Lacoste, René (rənā` läkôst`), 1905–96, French tennis player. He won the French singles championship (1925, 1927, and 1929), the British singles championship (1925, 1928), and the U.S. singles championship (1926, 1927). He was a member of the French team that won the Davis cup in 1927 and 1928. He wrote Lacoste on Tennis (1928). Among his inventions were the metal tennis racquet and his trademark "alligator" logo polo shirt.

Lacoste, (Jean-) René

(born July 2, 1904, Paris, France—died Oct. 12, 1996, Saint-Jean-de-Luz) French tennis player and sportswear entrepreneur. He was noted for a methodical game in which he tried to outlast his opponents. He won the Wimbledon (1925, 1928) and French (1925, 1927, 1929) singles titles and became the first foreigner to win the U.S. championship twice (1926, 1927), the second time beating Bill Tilden. He also won various doubles matches. Nicknamed “the Crocodile,” he retired in 1929 to form a sportswear company that featured a crocodile (later an alligator) emblem on its clothes.