Olivier Delaître (born 1 June 1967) is a former professional

tennis player 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 cove ...

from France. He was semifinalist at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

in 1999 in doubles (partnering

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 ...

), and reached the fourth round of the

1994 French Open The 1994 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 98th staging of the French Open, and the second Gra ...

and 1995 Australian Open in singles.

Career

Delaitre turned professional in 1986. In singles, he reached four ATP-tour finals, and achieved a career-high ranking of 33 in February 1995. In doubles, he won 15 titles during his career and reached a career-high ranking of 3 in July 1999. In 1998, he won four doubles titles with

and together they qualified for the end-of-year ATP Finals, where they reached the semifinals. In 1999, Delaitre and Santoro lost in the semifinals of Wimbledon 7-5 in the final set to eventual champions Mahesh Bhupati and

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...

. Delaitre's biggest title was the

Monte Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professio ...

in 1999, where - unseeded - he and

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...

won the tournament without dropping a set. Delaitre was the first person to defeat future World No. 1

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

at a Grand Slam, in the first qualifying round of the

1999 Australian Open The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam o ...

Career finals

Singles: 4 (0–4)

Doubles: 26 (15–11)

Doubles performance timeline

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delaitre, Olivier 1967 births Living people French male tennis players Sportspeople from Hauts-de-Seine Sportspeople from Metz