Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian

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 cov ...

. He is the younger brother of

Christophe Rochus Christophe Rochus (born 15 December 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Belgium. Rochus is the older brother of Olivier Rochus. He reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2005 and was runner-up in two ATP tournam ...

, also a former top-40 tennis player. Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in

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 ...

won 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 ve ...

doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 24. At tall, he was the shortest player on the ATP World Tour.

Career

Juniors

Rochus was a partner of

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 ...

on the junior circuit, winning the boys' doubles title at Wimbledon in 1998. As a junior, he compiled a singles win–loss record of 81–30 (42–20 in doubles), reaching as high as No. 11 in the world in 1997 (and No. 16 in doubles the following year). Rochus reached at least the quarterfinals of all four junior Grand Slam tournaments (including the semifinals of the French Open and Wimbledon).

1999–2008

He won his first title in Palermo in 2000, defeating his brother in the semifinals and

Diego Nargiso Diego Nargiso (born 15 March 1970) is a former tennis player from Italy. Having turned professional in 1987, Nargiso represented his native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by America's eve ...

in the final. In 2003, he achieved his greatest Master Series result, reaching the quarter-finals of the Hamburg Masters. He has represented Belgium at two Olympic Games in both the singles and the doubles competitions at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. In May 2006, he reached the final of the ATP tournament in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, setting up the first ever all-Belgian men's singles final against

Kristof Vliegen Kristof Vliegen (born 22 June 1982) is a Belgian former tennis player. He plays right-handed and he turned professional in 2001. He was a semi-finalist in Chennai in 2006 and in May of the same year, he reached the final of the ATP tourname ...

. He won that final in straight sets. In June, Rochus faced world No. 1, Roger Federer, in the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open. Rochus held four match points in the second set at 5–6 and in the tie-break. He could not close out the match and eventually lost in three tiebreaks.

2009

He reached the final of the Stockholm Open, after winning to Swede

Andreas Vinciguerra Andreas Vinciguerra (; born 19 February 1981) is a former tennis player from Sweden, who turned professional in 1998. He won 1 singles title in Copenhagen; reached the semi-finals of the 2001 Rome Masters and 2001 Paris Masters; and attained a ...

in the first round, eighth seed Feliciano López, and

Jarkko Nieminen Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his care ...

. In the semifinals, he beat best Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. In the final, he met former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, but lost in two sets. One week later at the Grand Prix de Lyon, he won his first match against French qualifier

Vincent Millot Vincent Millot (; born 30 January 1986, in Montpellier, France) is a French former professional tennis player. Despite never having reached the top 100, Millot has played at each of the four Grand Slam events. Career statistics ATP Challenger Tou ...

. He faced world No. 8,

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...

, but lost in two short sets. His next tournament was the

Swiss Indoors The Swiss Indoors is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland. History The historical precursor event to this tournament was called the Swiss International Covered Courts ...

, where he first won his three qualifying matches. In the first round of the tournament, he lost to his former double partner and world No. 1, Roger Federer. The last tournament of his tennis season was the AXA Belgian Masters (Challenger), where he met compatriot Steve Darcis in the semifinal.

2010

At the Sony Ericsson Open he defeated

Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...

and the 2007 titlist and second seed

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. ...

. In the Nice tournament, one week prior to Roland Garros, he pulled off another upset, defeating 2009 French Open finalist Robin Söderling. He defeated

Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...

of South Africa at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship, but lost to

Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the ma ...

in the final in three sets.

2011

In March, Rochus lost in the fourth round in Miami to Federer, after defeating

Blaž Kavčič Blaž Kavčič (born 5 March 1987) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was the highest ranked Slovenian male player ever, achieving a career-high of World No. 68 in August 2012, until Aljaž Bedene began to play for Slovenia a ...

, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny in the first three rounds. In July, he made it to the final in Newport, where he was defeated by

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 ...

in straight sets.

2012–13

Rochus had his best success earlier in 2012, reaching the final in Auckland. He lost to

Nicolás Almagro Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ...

in the first round of Wimbledon. In 2013, he played mostly on the Challenger Tour, never advancing beyond the second round of an ATP event.

ATP career finals

Singles: 10 (2 wins, 8 losses)

Doubles: 7 (2 wins, 5 losses)

Performance timelines

Singles

¹Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008,

Madrid Masters There are two sporting events named the Madrid Masters: *Madrid Open (tennis) The Madrid Open ( es, Masters de Madrid, link=no), currently sponsored by Mutua Madrileña and known as the Mutua Madrid Open, is a joint men's and women's professiona ...

(outdoor clay) 2009–present.
²Held as Stuttgart Masters (indoor hard) until 2001,

(indoor hard) from 2002 to 2008, and Shanghai Masters (outdoor hard) 2009–present.

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rochus, Olivier 1981 births Living people Belgian male tennis players French Open champions Hopman Cup competitors Olympic tennis players of Belgium Sportspeople from Namur (city) People from Chaumont-Gistoux Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Wimbledon champions Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles