Henri Leconte

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Henri Leconte
Henri Leconte at the 2007 U.S. Open.
Country France
Residence Geneva, Switzerland
Date of birth July 4, 1963 (1963-07-04) (age 44)
Place of birth Lillers, France
Height 1.84 m (6 ft +12 in)
Weight 79 kg (170 lb/12.4 st)
Turned pro 1980
Retired 1996
Plays Left-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money $US3,440,660
Singles
Career record: 377-269
Career titles: 9
Highest ranking: 5 (September 22, 1986)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open -
French Open F (1988)
Wimbledon SF (1986)
US Open QF (1986)
Doubles
Career record: 200-141
Career titles: 10
Highest ranking: 6 (1986)

Infobox last updated on: June 10, 2007.

Henri Leconte (born July 4, 1963 in Lillers, Pas-de-Calais) is a former French professional tennis player. He is best remembered for reaching the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, for winning the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and for helping France win the Davis Cup in 1991.

Leconte first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player who won the French Open junior title in 1981.

As a professional, Leconte won his first career doubles title in 1981 at Bologna, and his first top-level singles title in 1982 in Stockholm.

Leconte teamed up with Yannick Noah to win the men's doubles title at the French Open in 1984. In 1985, Leconte and Noah reached a second Grand Slam doubles final at the US Open, where they finished runners-up. Leconte reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 6 in 1985.

1986 saw Leconte reach two Grand Slam singles semi-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon, and attain his career-high singles ranking of World No. 5.

In 1988, Leconte reached the men's singles final at the French Open. In the final, despite strong support from the French crowd, Leconte could not overcome two-time former champion Mats Wilander who defeated him in straight sets 7–5, 6–2, 6–1.

Leconte played in the Davis Cup final for the first time in 1982, when France was defeated 4–1 by the United States.

In 1991, Leconte was involved in the Davis Cup final for a second time where France again faced the US. And this time Leconte defeated Pete Sampras in straight sets in a critical singles rubber and also teamed-up with Guy Forget to win the doubles rubber as France upset the heavily-favoured US team to win 3–1.

In total, Leconte played for France's Davis Cup team for a total of 13 consecutive years, compiling a 41-25 record.

Leconte also played on the French team which won the World Team Cup in 1986.

Leconte gave the French crowd something to cheer about one more time in 1992 when, for the third time in his career, he progressed all the way to the semi-finals of the French Open before finally being defeated by Petr Korda.

Leconte won his final top-level singles title in 1993 in Halle. His final doubles title was also won that year at Indian Wells.

Leconte retired form the professional tour in 1996, having won a total of nine career singles titles and ten doubles titles. Playing on the ATP Champions Tour for over-35's, he formed a memorable doubles partnership with the flamboyant Iranian player Mansour Bahrami.

He is now the manager of an event company (HL Event) based in Belgium, and is due to open a tennis academy in Fès, Morocco, in 2006.

Contents

[edit] Grand Slam singles final

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1988 French Open Mats Wilander 7–5, 6–2, 6–1

[edit] Singles finals (16)

[edit] Wins (9)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 1982 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Flag of Sweden Mats Wilander 7–6, 6–3
2. 1984 Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany Clay Flag of the United States Gene Mayer 7–6, 6–0, 1–6, 6–1
3. 1985 Nice, France Clay Flag of Paraguay Victor Pecci 6–4, 6–4
4. 1985 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Flag of New Zealand Kelly Evernden 6–7, 6–2, 6–3
5. 1986 Geneva, Switzerland Clay Flag of France Thierry Tulasne 7–5, 6–3
6. 1986 Hamburg, Germany Clay Flag of Czechoslovakia Miloslav Mecir 6–7, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2
7. 1988 Nice, France Clay Flag of France Jerome Potier 6–2, 6–2
8. 1988 Brussels, Belgium Carpet Flag of Switzerland Jakob Hlasek 7–6, 7–6, 6–4
9. 1993 Halle, Germany Grass Flag of Ukraine Andriy Medvedev 6–2, 6–3

[edit] Runner-ups (7)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 1983 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Flag of Argentina Guillermo Vilas 7–6, 4–6, 6–4
2. 1983 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Flag of the United States John McEnroe 6–1, 6–4, 7–5
3. 1984 Memphis, U.S. Carpet Flag of the United States Jimmy Connors 6–3, 4–6, 7–5
4. 1985 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Flag of Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6–4, 6–4, 7–6
5. 1986 Bristol, United Kingdom Grass Flag of India Vijay Amritraj 7–6, 1–6, 8–6
6. 1988 Hamburg, Germany Clay Flag of Sweden Kent Carlsson 6–2, 6–1, 6–4
7. 1988 French Open, Paris Clay Flag of Sweden Mats Wilander 7–5, 6–2, 6–1

[edit] Doubles finals (19)

[edit] Wins (10)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponent in the final Score
1. 1981 Bologna, Italy Carpet Flag of the United States Sammy Giammalva Jr. Flag of Czechoslovakia Tomas Smid
Flag of Hungary Balazs Taroczy
7–6, 6–4
2. 1982 Nice, France Clay Flag of France Yannick Noah Flag of Australia Paul McNamee
Flag of Hungary Balazs Taroczy
5–7, 6–4, 6–3
3. 1982 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Flag of France Yannick Noah Flag of the United States Fritz Buehning
Flag of Czechoslovakia Pavel Slozil
6–2, 6–2
4. 1982 Vienna, Austria Carpet Flag of Czechoslovakia Pavel Slozil Flag of the United States Mark Dickson
Flag of the United States Terry Moor
6–1, 7–6
5. 1983 Aix-en-Provence, France Clay Flag of France Gilles Moretton Flag of Brazil Ivan Camus
Flag of Spain Sergio Casal
2–6, 6–1, 6–2
6. 1984 French Open, Paris Clay Flag of France Yannick Noah Flag of Czechoslovakia Pavel Slozil
Flag of Czechoslovakia Tomas Smid
6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2
7. 1984 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Flag of France Pascal Portes Flag of Zimbabwe Colin Dowdeswell
Flag of Poland Wojtek Fibak
2–6, 7–6, 7–6
8. 1984 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Flag of Czechoslovakia Tomas Smid Flag of India Vijay Amritraj
Flag of Romania Ilie Nastase
3–6, 7–6, 6–4
9. 1988 Nice, France Clay Flag of France Guy Forget Flag of Switzerland Heinz Gunthardt
Flag of Italy Diego Nargiso
4–6, 6–3, 6–4
10. 1993 Indian Wells, U.S. Hard Flag of France Guy Forget Flag of the United States Luke Jensen
Flag of the United States Scott Melville
6–4, 7–5

[edit] Runner-ups (9)

  • 1982 - Bournemouth
  • 1983 - Monte Carlo
  • 1984 - Philadelphia
  • 1985 - U.S. Open
  • 1988 - Monte Carlo
  • 1990 - London
  • 1991 - Indian Wells
  • 1992 - Toulouse
  • 1994 - Halle

[edit] External links