Jean Laurent Robert Borotra (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃ʁɔbɛʁbɔ.ʁotʁa], Basque pronunciation:[borotɾa]; 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 during the latter years of World War II and subsequently fought in the Battle for Castle Itter.[4]
Career
Borotra was born in Domaine du Pouy, Biarritz, Aquitaine, the oldest of four children.[5]
Known as "the Bounding Basque", he won four Grand Slam singles titles in the French, Australian, and All England championships. The 1924 French Championship does not count towards his grand slam total as the French was only open to French nationals and members of French clubs. He only failed to win the U.S. Championships, as he was defeated in the final by his countryman René Lacoste in straight sets, thus missing a career Grand Slam. His 1924 Wimbledon victory made him the first player from outside the English-speaking world to win the tournament. His first appearance was in the French Davis Cup team of 1921. He also made the final of the World Covered Court Championships in 1922, losing to Henri Cochet, but won the doubles and mixed doubles. The other major he did well in was the World Hard Court Championships (played on clay) – he won the doubles with Henri Cochet there in 1922.
Borotra was ranked as high as world No. 1 by Bill Tilden in 1930, although Tilden didn't include himself in the ranking.[6] He was ranked No. 2 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph in 1926.[3] Borotra won his last major in 1936 when he teamed up with Marcel Bernard for the French Championship doubles at Roland Garros.
In 1974, Borotra was one of the last three people to be awarded the IOC's Olympic Diploma of Merit.[7][8] And in 1976, he along with the three other Musketeers were inducted simultaneously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1984, Borotra received a Distinguished Service award from the United States Sports Academy in recognition of his achievements. As the oldest living gentleman's singles champion, Borotra was invited to present the singles champion his trophy at the 100th Wimbledon Championship in 1986.[citation needed]
The Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award is an International Club (IC) award. It was introduced in 1998 to recognise tennis players deemed to have shown outstanding sportsmanship throughout their career.[10]
The selection process involves a panel of international tennis journalists selecting a group of players who meet the IC's core value, namely to "develop, encourage and maintain the highest standards of sportsmanship and understanding among players of all nations and among young players in particular." The shortlist is then endorsed (or added to) by the 38 International Clubs around the world, from which a winner is picked.[11]
Arrested by the Gestapo in November 1942, Borotra was deported to a concentration camp in Germany and then Itter Castle in North Tyrol until May 1945. He was freed from the castle after the Battle of Castle Itter, in which he played a courageous role by vaulting from the fortress and running to a nearby town to summon reinforcements.[16]
^Kehrling, Béla, ed. (20 November 1930). "A világ legjobb tiz női jákétosa" [The top ten female players in the world] (PDF). Tennisz és Golf (in Hungarian). Vol. II, no. 21. Budapest, Hungary: Bethlen Gábor irod. és Nyomdai Rt. p. 398. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
^Olympic Review, Issues 89-96. International Olympic Committee. 1975. p. 162.
^Olympic Charter 1983. Comite International Olympique. 1983. pp. 142–143.
