Marc Rosset (born 7 November 1970) is a Swiss 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. He is best known for winning the men's singles gold medal at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. He also won a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

doubles title, at the

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 ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

partnering compatriot

Jakob Hlasek Jakob Hlasek ( cz, Jakub Hlásek; born 12 November 1964) is a Swiss former professional tennis player of Czech origin. He won a major doubles title at the 1992 French Open, partnering Marc Rosset. Career The major highlights of Hlasek's career c ...

Career

Rosset turned professional in 1988 and won his first tour singles title in 1989 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 ...

as a wildcard, defeating

Guillermo Pérez Roldán Guillermo Pérez Roldán (born 20 October 1969) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Pérez Roldán was known particularly as a strong clay court player. He turned professional in 1986. Between 1987 and 1993, he won nine top- ...

. His first doubles title was won in Geneva as well in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

with partner

Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in men's singles and reac ...

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

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ci ...

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

Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals ...

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon singles title as a Wild card (sports)#Professional tennis, w ...

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

, and Emilio Sánchez. In the final, he faced Spain's

Jordi Arrese Jordi Arrese i Castañé (; born 29 August 1964) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. Born in Barcelona, Arrese won the men's singles silver medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in his home town. In the final, he was defeated in a mara ...

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

. 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 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 ...

. 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 ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Par ...

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 The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

. That year he also achieved his best performance at a Grand Slam when he beat

Carl-Uwe Steeb Carl-Uwe Steeb (born 1 September 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Germany. Steeb turned professional in 1986. He won his first top-level singles title in 1989 in Gstaad. His best singles performances at Grand Slam Grand Slam mo ...

Jiří Novák Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Career Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...

and

Bernd Karbacher Bernd Karbacher (born 3 April 1968) is a German retired professional tennis player. His highest ATP singles ranking is world No. 22, which he reached on 17 April 1995. His career-high doubles ranking was world No. 163, achieved on 6 June 1994. ...

before losing to

Michael Stich Michael Detlef Stich (, ; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991, the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in 1992, and was a singles r ...

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 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 ...

. Rosset won their first two meetings in 2000 (including the final of the

Open 13 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 ...

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'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. 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. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

, and

hard court A hardcourt (or hard court) is a 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 or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface an ...

Career statistics

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Olympic Games

Singles: 1 (1 gold medal)

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosset, Marc Swiss male tennis players Olympic tennis players of 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 expatriates in Monaco Tennis players from Geneva 1970 births Living people Olympic medalists in tennis Hopman Cup competitors Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics French Open champions