Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
When Rafael Nadal won his 13th French Open this month, he donned a neon-pink face mask and kissed the trophy, known as La Coupe des Mousquetaires. He then removed his mask and bit the handle.
The trophy is an homage to Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste, known as the Four Musketeers, the revered Frenchmen who put their nation on the tennis map in the 1920s and ’30s.
“I can’t overstate the impact the Four Musketeers have had on French tennis,” said Guy Forget, a former top five ATP player in the early 1990s and the tournament director for the French Open.