Marcel Bernard was a French tennis player. He is best remembered for having won the French Championships in 1946. Bernard initially intended to play only in the doubles event but was persuaded to enter the singles competition as well. He defeated Jaroslav Drobný in the final in five sets.
Bernard in 1934
Jaroslav Drobný was a world No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, where he died in 2001. In 1951, he became the first and, to date, only player with African citizenship to win the French Open, while doing likewise at the Wimbledon Championships in 1954. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983. He played internationally for the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.
Jaroslav Drobný (left) and Bob Mark in 1958
Jaroslav Drobný's plaque at the 1st Czech Lawn Tennis Club in Prague
Jaroslav Drobný (r), playing for Egypt, being congratulated by 18-year-old Lew Hoad (l) after Drobný's victory in the final of the 1953 Italian Championships in Rome.