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

tennis player 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 ...

. 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 60 ...

won 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 ...

doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian

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

. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 24. At tall, he was the shortest player on the ATP World Tour. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.

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 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 ...

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 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

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and

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

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

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, setting up the first ever all-Belgian men's singles final against Kristof Vliegen. He won that final in straight sets. In June, Rochus faced world No. 1, Roger Federer, in the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open. 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 Stockholm Open (SO) is an annual tennis tournament in Sweden that is part of the ATP Tour's 250 Series. The tournament features both men's singles and doubles events and is organized by the Royal Lawn Tennis Club (KLTK), Stockholms Allmä ...

, after winning to Swede Andreas Vinciguerra in the first round, eighth seed

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

, 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, São Paulo, Tietê) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challeng ...

. In the final, he met former Australian Open finalist

Marcos Baghdatis Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...

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

2010

At the Sony Ericsson Open he defeated

Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...

and the 2007 titlist and second seed

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

. In the Nice tournament, one week prior to Roland Garros, he pulled off another upset, defeating 2009 French Open finalist

Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in November 2010. Söderling won ten singles titles on th ...

. 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 in the final in three sets.

2011

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

, and

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

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 former professional tennis player. He was 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 ...

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 of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...

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 (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 for Belgium Sportspeople from Namur (city) People from Walloon Brabant 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 21st-century Belgian sportsmen