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

tennis player 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 ...

from France. He was semifinalist at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

in 1999 in doubles (partnering

Fabrice Santoro Fabrice Vetea Santoro (; born 9 December 1972) is a French former professional tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming towards the end of his ca ...

), and reached the fourth round of the 1994 French Open and

1995 Australian Open The 1995 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park, Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 83rd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 ...

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 The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant tennis event in the men's annual calendar after the four majors, as it features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams based on their ...

, 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 and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...

. Delaitre's biggest title was the

Monte Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...

in 1999, where - unseeded - he and

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) during the early 2000s. Henman won 15 career ATP Tour titl ...

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 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 ...

at a Grand Slam, in the first qualifying round of the 1999 Australian Open.

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 Tennis players from Hauts-de-Seine Sportspeople from Metz 20th-century French sportsmen