Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. He is the younger brother of

Christophe Rochus Christophe Rochus (born 15 December 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Belgium. Rochus is the older brother of Olivier Rochus. He reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2005 and was runner-up in two ATP tournamen ...

, also a former top-40 tennis player. Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

won the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian

Xavier Malisse Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked i ...

. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 24. At tall, he was the shortest player on the

ATP World Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...

Career

Juniors

Rochus was a partner of

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

on the junior circuit, winning the boys' doubles title at Wimbledon in 1998. As a junior, he compiled a singles win–loss record of 81–30 (42–20 in doubles), reaching as high as No. 11 in the world in 1997 (and No. 16 in doubles the following year). Rochus reached at least the quarterfinals of all four junior Grand Slam tournaments (including the semifinals of the French Open and Wimbledon).

1999–2008

He won his first title in Palermo in 2000, defeating his brother in the semifinals and

Diego Nargiso Diego Nargiso (born 15 March 1970) is a former tennis player from Italy. Having turned professional in 1987, Nargiso represented his native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by America's even ...

in the final. In 2003, he achieved his greatest Master Series result, reaching the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Masters. He has represented Belgium at two Olympic Games in both the singles and the doubles competitions at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In May 2006, he reached the final of the ATP tournament in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, setting up the first ever all-Belgian men's singles final against

Kristof Vliegen Kristof Vliegen (born 22 June 1982) is a Belgian former tennis player. He plays right-handed and he turned professional in 2001. He was a semi-finalist in Chennai in 2006 and in May of the same year, he reached the final of the ATP tourname ...

. He won that final in straight sets. In June, Rochus faced world No. 1, Roger Federer, in the quarterfinals of the

Gerry Weber Open The Halle Open is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the ATP Tour schedule. Between 1993 and 2018 ...

. Rochus held four match points in the second set at 5–6 and in the tie-break. He could not close out the match and eventually lost in three tiebreaks.

2009

He reached the final of the

Stockholm Open The Stockholm Open (currently sponsored by Intrum) is an indoor tennis event on the ATP Tour played at the Kungliga tennishallen in Stockholm, Sweden. The tournament is owned by The Royal Lawn Tennis Club of Stockholm, SALK (Stockholm Pub ...

, after winning to Swede

Andreas Vinciguerra Andreas Vinciguerra (; born 19 February 1981) is a former tennis player from Sweden, who turned professional in 1998. He won 1 singles title in Copenhagen; reached the semi-finals of the 2001 Rome Masters and 2001 Paris Masters; and attained a ...

in the first round, eighth seed

Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...

, and

Jarkko Nieminen Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...

. In the semifinals, he beat best Brazilian

Thomaz Bellucci Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early in ...

. In the final, he met former Australian Open finalist

Marcos Baghdatis Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimble ...

, but lost in two sets. One week later at the Grand Prix de Lyon, he won his first match against French qualifier

Vincent Millot Vincent Millot (; born 30 January 1986, in Montpellier, France) is a French former professional tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players eac ...

. He faced world No. 8,

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...

, but lost in two short sets. His next tournament was the Swiss Indoors, where he first won his three qualifying matches. In the first round of the tournament, he lost to his former double partner and world No. 1, Roger Federer. The last tournament of his tennis season was the AXA Belgian Masters (Challenger), where he met compatriot

Steve Darcis Steve Darcis (, born 13 March 1984) is a Belgium, Belgian retired professional tennis player. In his career, he won two ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 38 on 22 May 2017. Personal life Steve Darcis was born in ...

in the semifinal.

2010

At the

Sony Ericsson Open The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...

he defeated

Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...

and the 2007 titlist and second seed

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...

. In the Nice tournament, one week prior to Roland Garros, he pulled off another upset, defeating

2009 French Open The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 113th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through ...

finalist

Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...

. He defeated

Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...

of South Africa at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship, but lost to

Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...

in the final in three sets.

2011

In March, Rochus lost in the fourth round in Miami to Federer, after defeating

Blaž Kavčič Blaž Kavčič (born 5 March 1987) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was the highest ranked Slovenian male player ever, achieving a career-high of World No. 68 in August 2012, until Aljaž Bedene began to play for Slovenia a ...

, and

Mikhail Youzhny Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...

in the first three rounds. In July, he made it to the final in Newport, where he was defeated by

John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers e ...

in straight sets.

2012–13

Rochus had his best success earlier in 2012, reaching the final in Auckland. He lost to

Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...

in the first round of Wimbledon. In 2013, he played mostly on the Challenger Tour, never advancing beyond the second round of an ATP event.

ATP career finals

Singles: 10 (2 wins, 8 losses)

Doubles: 7 (2 wins, 5 losses)

Performance timelines

Singles

¹Held as

Hamburg Masters The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...

(outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009–present.
²Held as Stuttgart Masters (indoor hard) until 2001, Madrid Masters (indoor hard) from 2002 to 2008, and Shanghai Masters (outdoor hard) 2009–present.

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochus, Olivier 1981 births Living people Belgian male tennis players French Open champions Hopman Cup competitors Olympic tennis players of Belgium Sportspeople from Namur (city) People from Chaumont-Gistoux Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles