Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player and
Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the
2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 10 in April 2001. He also had a career-high doubles ranking of No. 8. He won four
ATP singles titles (
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
2000,
Metz
Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...
2003,
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
2006,
Washington 2006), and twelve doubles titles including
2007 Wimbledon, partnering
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and ...
, and two
Masters titles.
He was the French
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
captain from 2013 to 2015.
Career
He turned professional in 1996, and achieved his career highlight at the
2001 Australian Open, reaching the men's singles final, where he was defeated by
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
. En route, Clement defeated the then-unseeded future world No. 1,
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
, and the former world No. 1,
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former professional tennis p ...
.
Throughout his career, he has beaten top players such as
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
,
Pat Rafter
Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and world No. 6 in doubles. Rafter won eleven ...
,
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Moyá won 20 ATP Tour-level singles tit ...
and more recently Roger Federer,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
and
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
. In doubles, Clément often partnered with fellow Frenchmen
Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive ...
and
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 3 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), winning 26 career doubles titles, including three majors and ...
.

Until 2010, Clément held the record for the longest match in the history of the
Open Era. At
Roland Garros 2004, Fabrice Santoro defeated Clément 6–4, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6, 16–14 in six hours and 33 minutes.
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was 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 ...
and
Nicolas Mahut would eventually beat this record
six years later at Wimbledon.
In March 2006, Clément ended his two-and-a-half-year period of not winning an
ATP singles title by capturing the
Marseille Open, defeating world No. 2, Rafael Nadal, in the semifinals and
Mario Ančić in the finals. In August 2006, Clément won his first
ATP title in the United States, defeating Murray in straight sets in the final of the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic.
In July 2007, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra won the men's double title at Wimbledon, beating world No. 1 and top seeds defending champions,
Bob and Mike Bryan, thus winning his first Grand Slam doubles title (Llodra had won two previous titles with
Fabrice Santoro, making it his third Grand Slam title). He and Llodra were ecstatic, and celebrated by throwing their shirts, rackets, and towels into the crowd.
In July 2008, Arnaud Clément and
Rainer Schüttler, both in their early 30s, played against each other in a Wimbledon quarterfinal singles match. Because of rain delays and darkness, play was suspended over a period of two days. Eventually, the match went in favour of Schüttler. The match went five sets and over five hours combined within the two playing days. The fifth set's score was 8–6. Finishing in five hours and twelve minutes, it was the third-longest men's singles match in Wimbledon history.
In June 2012, Arnaud Clément formalized his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 34, after a 16-year career.
Personal life
While playing, he often wore a
bandana
A kerchief (from the Old French ''couvre-chef'', "cover head"), also known as a bandana or bandanna, is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the Human head, head, face, or neck for protective or decorative purposes. The popularity of ...
and sunglasses. The sunglasses have been medically prescribed for Clement because of severe eye problems he has encountered through his life, which had nearly left him blind as a child. At only 13 months old, he was diagnosed with unilateral
coloboma, meaning the condition only affects one eye, at that time Clément was only given a 40/60% chance of having healthy eyesight for the rest of his life, throughout his tennis career Clément has worn sunglasses to protect his eyes.
Clément was selected to represent one of the world's best-known and most important fashion labels,
Lacoste. He was seen from May 2004 onwards in a pan-European print and TV campaign alongside the Danish pop singer
Natasha Thomas. The advert was directed and shot by
Bruno Aveillan.
Clément has been in a relationship with French pop singer
Nolwenn Leroy since 2008.
["Love story : Nolwenn Leroy et Arnaud Clément"]
''Marie Claire''. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
ATP career finals
Singles: 11 (4 titles, 7 runner-ups)
Doubles: 22 (12 titles, 10 runner-ups)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Top 10 wins
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, Arnaud
1977 births
Living people
French expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland
French male tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players for France
Sportspeople from Aix-en-Provence
Tennis players from Geneva
French people of Lebanese descent
Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Wimbledon champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
20th-century French sportsmen