Stéphane Robert (French pronunciation:[stefanʁɔbɛʁ]; born 17 May 1980) is a former professional French
tennis player.
Career
2007–2008
Robert missed 16 months of tennis action in 2007–2008 because he was infected with the
Hepatitis A virus in February 2007. In early June 2008, he returned to tennis action at the
ITF Men's Circuit tournament in
Apeldoorn, without an ATP singles ranking, reaching the final as a qualifier.[2]
2010
On 1 February 2010, Robert broke into Top 100 of the ATP singles rankings for the first time at No. 100. Within one week of his singles rankings breakthrough and seeded no. 8, he defeated for the first time in his career a player (
David Ferrer) ranked in the top 20 of the
ATP singles rankings in the semifinals before reaching his first ATP World Tour singles final at the
2010 SA Tennis Open, falling to 3rd-seeded
Feliciano López 5–7, 1–6. Robert rose to a career-high of No. 61 of the ATP singles rankings on 22 February 2010 one day after winning the
ATP Challenger Toursingles title in Tangier.[2]
2011
Robert rose to international prominence in 2011 when, as a qualifier, he beat the 2010 Wimbledon singles finalist and sixth seed
Tomáš Berdych 3–6, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2, 9–7 in the first round of the
2011 French Open to register the biggest singles win of his career, having saved a match point at 4–5 in the deciding set. It was the first time that he had beaten a player ranked in the top 10 of the
ATP singles rankings – Berdych was ranked no. 6. Robert lost his second round match to
Fabio Fognini in straight sets.[2]
2014: Reached Australian Open fourth round as lucky loser
Robert qualified for the singles main draw of the
2016 Australian Open by winning
three qualifying matches, and he lost in the third round of the main draw to
Gaël Monfils. That was only the second time Robert had progressed to the third round of the singles main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
On July 15, 2016, Robert, who was unseeded and had an
ATP singles ranking of 83 coming into the tournament, reached the semi-final at the
2016 German Open, where he lost to
Martin Kližan. It was Robert's first ATP World Tour semi-final since February 2010, when he was defeated in the
final in Johannesburg.[3] Robert's ATP singles ranking reached a career-high of 59 on July 18, 2016, right after his semi-final appearance in Hamburg, which was a massive improvement over his ATP singles ranking of 558 on 25 May 2015.[4]
Coaching
From 2001 to March 2010, Ronan Lafaix was Robert's coach. In May 2016, Lafaix, who is 12 years older than Robert, became Robert's coach for the second time. Lafaix joined the
Mouratoglou Tennis Academy and has coached several professional tennis players.[5]
Stéphane Robert (French pronunciation:[stefanʁɔbɛʁ]; born 17 May 1980) is a former professional French
tennis player.
Career
2007–2008
Robert missed 16 months of tennis action in 2007–2008 because he was infected with the
Hepatitis A virus in February 2007. In early June 2008, he returned to tennis action at the
ITF Men's Circuit tournament in
Apeldoorn, without an ATP singles ranking, reaching the final as a qualifier.[2]
2010
On 1 February 2010, Robert broke into Top 100 of the ATP singles rankings for the first time at No. 100. Within one week of his singles rankings breakthrough and seeded no. 8, he defeated for the first time in his career a player (
David Ferrer) ranked in the top 20 of the
ATP singles rankings in the semifinals before reaching his first ATP World Tour singles final at the
2010 SA Tennis Open, falling to 3rd-seeded
Feliciano López 5–7, 1–6. Robert rose to a career-high of No. 61 of the ATP singles rankings on 22 February 2010 one day after winning the
ATP Challenger Toursingles title in Tangier.[2]
2011
Robert rose to international prominence in 2011 when, as a qualifier, he beat the 2010 Wimbledon singles finalist and sixth seed
Tomáš Berdych 3–6, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2, 9–7 in the first round of the
2011 French Open to register the biggest singles win of his career, having saved a match point at 4–5 in the deciding set. It was the first time that he had beaten a player ranked in the top 10 of the
ATP singles rankings – Berdych was ranked no. 6. Robert lost his second round match to
Fabio Fognini in straight sets.[2]
2014: Reached Australian Open fourth round as lucky loser
Robert qualified for the singles main draw of the
2016 Australian Open by winning
three qualifying matches, and he lost in the third round of the main draw to
Gaël Monfils. That was only the second time Robert had progressed to the third round of the singles main draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
On July 15, 2016, Robert, who was unseeded and had an
ATP singles ranking of 83 coming into the tournament, reached the semi-final at the
2016 German Open, where he lost to
Martin Kližan. It was Robert's first ATP World Tour semi-final since February 2010, when he was defeated in the
final in Johannesburg.[3] Robert's ATP singles ranking reached a career-high of 59 on July 18, 2016, right after his semi-final appearance in Hamburg, which was a massive improvement over his ATP singles ranking of 558 on 25 May 2015.[4]
Coaching
From 2001 to March 2010, Ronan Lafaix was Robert's coach. In May 2016, Lafaix, who is 12 years older than Robert, became Robert's coach for the second time. Lafaix joined the
Mouratoglou Tennis Academy and has coached several professional tennis players.[5]