Julien Benneteau


Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and now lives in Geneva. Benneteau did not win a singles title, although he finished as runner-up in ten ATP tournaments. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 French Open and the semifinals of the 2014 Cincinnati Masters and 2017 Paris Masters.
Benneteau also had success in doubles, winning the bronze medal in men's doubles at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 French Open men's doubles title with fellow Frenchman Édouard Roger-Vasselin, thus becoming the first team from France to win the men's doubles discipline in 30 years. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world no. 5 in November 2014.
Benneteau intended to retire from professional tennis after the 2018 US Open. However, due to an injury crisis he was asked by captain Yannick Noah to represent France in the Davis Cup semifinal in September 2018 against Spain. Benneteau teamed up with Nicolas Mahut to secure a decisive victory that took France to an unassailable 3-0 lead against Spain and into the final of the 2018 Davis Cup.
Benneteau subsequently played several further events in singles and doubles, concluding his professional career on home soil at the Paris Masters.

Tennis career

Junior career

In the 1999 Orange Bowl Benneteau won the Boys 16s double title.
As a junior, Benneteau reached as high as no. 17 in the world in 1999, and no. 1 in doubles.
He won US Open Junior with Nicolas Mahut in 1999.

Professional career

At the 2006 French Open, Benneteau reached the quarterfinals by defeating Janko Tipsarević, Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, Radek Štěpánek, and Alberto Martín. There, he was defeated in straight sets by fourth-seeded Ivan Ljubičić of Croatia.
The Frenchman finished the 2008 season in the top 50 for the second time in three years. During the season, he reached two ATP finals, at Casablanca, where he lost to fellow countryman Gilles Simon, and in his final tournament of the season at Lyon, where he lost to Robin Söderling.
In May 2009, he entered the Interwetten Austrian Open in Kitzbühel as a lucky loser and reached his third career final, falling to Spain's Guillermo García-López.
In the quarterfinals of the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, he played a remarkable 53-shot rally with the then world no. 2 Andy Murray in the second set of a three-set loss. He lost the rally when he smashed a lob that grazed the net and went wide.
His best career victory was undoubtedly achieved on 11 November 2009 at the 2009 Paris Masters, when he scored a huge upset over world no. 1 Roger Federer in the second round in front of his home crowd.
He reached the third round of the 2012 French Open, losing to world no. 8 Janko Tipsarević.
In the third round of Wimbledon 2012, Benneteau led Federer by two sets before eventually being defeated in five sets. In the 2012 Olympics in London, he captured the bronze medal in doubles with Richard Gasquet.
At the 2013 ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, Benneteau again beat top seed and defending champion Federer in the quarterfinals. He beat compatriot Gilles Simon in the semifinals, but was not able to overcome Juan Martín del Potro in the final, disappointingly failing yet again to clinch a title. During the clay season, he beat Nicolás Almagro at the Rome Masters, but lost to Benoit Paire in the second round. At Roland Garros he was 30th seed, he lost in the third round to Roger Federer.
At the Eastbourne grass tournament, the Frenchman beat Kevin Anderson in the first round, but lost to Bernard Tomic in the second round. At Wimbledon, he lost to Fernando Verdasco in the second round. Benneteau was defeated by Andy Murray in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters. At the US Open, he defeated Jérémy Chardy in the second round, but lost to Tomáš Berdych in the third round.
Benneteau reached the final of the 2013 Malaysian Open for the second year running after beating Stan Wawrinka, but was once again beaten in the final, this time by unseeded João Sousa in three sets. He had won the first set and was within a game of winning the title at 5-4 in the second set. At Valencia he won over Feliciano López in the first round, but lost to David Ferrer in the second round. He collected first-round losses at the Shanghai and Paris Masters.
In the 2014 season, Benneteau beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Feliciano López to reach the Indian Wells Masters quarterfinals, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. At the Miami Masters, he won over Ernests Gulbis, but was defeated by Tommy Robredo. During the clay season, he claimed the Bordeaux Challenger, but lost to Facundo Bagnis in the first round of Roland Garros. At Eastbourne, Benneteau took wins over Yen-Hsun Lu and Gilles Simon, after which he lost to Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals. At Wimbledon, he again lost in the first round to Gilles Müller.
The Frenchman began the 2014 US Open Series with a second-round loss in Washington. At the Canada Masters, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt and Ernests Gulbis to reach the third round, where he was defeated by local Milos Raonic. Benneteau upset Stan Wawrinka to reach the Cincinnati Masters semifinals, where he lost to David Ferrer. At the US Open, he lost in the first round to Benoît Paire.
At the 2014 Malaysian Open, Benneteau defeated Pablo Cuevas in the quarterfinals and Ernests Gulbis in the semifinals to reach his third singles final in four years at that tournament. He lost to Kei Nishikori in the final.
At the Paris Masters in 2017, he reached the Semi-finals where he lost to Jack Sock.
At the 2018 Australian Open he played in the third round against Fabio Fognini. At the 2018 French Open, he won against Leonardo Mayer before losing to fifth seed Juan Martín del Potro.
Benneteau is also currently the Fed Cup Captain for France.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

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

Masters 1000 finals

Doubles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runners-up)

Olympic medal matches

Doubles: 1 (1 bronze medal)

