Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) 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. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and

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, and at

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 * ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons ranked in the top 30 (1999–2006), peaking at world No. 4 in October 2002. Grosjean retired from professional tennis in May 2010. In December 2018, he was named the

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 for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Career

Juniors

As a junior, Grosjean posted a 90-20 singles record and a 58-12 doubles record, winning the

1996 French Open The 1996 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 27 May until 9 June. It was the 100th staging of the French Open, and the second Gran ...

boys' doubles. He reached No. 1 in the world in both singles and doubles in December 1996.

Pro tour

Grosjean joined the professional tour in 1996. In 2003 and 2004, he reached the final of the Queen's London Tournament. In the same two years, he also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. He finished 2001 as the No. 1 player from his country and for the first time in the top 10 becoming the first Frenchman to finish a year in the top 10 since

Cédric Pioline Cédric Pioline (born 15 June 1969) is a French former professional tennis player who played on the professional tour from 1989 to 2002. He reached the men's singles final at the 1993 US Open and at Wimbledon in 1997. On both occasions, he was ...

in 1993. In 2001, Grosjean won the

with the French team. Grosjean is known for his extreme forehand, his best shot, he utilizes something of a western grip, which is hit at high velocities. He has appeared in four Grand Slam semifinal matches. As well as his two Wimbledon runs, he also reached the French Open semifinals in 2001. His most famous chance was at the 2001 Australian Open 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 ...

. Grosjean led two sets to love and had a match point in the fourth set before Clément prevailed. This was long considered the worst 'choke' in five-set history, until the 2004 French Open final. He won his fourth singles title at the 2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, with a victory over countryman

Marc Gicquel Marc Gicquel (born 30 March 1977) is a former professional male tennis player from France. Tennis career Gicquel turned pro in 1999. He made his ATP Tour singles debut at the 2002 Open 13 tournament on hard courts in Marseilles, France. He ...

. He also won the doubles final with

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 ...

as a wildcard team, where they upset the first and third seeds. Considered one of the more popular players on the circuit, he is lauded for his attractive, graceful style and classical skills. He is affectionately nicknamed 'Big John' by fans, a literal translation of his surname into English.

Personal life

Grosjean married his wife Marie-Pierre on 16 November 1998 and has a daughter named Lola (born 11 October 1998), a son named Tom (2002), and a daughter named Sam (2006). The family resides in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

(U.S.), where Grosjean trains at the

Evert Tennis Academy Evert Tennis Academy is a tennis training center for developing collegiate and professional tennis players in Boca Raton, Florida. The academy was founded by professional tennis player Chris Evert and her brother John Evert. It opened in 1996. ...

. He is sponsored by Lacoste in apparel and Head rackets. He used the Head Radical Tour TwinTube 630 XL under various paint jobs throughout his career.

Major finals

Year-end championships finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Masters Series finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 13 (4 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 5 (2–3)

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * *
Grosjean world ranking history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosjean, Sebastien 1978 births Living people French male tennis players French Open junior champions Olympic tennis players of France Tennis players from Marseille Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles