Antoine Gentien (13 June 1905 – 2 September 1968) was a French

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player whose career lasted from 1921 to 1951. He was the son of Antoinette Gillou and the nephew of

Kate Gillou Catherine Marie Blanche "Katie" Gillou (17 February 1887 – 1 January 1964) was a French tennis player in the first decade of the 20th century. Gillou won the French Women's Singles Championship in each of 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1908, having los ...

. Katie was four times French (closed) singles champion. Antoine was friends with

Suzanne Lenglen Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926, winning eight Grand Slam titles in singles and twenty-one in total. She was also a four-time World ...

. He won several tournaments in France, but at the French Championships his best result was reaching the quarterfinals in 1927. He made his

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

debut in 1923 and lost in round one. Gentien made his debut at the

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

in 1925 and lost in round two. He lost in round one at the French in 1926. In 1927 Gentien had one of the best wins of his career when he beat

Jean Borotra Jean Laurent Robert Borotra (, ; 13 August 1898 – 17 July 1994) was a French tennis champion. He was one of the " Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Borotra was imprisoned in Itter Castle ...

at the French Championships, making the Bounding Basque run all over the court and lobbing Borotra if he came to the net. Gentien lost in the quarterfinals to Pat Spence. Gentien lost in round two of Wimbledon. At the first French Championships held at Roland Garros in 1928, Gentien lost in the last 16 to Jack Crawford. He lost in round one of Wimbledon. He lost early at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 1929 and Roland Garros in 1930. He lost in round three of Roland Garros in 1931 and reached round three of Wimbledon, where

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

beat him. Perry beat him in an early round at Roland Garros in 1932 and Sidney Wood beat him in round three at Wimbledon. In 1933, Gentien reached round three at Roland Garros (losing to

Daniel Prenn Daniel Prenn (7 September 1904 – 3 September 1991) was a Russian-born German, Polish, and British tennis player. He was of Jewish origin. He was ranked the world No. 6 for 1932 by A. Wallis Myers. He was ranked world No. 8 in 1929 (Bill Tilde ...

) and Wimbledon (losing to Crawford). At Roland Garros 1934 Gentien lost in round three to

Harry Hopman Henry Christian Hopman Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach. Early life Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, New South Wales, Glebe, Sydney as the third c ...

and at Wimbledon lost in round two to Roderich Menzel. At Roland Garros in 1935, Gentien lost in round two to

Adrian Quist Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player. Biography Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goo ...

. At Wimbledon he lost in round three to

Enrique Maier Enrique 'Bubi' Maier (December 31, 1910 – August 22, 1981) was a male Spanish tennis player who was mainly active in the 1930s. Biography Maier became Wimbledon champion in the mixed doubles in 1932 when, partnered with Elizabeth Ryan, they ...

. Gentien lost in round one of the French Championships in 1936, but in 1937 reached the last 16 (losing to Christian Boussus). He continued playing at the French championships until 1950. Gentien had one of the longest spans ever in the French Open men's singles ( Bernard Destremau had a 29-year span between 1934 and 1963).

Bibliography

* ''Aventures d'un joueur de tennis'' (1953)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentien, Antoine 1905 births 1968 deaths French male tennis players 20th-century French sportsmen