Christian Boussus

French Davis Cup Team between 1949 and 1952^[17] and vice-captain from 1953.^[18] In the very first year of his leadership France reached the final of the 1949 Davis Cup for the first time in 15 years. In club level team competitions he represented Racing Club de France of Paris.^[19]

German Championships in Hamburg (1930, 1931) and the British Hard Court Championships on one occasion (1931).^[8][21] He was ranked number one French tennis player four times in a row in the consecutive years of 1934,^[22] 1935,^[2] 1936^[23] and 1937.^[24]

Great Britain's then active Davis Cup player Nigel Sharpe who described him as the greatest French left-hander in the following manner: "He relies upon an all-round game with volleying as his forte. There is nothing of hurricane speed in his game. He takes the ball on the rise and hist his forehand with an easy swing and without much topspin. He gets good pace in this stroke and usually relies upon it as the forerunner of a volleying campaign[…]His backhand is of the cut variety but although putting so much slice on it he does not let it stop him from hitting it pretty hard. This stroke, of course, has its limitations, as it is distinctly difficult to make good passing shots against an agile volleyer. This wing is Boussus' chief weakness[…] (he) is able to make his volley down the line with great speed...but does not use his wrist quite so much". He further analysed his service game and found it be most unorthodox. Boussus completely omitted to swing his racquet behind his head while serving making his serves rather ineffective. Although this style was useful in overhead smashes when accuracy is more important than the speed. With this type of serve he also put a great spin to the ball and kept it relatively low.^[8] Later in his career he adapted to baseline play and utilized a series of dropshots in his games.^[26]

IBM France.^[14] Apart from his tennis playing style, he is known as the first man to wear shorts instead of pants on court.^[29][30] He was in a civil partnership with French parfume designer Germaine Cellier with whom he lived together for 30 years until she died in 1976.^[31] He died at the age of 95, the last surviving Musketeer.^[14] He had a brother Roland, also amateur tennis player, with whom he won the doubles title of the Le Touquet Spa Championships in 1937, while also winning the singles and mixed contest as well.^[32]