Bernard Balleret (born 11 May 1954) is a French-born Monegasque 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. Balleret participated in the main draw of three

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 ...

s during his career.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> He lost to American

Fred McNair Frederick V. McNair IV (born July 22, 1950) is an American former professional tennis player who reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking in 1976. That year, he teamed up with Sherwood Stewart to capture the men's doubles titles at French Open, ...

in the opening round of the

1976 French Open The 1976 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 31 May until 14 June. It was the 80th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand Sla ...

and also exited in the first round of the doubles, partnering Louis Borfiga. In 1979 he teamed up with

Jacques Thamin Jacques Thamin (born 23 May 1952) is a former professional tennis player from France. Biography Thamin was runner-up in the juniors event at the 1968 Wimbledon Championships, to Australian John Alexander. He also played in the men's singles draw ...

and the pair made it to the second round, with a win over the French pairing of

Bernard Fritz Bernard Fritz (born 5 October 1953) is a 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 te ...

and

Patrick Proisy Patrick Proisy (born 10 September 1949) is a French former professional tennis player best remembered for reaching the final of the French Open in 1972 (where he beat top seed and defending champion Jan Kodeš in the quarter-finals and fourth se ...

. He played in the singles at the

1983 French Open The 1983 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 87th staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...

but was again defeated in the opening round, this time by

Christophe Roger-Vasselin Christophe Roger-Vasselin (; born 8 July 1957) is a French former professional tennis player. Roger-Vasselin won two doubles titles during his professional career. Notably in his singles career, he reached the French Open semifinals in 1983, be ...

. Over a span of 19 years, Balleret regularly appeared in

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 ...

ties for

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, playing a total of 30 ties. He won 21 of his 43 singles rubbers and eight of his 25 doubles matches. His combined tally of 29 wins remains, as of 2012, a national record. He last played for Monaco in 1991, against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, a week before his 37th birthday.Davis Cup Profile
/ref> He is the father of

Benjamin Balleret Benjamin Balleret (born 15 January 1983) is a professional tennis player from Monaco. His father, Bernard Balleret, is former tennis player, while his cousin Arthur Rinderknech also plays the sport professionally. Balleret is a member of the Mon ...

, another professional tennis player, and remarried to former top 50 player Alexia Dechaume.

References

External links

* * * 1954 births Living people Monegasque male tennis players Tennis players from Paris French emigrants to Monaco {{Monaco-tennis-bio-stub