The big day was nearing. Twenty-four hours after stepping ashore in New York, the four members of France’s Davis Cup team left the Big Apple and headed north. It was a six-hour drive up the coast. Long Island. New Haven. New London. Narraganset. The aptly named Providence. Then Boston, Massachusetts, their final destination. This was where the French players would take on the Australians, in this exhilarating city.

Despite its provincial feel, Boston had the cultural buzz of a major capital. Here, people studied and wrote. Boosted by powerful industrial families, the city was also developing at a phenomenal pace. New, gleaming buildings were springing up everywhere – the Boston Opera House, the Symphony Hall, the Fenway Studios – with the international airport being inaugurated just days later.

The matches were to start on 16 August at Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill. With a few days to go, René Lacoste and his teammates used the time to make final adjustments on the court. But their curiosity also drove them out to explore the city. Lacoste and his team captain and coach Allan H. Muhr especially liked wandering around the shopping district around Park Street Church, the big congregational church in downtown Boston.

On one of those walks, Lacoste stopped in his tracks in front of an upscale travel goods store. A suitcase had caught his eye. It was an exquisite piece of luggage made of crocodile skin. He’d never seen anything like it in France. He turned to Muhr with a smile and said: “If I win my match against the Australians, you give me that suitcase!” The deal was struck.