Arnaud Clément

Infobox Tennis player
playername=Arnaud Clément


country=FRA
residence=Geneva, Switzerland
datebirth=birth date and age|1977|12|17
placebirth=Aix-en-Provence, France
height=height|m=1.72
weight=convert|72|kg|lb st|abbr=on
turnedpro=1996
plays=Right-handed; two-handed backhand
careerprizemoney= US$5,867,659
singlesrecord= 277–268
singlestitles=4
highestsinglesranking= No. 10 (April 2, 2001)
AustralianOpenresult=F (2001)
FrenchOpenresult=4R (2003)
Wimbledonresult=QF (2008)
USOpenresult=QF (2000)
doublesrecord= 181–145
doublestitles=11
highestdoublesranking= No. 8 (January 28, 2008)
updated= October 6, 2008

Arnaud Clément (born December 17, 1977) is a professional tennis player from France.

Career

Clément was born in Aix-en-Provence, and currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland. He turned professional in 1996, and his most significant achievement has been to reach the Australian Open men's singles final in 2001, where he was defeated by Andre Agassi, defeating the then-unseeded but future number one Roger Federer and former number one Yevgeny Kafelnikov on his way to the final. While playing he often wears a bandana 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.

Clément has been ranked as high as 10th in the world in singles and as high as 24th in doubles, where he has often partnered with fellow Frenchmen Sébastien Grosjean and Michael Llodra. He has won four ATP singles titles (Lyon 2000, Metz 2003, Marseille 2006, Washington 2006), and five doubles titles. In September 2005 he defeated Great Britain's Andy Murray in the U.S. Open tournament.

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 number 2 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals 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 Michael Llodra won the men's double title at Wimbledon, beating World N. 1 and number one 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.

Clément was selected to represent one of the world's best-known and most important fashion label, Lacoste. He was seen from May 2004 onwards in a pan-European print and TV campaign alongside the Danish pop singer Natacha Thomas. The advert was directed and shot by Bruno Aveillan, who in the course of his career has already filmed top stars such as Monica Bellucci, Claudia Schiffer, Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane and Gisele Bündchen.

At only 13 months old Clément was diagnosed with unilateral coloboma, meaning the condition only effects 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.

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 favor 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 5:12, this match is the second longest gentleman's singles match in the history of Wimbledon.

Santoro-Clement Match

At Roland Garros 2004, Fabrice Santoro defeated Clément 6–4, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6, 16-14 in six hours and 33 minutes. It is the longest singles match in male professional tennis history.

Grand Slam singles final

Runner-up (1)

Career finals

ingles

Doubles

Wins

External links

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* [http://steveghelper.com/MatchResults.php?players=Clement&weeks=12 Clément Recent Match Results]
* [http://steveghelper.com/RankingHistory.php?player=Clement Clément World Ranking History]