Jacques Brunion
The fourth of the musketeers, the oldest of them, has always been the main support for his comrades. Modest, restrained, he in a single game could not reveal all that he was capable of. And this is a pity, because his varied and attractive game posed serious problems for an opponent of the highest class. Lacoste, for example, felt very uncomfortable, encountering the always unexpected blows of Bryunion, and Tilden had to give all his best to achieve victory. His hit on the right, very quick and very individual, was carried out by a short backswing, due to which the direction of the ball’s flight was carefully masked. Unexpectedly strong brush gave the ball a rebound effect. In particular, Brunion’s famous twisted candle, low and fast, performed in the same movement as a regular hit on the right, can serve as a standard in our time.
Jacques Brunion
By nature, Jacques is a team player, especially shone in the doubles game. Both Koshe and Borotra have repeatedly said that it is difficult to find a better partner than Brunion. A stable player, he did such a good preparatory work at the ball, that the partner had only one hit to win a point. Of all the musketeers, Jacques had the best pitch. He could pass the ball to any line of the pitch square, and even such a ball, which was difficult to hit, so that Kochet or Borotra, as excellent netters, intercepted the blows of opponents without special complications. When the ball did not fly very high, Bruyon used his famous right kick from the summer, which was dubbed “slap”.
If to all this we add the character of an exclusively team fighter, the ability to support a friend, cheer him up, the complete absence of the so-called bad mood that so interferes in a doubles game, it becomes clear why Brunion won four times in a pair in Wimbledon and countless times in France and other countries.
Attentiveness, responsiveness, simplicity made Toto, as his friends affectionately called him, very popular. He was always ready to help, give useful advice, encourage. Therefore, it is difficult to overestimate the great role played by Brunion in the victories of the French team of the Four Musketeers period.
The magnificent four French tennis players in 1927, the press after dubbing the US team in the Davis Cup final, dubbed the “Four Musketeers”.
The publications of those years sometimes featured the “fifth musketeer” Christian Boussus, who was a reserve player in the French team in the Davis Cup in 1929, 1930, 1931 and 1932, but never played. He played in 1934, when only Barotra and Bruyon remained in the team (the French team reached the semifinals).
tennis musketeers
Caucher, Borotre, Pierre Gillou (President of the FFLT), Brunion and Bussus, 1932
(prim.aut. – The captain of the team was Lacoste)
The four tennis musketeers at the same time in 1976 introduced the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (USA).
Tennis Musketeers
In the first photo: Cauche, Barotra, Lacoste, Bruyon. On the second, the sequence is different: Lacoste, Bruyon, Borotra, Koshe.
For winning the Roland Garros in the men’s singles, a commemorative prize was established called the Coupe Mousquetaires. In 1981, the President of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), Philippe Chatrier (Philippe Chatrier), this cup was ordered to the goldsmith Mellerio, the owner of the Paris jewelry house “Mellerio dits Meller” “For the best football player of the year, and the Golden Whip, awarded to the best jockey).
Musketeers Cup
The original “Musketeers Cup” is a bowl made of pure silver weighing about 14 kg, 21 cm high and 19 cm in diameter. This prize is awarded to the champion of France at the award ceremony and remains with him no more than 4 days, after which he returns to the president’s office FFT Instead, the winner receives an exact silver copy forever with his name engraved on it, but somewhat smaller.
On May 26, 1989, statues of Henri Caucher, Jean Barotre, Rene Lacoste and Jacques Bruyon were solemnly opened on the square of the Roland Garros stadium, made by Italian sculptor Vito Tongiani.
