Pierre Darmon (born 14 January 1934) is a French former

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

. He was ranked No.8 in the world in 1963, and also reached the top ten in 1958 and 1964.

Early life

Darmon was born in

Tunis, Tunisia ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. He moved to France at 17 years of age.

Tennis career

Darmon was French national junior champion in 1950. He was France's top-ranked tennis player from 1957 to 1969, and won the national title nine times in that period. He also won the French national doubles championship in 1957 (with Paul Rémy), 1958 (with Robert Haillet), 1961 (with Gérard Pilet), and 1966 (with François Jauffret). In 1963, Darmon was the runner-up in singles at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

, where he beat

Manuel Santana Manuel Santana Martínez (10 May 1938 – 11 December 2021), also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance TingayRoy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a car ...

in the final in four sets. Also in 1963, he reached the finals at Wimbledon in doubles, along with partner Jean Claude Barclay. He was international veterans mixed doubles champion with his wife

Rosie Darmon Rosa María "Rosie" Reyes Darmon (''née'' Reyes; born 23 March 1939) is a retired tennis player from Mexico who was active in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of her success came on clay on which she won the women's doubles title at the 1958 French Ch ...

in 1961, and in 1968 and 1975 with

Gail Chanfreau Gail Chanfreau (née Sherriff; born 3 April 1945), also known as Gail Lovera and Gail Benedetti, is a French former amateur and professional tennis player. Tennis career Chanfreau was born in Australia, but moved to France in 1968. Chanfreau ...

Davis Cup

Darmon was a member of France's

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

Team from 1956–67, winning 44 of the 68 matches in which he participated. Darmon holds France's record for the most wins and most singles victories. He played in 34 Davis Cup ties for France, second only to compatriot François Jauffret who played one more. He holds the record for most singles victories by a French Davis Cup player, having had a record of 44-17.

Honors

In 1997 he was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

. In 2002 he received the Davis Cup Award of Excellence. In 2019 the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

and the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

presented Darmon with The Golden Achievement Award.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 runner-up)

Hall of Fame and Award

Darmon, who is

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish, was inducted into the

in 1997.

References

External links

* * * * Wimbledon 1957.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8a906iu2a0 {{DEFAULTSORT:Darmon, Pierre 1934 births Living people French male tennis players Jewish tennis players Olympic tennis players of France Sportspeople from Tunis Tunisian Jews Tennis players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Tunisian emigrants to France