| Gus Touchard | |
| Fullname: | Gustave Fitzhugh Touchard Jr. |
| Birth Date: | January 11, 1888 |
| Birth Place: | New York |
| Death Place: | Toronto, Canada |
| Turnedpro: | 1907 (amateur tour) |
| Retired: | 1915 |
| Singlesrecord: | [1] |
| Singlestitles: | 9 |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 4 (U.S. ranking) |
| Usopenresult: | SF (1909, 1911) |
| Usopendoublesresult: | W (1911) |
Gustave "Gus" Fitzhugh Touchard Jr. (or Gustav) (January 11, 1888 – September 5, 1918) was an American tennis player in the early part of the 20th century. He was ranked as high as No. 4 in the United States during his career.
He played his first tennis tournament in 1907 at the New York Tennis Club Open where he reached the semi finals.[1] In 1908 he reached his first final at the New York Metropolitan Championships where he was defeated by Ross Burchard.[1]
In 1909 he went to win four singles titles that season including the Amackassin Club Invitation against Frederick Clark Inman,[1] the Harlem Tennis Club Invitation against Wylie Grant,[1] the Bronx County Championships against Theodore Pell,[1] and the New York Tennis Club Open against Theodore Pell,[1] He was also a finalist at the New England Championships the same year.[1]
At the US Nationals, Touchard paired with Raymond D. Little to win the 1911 doubles title and reach the 1912 doubles final.[2] At the Tri-State Championships in Cincinnati, Touchard won the 1912 singles title over Richard H. Palmer. He reached the singles final again in 1913, losing to William S. McEllroy.[3]
He won the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships title three consecutive years (1913, 1914 and 1915),[1] and won the singles title at the New Jersey State Championships in 1915.[1] In 1912, he reached the final of the US Clay Court Championship, losing to Richard Norris Williams.[1]
| Tournament | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||
| Australasian Championships | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | ||
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | ||
| US National Championships | QF | bgcolor=yellow | SF | Q1 | bgcolor=yellow | SF | Q1 | 1R | QF |
He was born in New York on January 11, 1888. In July 1915, Touchard confessed to a charge of stealing 24 dozen golf balls from the sporting goods store where he was employed.[4]
He joined the Royal Flying Corps Canada at Camp Borden after having been turned down by the United States aviation corps. He died in 1918 in Toronto General Hospital of a throat operation.[5]