Marc Rosset (; born 7 November 1970) is a Swiss former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He is best known for winning the men's singles gold medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. He also won a

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doubles title, at the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

partnering compatriot Jakob Hlasek.

Career

Rosset turned professional in 1988 and won his first tour singles title in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

as a wildcard, defeating Guillermo Pérez Roldán. His first doubles title was won in Geneva as well in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

with partner

Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player . He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in men's singl ...

. 1992 was the pinnacle of Rosset's career. Representing Switzerland at the Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, he defeated several top players en route to qualifying for the men's singles final, including

Jim Courier James Spencer Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 58 ...

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 1994. Ivanišević won 22 ATP To ...

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African tennis coach and a former professional player. Ferreira won 15 ATP singles titles and 11 doubles titles. His career-high rankings were world No. 6 in singles (in May 1995) and ...

, and Emilio Sánchez. In the final, he faced Spain's Jordi Arrese and won an exciting five-set match to claim the gold medal. Rosset also won the 1992 French Open men's doubles title with partner Jakob Hlasek. Rosset also was a member of the Swiss team which reached the final of the 1992

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

. Switzerland lost in the final to the United States despite Rosset's winning a five-set singles rubber against

(who was ranked world No. 1 at the time). Rosset's most memorable Davis Cup match came in defeat in a singles rubber against

Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 10 in April 2001. He ...

of France in 2001, which he lost 15–13 in the fifth set after 5 hours and 46 minutes. During the later years of his playing career, Rosset also served as the Swiss Davis Cup team captain. Rosset also enjoyed success playing in other international team competitions for Switzerland. In 1996, he was a member of the teams which won the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

and finished runners-up in the Hopman Cup. That year he also achieved his best performance at a Grand Slam, the 1996 French Open when he defeated Carl-Uwe Steeb, Jiří Novák, Jakob Hlasek,

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

and Bernd Karbacher before losing to Michael Stich in the semifinals. Rosset had a 2–2 record against his successor as Switzerland's top male tennis player,

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

. Rosset won their first two meetings in 2000 (including the final of the Open 13 at Marseille), but Federer won their meetings in 2001 and 2003. At 2.01 meters (6 ft. 7 in.), Rosset was one of the game's tallest players throughout his career. He was one of the game's fastest servers and most prolific servers of aces for most of his career. Rosset changed his flight plans after a first-round defeat at the US Open in September 1998. After he changed his plans, the flight he had originally planned to take, Swissair Flight 111, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all on board.Frey, Jennifer
Rosset Had Reservation for Swissair Flight 111
" ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Friday 4 September 1998. Retrieved on 20 May 2009. Rosset's career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 9, and his career-high doubles ranking was world No. 8. He won a total of 15 top-level singles titles and eight doubles titles. He won at least one singles title on all surfaces:

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of Pile (textile), pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fiber, synthetic fibres such as polyprop ...

, and

hard court A hardcourt (or hard court) is a type of surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resin ...

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Olympic Games

Singles: 1 (1 gold medal)

Masters Series finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Career finals

Singles: 23 (15–8)

Singles performance timeline

Doubles: 12 (8–3)

Team competition: 1 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * *
Interview
at rowztennis.com (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosset, Marc Swiss male tennis players Olympic tennis players for Switzerland Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Switzerland People from Monte Carlo Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Monaco Tennis players from Geneva 1970 births Living people Olympic medalists for Switzerland in tennis Hopman Cup competitors Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics French Open champions