Sébastien Grosjean

Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons ranked in the top 30 (1999–2006), peaking at world No. 4 in October 2002. He is currently the director of the Open de Roanne.

Career

Juniors As a junior, Grosjean posted a 90-20 singles record and a 58-12 doubles record, winning the 1996 French Open boys' doubles. He reached Junior World No. 1 in both singles and doubles in December 1996, the first player to accomplish the feat since Jason Stoltenberg in 1987.

Pro tour

Grosjean joined the professional tour in 1996. In 2003 and 2004, he reached the final of the Queen's London Tournament. In the same two years, he also reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. He finished 2001 as the No. 1 player from his country and for the first time in the top 10 becoming the first Frenchman to finish a year in the top 10 since Cédric Pioline in 1993. In 2001, Grosjean won the Davis Cup with the French team.

He has made four Grand Slam semifinal appearances. In addition to his two Wimbledon runs, he also reached the 2001 French Open semifinals. His most famous chance was at the 2001 Australian Open against Arnaud Clément. Grosjean led two sets to love and had a match point in the fourth set before Clément prevailed. This was long considered the worst 'choke' in five-set history, until the 2004 French Open final.

He won his fourth singles title at the 2007 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, with a victory over countryman Marc Gicquel. He also won the doubles final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as a wildcard team, where they upset the first and third seeds.

Coaching career Grosjean retired from professional tennis in May 2010. He coached Richard Gasquet from 2011 to 2016 (co-coached with Sergi Bruguera 2014-2016).

In December 2018, he was named the Davis Cup captain for France. He coached Arthur Fils from October 2023, after he stepped down from his Davis Cup captain role, until March 2025 (co-coach with Bruegera until May 2024).

Playing style

Considered one of the more popular players on the circuit, he is lauded for his attractive, graceful style and classical skills. Grosjean is known for his extreme forehand, his best shot, he utilizes something of a western grip, which is hit at high velocities. He was sponsored by Lacoste in apparel and Head rackets. He used the Head Radical Tour TwinTube 630 XL under various paint jobs throughout his career.

Personal life

Grosjean married his wife Marie-Pierre on 16 November 1998 and has a daughter named Lola (born 11 October 1998), a son named Tom (2002), and a daughter named Sam (2006). The family resided in Boca Raton, Florida (U.S.), where Grosjean trained at the Evert Tennis Academy. He is affectionately nicknamed 'Big John' by fans, a literal translation of his surname into English.

Major finals Year-end championships finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Masters Series finals Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 13 (4 titles, 9 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–1)ATP Masters Series (1–1)ATP Championship Series (0–1)ATP World Series (3–6)Finals by surfaceHard (1–4)Clay (0–3)Grass (1–2)Carpet (2–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (1–7)Indoors (3–2)

Doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (1–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (4–2)Finals by surfaceHard (3–1)Clay (1–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (1–1)Finals by settingOutdoors (3–0)Indoors (2–2)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 5 (2–3) LegendATP Challenger (2–3)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–2)Clay (1–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)

Doubles: 2 (0–2) LegendATP Challenger (0–2)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (0–2)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Top 10 wins