Thierry Champion (; born 31 August 1966) is a former professional tennis player from France.
Tennis career Champion was born in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Gard. During his career, he reached the quarter-finals at the French Open in 1990 and at Wimbledon in 1991.
A clay court specialist, Champion gained notoriety on the men's ATP tour as a wild card player with the ability to inflict defeat on seeded players well above his ranking. His play style was characterised by fast court coverage and strong baseline play with measured heavily spun passing shots, particularly from an unorthodox backhand stroke.
Reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 44 on the men's ATP rankings in 1991, subsequent years saw a dwindling career riddled with injury.
One of the worst Grand Slam defeats in tennis history came when Champion was triple bageled, losing 6–0, 6–0, 6–0 in the 2nd round of the 1993 French Open, by eventual winner Sergi Bruguera. , this is the most recent occasion in which this scoreline has occurred in a Major main draw match.
Champion was the coach of French tennis player Gaël Monfils starting in September 2004, but they parted ways in September 2006. He was also the coach of Hicham Arazi, Nicolas Escudé and Paul-Henri Mathieu. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships he was seen to be coaching French player Richard Gasquet for a short stint.
ATP career finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (0–1)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (0–1)Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1St. Vincent, ItalyGrand PrixClay Kent Carlsson0–6, 2–6
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 3 (2–1) LegendATP Challenger (2–1)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (0–1)Clay (2–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Ostend, BelgiumChallengerClay Kris Goossens6–3, 6–4Win2–0Poznań, PolandChallengerClay Ionuț Moldovan6–0, 6–3Loss2–1Réunion Island, ReunionChallengerHard Patrik Fredriksson7–5, 0–6, 3–6
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenQ3Q3A3RA1RA1R1R2RAAA1RA0 / 62–6French OpenAA1R2R2R1RQF3R1R2R2R2R2R3RQ20 / 1214–12WimbledonA1R1RA1R1RQ1QF3RAAA1RAA0 / 76–7US OpenAA2RA1RA2R2R2RAAQ3AAA0 / 54–5Win–loss0–00–11–32–21–30–35–27–43–42–21–11–11–22–20–00 / 3026–30ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian WellsAAAAAAA1R2RAQ1AAAA0 / 21–2MiamiAAAA1R2RA1R2RAQ2Q1A1RA0 / 52–5Monte CarloAAA1RA1RA1R2RAA1RAAA0 / 51–5HamburgAAAA2RA1RA2RA1RQ1AAA0 / 42–4RomeAAAAA1R1RA1RAQ2Q2Q3AA0 / 30–3CanadaAAAAAAAAAAAAA1RA0 / 10–1CincinnatiAAAAAA1RA2RAAAAAA0 / 21–2ParisAA1R2R1RA2R1RA1RAQ1Q2AA0 / 62–6Win–loss0–00–00–11–21–31–31–40–45–60–10–10–10–00–20–00 / 289–28
Doubles Tournament198519861987198819891990199119921993SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAA1RAAAA0 / 10–1French OpenA1R1R1R2R1R2R1R1R0 / 82–8WimbledonQ2AA1RAAAAA0 / 10–1US OpenAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–10–10–21–20–11–10–10–10 / 102–10ATP Masters SeriesMiamiAAAA3RAAAA0 / 12–1Monte CarloAA1RA1RAAAA0 / 20–2ParisA1RAAAAAAA0 / 10–1Win–loss0–00–10–10–02–20–00–00–00–00 / 42–4
References
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