suspect that he would be troubled by fatigue, and he may well have been has he struggled early on and fell behind by two sets. By this time however, it had surely become common ground for the French fighter, even facing match points against him were no trouble has he repelled six separate attempts from his opponent to clinch victory, Jean Borotra and ran out eventual winner 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-3 7-5. It is little wonder that the International Tennis Hall of Fame has affectionately named him Henri Houdini.
