Andrés Gimeno, a lanky Spanish tennis player who in 1972 became the oldest man to win the men’s singles championship at the French Open, died on Oct. 9 in Barcelona. He was 82.

The Spanish tennis federation said the cause was cancer.

A genial sportsman with a graceful style, Gimeno (pronounced hee-MAY-no) came to prominence in the 1950s, using an arsenal of drop shots and lobs that disrupted power players, especially on clay courts.

“Andrés didn’t hit the ball with a lot of spin, like many Spanish players do now, but he had an aggressive, flat forehand, and a backhand that was more of a slice most of the time,” Stan Smith, a frequent opponent of Gimeno’s, said by phone.

By 1972, as he neared his 35th birthday, the closest Gimeno had come to winning a Grand Slam title was losing to Rod Laver in the final of the 1969 Australian Open.