ATP career finals

Singles: 10 (10 runners-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12008 Grand Prix Hassan II – Singles|Grand Prix Hassan II, MoroccoInternationalClay Gilles Simon5–7, 2–6
Loss0–22008 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon – Singles|Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, FranceInternationalCarpet Robin Söderling3–6, 7–6, 1–6
Loss0–32009 Interwetten Austrian Open Kitzbühel – Singles|Austrian Open, Austria250 SeriesClay Guillermo García López6–3, 6–7, 3–6
Loss0–42010 Open 13 – Singles|Open 13, France250 SeriesHard Michaël Llodra3–6, 4–6
Loss0–52011 Winston-Salem Open – Singles|Winston-Salem Open, US250 SeriesHard John Isner6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Loss0–62012 Apia International Sydney – Men's Singles|Sydney International, Australia250 SeriesHard Jarkko Nieminen2–6, 5–7
Loss0–72012 Proton Malaysian Open – Singles|Malaysian Open, Malaysia250 SeriesHard Juan Mónaco5–7, 6–4, 3–6
Loss0–82013 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Singles|Rotterdam Open, Netherlands500 SeriesHard Juan Martín del Potro6–7, 3–6
Loss0–92013 Proton Malaysian Open – Singles|Malaysian Open, Malaysia250 SeriesHard João Sousa6–2, 5–7, 4–6
Loss0–102014 Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur – Singles|Malaysian Open, Malaysia250 SeriesHard Kei Nishikori6–7, 4–6

Doubles: 21 (12 titles, 9 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–02003 Open de Moselle – Doubles|Open de Moselle, FranceInternationalHard Nicolas Mahut Michaël Llodra
Fabrice Santoro		7–6, 6–3
Loss1–12003 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon – Doubles|Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, FranceInternationalCarpet Nicolas Mahut Jonathan Erlich
Andy Ram		1–6, 3–6
Win2–12006 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon – Doubles|Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, FranceInternationalCarpet Arnaud Clément František Čermák
Jaroslav Levinský		6–2, 6–7,
Loss2–22007 Monte Carlo Masters – Doubles|Monte-Carlo Masters, MonacoMastersClay Richard Gasquet Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		2–6, 1–6
Win3–22008 Tennis Channel Open – Doubles|Las Vegas Open, USInternationalHard Michaël Llodra Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		6–4, 4–6,
Win4–22009 Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 – Doubles|Shanghai Masters, ChinaMastersHard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Mariusz Fyrstenberg
Marcin Matkowski		6–2, 6–4
Win5–22009 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon – Doubles|Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, France 250 SeriesHard Nicolas Mahut Arnaud Clément
Sébastien Grosjean		6–4, 7–6
Win6–22010 Open 13 – Doubles|Open 13, France250 SeriesHard Michaël Llodra Julian Knowle
Robert Lindstedt		6–4, 6–3
Loss6–32010 Rogers Cup – Men's Doubles|Canadian Open, CanadaMasters 1000Hard Michaël Llodra Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		5–7, 3–6
Loss6–42011 Open 13 – Doubles|Open 13, France250 SeriesHard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Robin Haase
Ken Skupski		3–6, 7–6,
Loss6–52011 BNP Paribas Masters – Doubles|Paris Masters, FranceMasters 1000Hard Nicolas Mahut Rohan Bopanna
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi		2–6, 4–6
Win7–52013 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters – Doubles|Monte-Carlo Masters, MonacoMastersClay Nenad Zimonjić Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		4–6, 7–6,
Win8–52013 Citi Open – Men's Doubles|Washington Open, US500 SeriesHard Nenad Zimonjić Mardy Fish
Radek Štěpánek		7–6, 7–5
Win9–52014 Open 13 – Doubles|Open 13, France 250 SeriesHard Édouard Roger-Vasselin Paul Hanley
Jonathan Marray		4–6, 7–6,
Win10–52014 French Open – Men's Doubles|French Open, FranceGrand SlamClay Édouard Roger-Vasselin Marcel Granollers
Marc López		6–3, 7–6
Loss10–62014 China Open – Men's Doubles|China Open, China500 SeriesHard Vasek Pospisil Jean-Julien Rojer
Horia Tecău		6–7, 7–5,
Loss10–72014 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Doubles|Shanghai Masters, ChinaMasters 1000Hard Édouard Roger-Vasselin Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		3–6, 6–7
Loss10–82016 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles|Wimbledon, UKGrand SlamGrass Édouard Roger-Vasselin Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Nicolas Mahut		4–6, 6–7, 3–6
Win11–82017 Open 13 – Doubles|Open 13, France 250 SeriesHard Nicolas Mahut Robin Haase
Dominic Inglot		6–4, 6–7,
Loss11–92017 Aegon Championships – Doubles|Queen's Club Championships, UK500 SeriesGrass Édouard Roger-Vasselin Jamie Murray
Bruno Soares		2–6, 3–6
Win12–92017 Moselle Open – Doubles|Moselle Open, France250 SeriesHard Édouard Roger-Vasselin Wesley Koolhof
Artem Sitak		7–5, 6–3

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles performance timeline

Record against top 10 players

Benneteau's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface
Season2000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018Total
Wins000000311211123002118