Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) 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 each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and

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 v ...

s, and at Wimbledon in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

and

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 ...

. He finished eight consecutive seasons ranked in the top 30 (1999–2006), peaking at world No. 4 in October 2002. Grosjean retired from professional tennis in May 2010. In December 2018, he was named the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

captain for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Career

Juniors

As a junior, Grosjean posted a 90-20 singles record and a 58-12 doubles record, winning the 1996 French Open boys' doubles. He reached No. 1 in the world in both singles and doubles in December 1996.

Pro tour

Grosjean joined the professional tour in 1996. In 2003 and 2004, he reached the final of the

Queen's London Tournament The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (A ...

. In the same two years, he also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. He finished 2001 as the No. 1 player from his country and for the first time in the top 10 becoming the first Frenchman to finish a year in the top 10 since Cédric Pioline in 1993. In 2001, Grosjean won the

with the French team. Grosjean is known for his extreme forehand, his best shot, he utilizes something of a western grip, which is hit at high velocities. He has appeared in four Grand Slam semifinal matches. As well as his two Wimbledon runs, he also reached the French Open semifinals in 2001. His most famous chance was at the 2001 Australian Open against Arnaud Clément. Grosjean led two sets to love and had a match point in the fourth set before Clément prevailed. This was long considered the worst 'choke' in five-set history, until the 2004 French Open final. He won his fourth singles title at the

2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon The 2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts. It was the 21st edition of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, and was part of the International Series of the 2007 ATP Tour. It took place at the ...

, with a victory over countryman Marc Gicquel. He also won the doubles final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a wildcard team, where they upset the first and third seeds. Considered one of the more popular players on the circuit, he is lauded for his attractive, graceful style and classical skills. He is affectionately nicknamed 'Big John' by fans, a literal translation of his surname into English.

Personal life

Grosjean married his wife Marie-Pierre on 16 November 1998 and has a daughter named Lola (born 11 October 1998), a son named Tom (2002), and a daughter named Sam (2006). The family resides in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

(U.S.), where Grosjean trains at the

Evert Tennis Academy Evert Tennis Academy is a tennis training center for developing collegiate and professional tennis players in Boca Raton, Florida. The academy was founded by professional tennis player Chris Evert and her brother John Evert. It opened in 1996. T ...

. He is sponsored by Lacoste in apparel and Head rackets. He used the Head Radical Tour TwinTube 630 XL under various paint jobs throughout his career.

Major finals

Year-end championships finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Masters Series finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 13 (4 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 5 (2–3)

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * *
Grosjean world ranking history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosjean, Sebastien 1978 births Living people French male tennis players French Open junior champions Olympic tennis players of France Tennis players from Marseille Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles