Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) 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 ...
player and
Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the
2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Partnering
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
in men's doubles, he won
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
in
2007 and two
Masters titles.
Life and career
Clément was born in
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
to Henri Clément and Maria Michel.
He began to play tennis at the age of seven with his older brother Bruno, who later became his coach. His grandmother is
Lebanese.
He currently lives in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Switzerland.
He turned professional in 1996, and achieved his career highlight at the
2001 Australian Open, reaching the men's singles final, where he was defeated by
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
. En route, Clement defeated the then-unseeded future world No. 1,
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 ...
, and the former world No. 1,
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
.
While playing, he often wore a
bandana and sunglasses. The sunglasses have been medically prescribed for Clement because of severe eye problems he has encountered through his life, which had nearly left him blind as a child. At only 13 months old, he was diagnosed with unilateral
coloboma
A coloboma (from the Greek , meaning defect) is a hole in one of the structures of the eye, such as the iris, retina, choroid, or optic disc. The hole is present from birth and can be caused when a gap called the choroid fissure, which is pres ...
, meaning the condition only affects one eye, at that time Clément was only given a 40/60% chance of having healthy eyesight for the rest of his life, throughout his tennis career Clément has worn sunglasses to protect his eyes.
Clément was selected to represent one of the world's best-known and most important fashion labels,
Lacoste
Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its g ...
. He was seen from May 2004 onwards in a pan-European print and TV campaign alongside the Danish pop singer
Natasha Thomas. The advert was directed and shot by
Bruno Aveillan
Bruno Aveillan (born 1968) is a French filmmaker, photographer, and contemporary artist.
Communication art
After graduating from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Toulouse, he joined Quad Productions in Paris in 1995. Since then, he has direc ...
.
Clément has been ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles and as high as world No. 8 in doubles, where he has often partnered with fellow Frenchmen
Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons r ...
and
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
. He has won four
ATP singles titles (
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
2000,
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
2003,
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
2006,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
2006), and twelve doubles titles including
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
.
Throughout his career, he has beaten top players such as
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
,
Pat Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...
,
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's succ ...
and more recently Roger Federer,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
and
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 ...
.
Until 2010, Clément held the record for the longest match in the history of the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
. At
Roland Garros 2004, Fabrice Santoro defeated Clément 6–4, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6, 16–14 in six hours and 33 minutes.
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 ...
and
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
would eventually beat this record
six years later at Wimbledon.
In March 2006, Clément ended his two and a half-year period of not winning an
ATP singles title by capturing the
Marseille Open
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February. The number 13 is the INSEE co ...
, defeating world No. 2, Rafael Nadal, in the semifinals and
Mario Ančić
Mario Ančić (; born 30 March 1984) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who currently works as a private equity vice president in New York City. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking ...
in the finals. In August 2006, Clément won his first
ATP title in the United States, defeating Murray in straight sets in the final of the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The Washington Open (known as the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 5 ...
.
In July 2007, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra won the men's double title at Wimbledon, beating world No. 1 and top seeds defending champions,
Bob and Mike Bryan, thus winning his first Grand Slam doubles title (Llodra had won two previous titles with
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
, making it his third Grand Slam title). He and Llodra were ecstatic, and celebrated by throwing their shirts, rackets, and towels into the crowd.
In July 2008, Arnaud Clément and
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
, both in their early 30s, played against each other in a Wimbledon quarterfinal singles match. Because of rain delays and darkness, play was suspended over a period of two days. Eventually, the match went in favour of Schüttler. The match went five sets and over five hours combined within the two playing days. The fifth set's score was 8–6. Finishing in five hours and twelve minutes, it was the third-longest men's singles match in Wimbledon history.
In June 2012, Arnaud Clément formalized his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 34, after a 16-year career.
He's the French
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 organis ...
captain since 2013.
Clément has been in a relationship with French pop singer
Nolwenn Leroy
Nolwenn Le Magueresse (; born 28 September 1982), known by her stage name Nolwenn Leroy (), is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actress.
Originally classically trained (violin and opera singing), she rose to fame after winning the second ...
since 2008.
["Love story : Nolwenn Leroy et Arnaud Clément"]
''Marie Claire''. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
Significant finals
Grand Slam tournament finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
ATP career finals
Singles: 11 (4 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Doubles: 22 (12 titles, 10 runner-ups)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Top 10 wins
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, Arnaud
1977 births
Living people
French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
French male tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players of France
Sportspeople from Aix-en-Provence
Tennis players from Geneva
French people of Lebanese descent
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Wimbledon champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles