ABSTRACT
The French victory at Wimbledon in 1924 was but the first successful step in its quest for world leadership in tennis which began at St. Cloud, in 1921, when 16-year-old Rene Lacoste saw Tilden win the World Hard Court Championships. Cochet was a street gamin from Lyons with little culture; a self-made man full of God-given talent, he loved to play the game but hated to practice; his natural talent for tennis was matched by the luck of the Devil. The Musketeers had no sooner landed in France than the tennis au-thorities there began to build the most charming tennis facilities in the world, on a tree-laden spot on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne and not far from the racecourse at Auteuil. It was an ideal setting for the first meeting on French soil between the defending Musketeers and the American challengers, led by Big Bill Tilden.
