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

tennis player 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 ...

. 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. 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 François Jauffret (born 9 February 1942) is a retired professional tennis player from France. He holds the record for most ties played for the France Davis Cup team with 35, between 1964 and 1978. Jauffret twice reached the semi-finals at the ...

). In 1963, Darmon was the runner-up in singles at the

French Open 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), Grand Slam ...

, where he beat Manuel Santana in five sets in the semi-finals before losing to

Roy 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. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his ...

in the final in four sets. Also in 1963, he reached the finals at

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 ...

in doubles, along with partner Jean Claude Barclay. He was international veterans mixed doubles champion with his wife Rosie Darmon 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 ma ...

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 organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

Team from 1956 to 1967, 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. 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, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...

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. there are 211 nat ...

presented Darmon with The Golden Achievement Award.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * *
Wimbledon 1957
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darmon, Pierre 1934 births Living people French male tennis players Jewish tennis players Olympic tennis players for France Tennis players from Tunis Tunisian Jews Tennis players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Tunisian emigrants to France 20th-century French sportsmen