Max Decugis

Maxime Omer Mathieu Decugis or Décugis (French pronunciation: ​[maksim dɔkyʒiz, - de-]; 24 September 1882 – 6 September 1978) was a tennis player from France who held the French Championships record of winning the tournament eight times (a French club members only tournament before 1925), a feat that was surpassed by Rafael Nadal in 2014. 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][4]

Max Decugis
Max Decugis standing near a tent in 1913
Full nameMaxime Omer Mathieu Decugis
Country (sports) France
Born(1882-09-24)24 September 1882
Paris, France
Died6 September 1978(1978-09-06) (aged 95)
Biot, France
Singles
Career record241–64 (79.02%)
Career titles41 [1]
Highest rankingNo. 10 (1910)
A. Wallis Myers
Grand Slam Singles results
French OpenW (1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1913, 1914)
WimbledonSF (1911, 1912)
US Open1R (1925)
Other tournaments
WHCCSF (1913, 1914)
WCCCF (1919)
Doubles
Career record0–0
Grand Slam Doubles results
WimbledonW (1911)
Other doubles tournaments
WHCCW (1914)
WCCCW (1913)
Mixed doubles
Other mixed doubles tournaments
WHCCW (1912, 1913, 1914, 1921)
WCCCW (1913, 1919)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (1904)
Medal record
Olympic Games
Representing a Mixed team
1900 Paris Doubles
Representing  France
1920 Antwerp Mixed doubles
1920 Antwerp Doubles
Intercalated Games
1906 Athens Singles
1906 Athens Doubles
1906 Athens Mixed doubles

Life

Decugis' 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]

In 1905 he married Marie Flameng, the daughter of painter François Flameng, in Paris. After the death of Marie in 1969, Max married Suzanne Louise Duval in October.

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

Decugis 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 Decugis the opportunity to defend his 1914 title. Decugis 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 semifinals of both the 1911 and 1912 Wimbledon Championships and the 1913 and 1914 World Hard Court Championships (WHCC) and the final of the World Covered Court Championship (WCCC) in 1919. He won the mixed doubles title at the WHCC on four occasions (1912, 1913, 1914, 1921) and at the WCCC on two (1913, 1919).

In May 1910, Decugis 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. 10 for 1910 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph ranked Decugis as World No. 10 in both 1913 and 1914.[7]

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 titles, 1 runner-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win1911WimbledonGrass André Gobert Major Ritchie
Anthony Wilding		9–7, 5–7, 6–3, 2–6, 6–2
Loss1912WimbledonGrass André Gobert Charles P. Dixon
Herbert Roper-Barrett		6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 5–7

See also
  • List of French Men's Singles champions and finalists

References
  1. "Maxime Omer (Max) Decugis: Stats". tennisarchives.com. Tennis Archives. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  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. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Max Décugis". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2014. Full name: Maxime Omer Mathieu "Max" Omer-Décugis
  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."
  7. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 422.
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