Pierre Etchebaster

Pierre Etchebaster was known to be one of the greatest players in France and in the Real Tennis. Real Tennis is the oldest World Championship in sport since 1740. Pierre was the player when tennis was an original racket sport before it became the modern lawn tennis.

Born on December 8, 1893 and died in March 24, 1980 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France, Pierre grew up in a humble Basque fishing village. During his early adulthood, he was a member of the French Army and fought in World War 1. When he returned home, he focused on his sporting career in all types of pelota and became the French champion.

He was consequently encouraged by Jacques Worth, then president of one of the Paris court clubs, to play real tennis. Pierre, at first, lost a game to Fred Covey in 1927, but later on won a game in 1928 in London. In 1930, he migrated to New York City and was trained and played at the Racquet and Tennis Club as a professional. His name finally led and dominated the sports.

For 26 years, from 1928 to 1954, he held the breaking record of tennis wins. This went on until he retired at the age of 60. He managed to successfully defend his title for at least seven times. Nobody was able to match the incident until Robert Fahey in 2004, wherein Fahey successfully defended his 8th title in 2008.

Pierre was one type of a disciplined athlete who spent almost everyday, to practice his shots, serves and spins and studied the different spin-effects on different types of surfaces. This paid off when on top of his major wins he was awarded in the Legion d’Honneur and was inducted to the 1978 International Tennis Hall of Fame.