Robert Charbel Farah Maksoud (; born 20 January 1987) is a Colombian former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 in doubles, he also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 163 in June 2011.
Farah is a two-time Grand Slam Champion, having won both the 2019 Wimbledon Championships (the first Hispanic duo to accomplish the feat) alongside compatriot Juan Sebastián Cabal and the 2019 US Open. The pair also finished runners-up at the 2018 Australian Open, and Farah reached the final in mixed doubles at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships and 2017 French Open with Anna-Lena Grönefeld.
Farah won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, including two at the Masters 1000 level, and became world No. 1 in doubles for the first time on 15 July 2019. He spent a total of 68 weeks at the top of the doubles rankings, and was year-end No. 1 in both 2019 and 2020. Farah represented Colombia in the Davis Cup from 2010 to his retirement, as well as at the 2016 and at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Early life and background Farah was born on 20 January 1987 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a Catholic Lebanese family. His parents immigrated to Canada in 1986, escaping the Lebanese Civil War, leading Robert to be born there. Later, the family relocated to Cali, Colombia, where his father's family lived, when Robert was 3 months old. Farah studied at the French Lyceum.
Tennis has been part of his family for generations. Farah is the son of retired tennis player Patrick Farah, who introduced Robert to tennis at the age of 3. Patrick's father was a 1950s tennis champion, and Robert's great-aunt Nena Farah was a tennis champion in the 1930s. His sister, Romy Farah, is a former professional tennis player.
College career Farah played college tennis at the University of Southern California from 2006 to 2010 where he won two NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships as a USC Trojan. He finished his Senior season (2010) as the No. 1 ranked NCAA D1 player in the US in singles, while additionally ranked 2nd in doubles. He won the 2008 NCAA Men's Doubles National Championship, partnering Kaes Van't Hof. He occasionally played doubles at USC with future ATP pro Steve Johnson.
Professional career 2011 Farah's consistent doubles partnership with fellow countryman Juan Sebastián Cabal began at Wimbledon 2011, when they defeated the pair consisting of Pakistani Aisam Qureshi (8 in doubles) and Indian Rohan Bopanna (9 in the world), in a tight three set match that went to 21–19 in the final set, before losing in second round against American Michael Russell and Kazakhstani Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets.
2013 In the 2013 Australian Open, Farah and Cabal made their first appearance in the quarterfinals.
2016 In 2016, Farah reached his first grand slam final, in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon partnering Anna-Lena Grönefeld. They lost in straight sets to Henri Kontinen of Finland and Heather Watson of the UK.
2017 In 2017, Farah and Cabal reached their first men's doubles grand slam semifinal at the French Open. In the same tournament he reached the final of the mixed doubles partnering Gronefeld where they lost to Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski in 3 sets.
2019: Two Grand Slam and Second Masters titles, World No. 1 Farah and countryman Cabal won their first ever Grand Slam men's doubles title at Wimbledon in 2019, defeating Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Édouard Roger-Vasselin in a thrilling 5 set match that required 4 tie-break sets; this victory helped Farah and Cabal to both ascend to world No. 1 in the week following the conclusion of the Championships.
2022-23: Two Masters finals, Retirement Farah made his last ATP tour-level professional appearance at the 2023 US Open (tennis) with Cabal where they lost in the second round.
Post retirement In July 2026, Robert Farah joined the cooking reality show MasterChef Celebrity Colombia as a contestant.
Personal life Farah has been in a relationship with Spanish former professional golfer Belén Mozo since 2007, and they got married on 5 December 2020. Together, they are parents to two children.
In June 2026, Farah endorsed presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella and urged people to vote for him in Colombia's 2026 presidential election.
Controversies
In July 2018, Farah was given a suspended three months ban and fined £3,800 for promoting a gambling website on his Twitter account. Farah would only serve the suspension if there were further breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program.
In October 2019, Farah was tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone. He was provisionally suspended from official tournaments from 14 January 2020 and did not compete at the 2020 Australian Open. Farah argued that he had ingested Boldenone from contaminated Colombian meat and the ITF chose not to ban him, holding that he "bears no fault or negligence for the violation".
Performance timelines
Doubles Current through the 2023 US Open. Tournament20102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023SRW-LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA2RQF1R2R3R3RF1RA2R2R3R0 / 1118–11French OpenAA3R3R1R1R1RSFQFSFSFSF1R2R0 / 1224–12WimbledonA3R1R3RA2R2R2R3RWNHQFSF1R1 / 1122–10US OpenA2R1R1R2R2R1RASFW2R1RSF2R1 / 1219–11Win–loss0–03–23–47–41–33–43–47–314–416–25–28–49–44–42 / 4683-44Year-end championshipATP Finalsdid not qualifySFSFDNQRRDNQ0 / 34–7National representationSummer Olympicsnot heldAnot held2Rnot heldQFnot held0 / 23–2Davis CupPOZ1Z1POPOPOZ1POPORRRRPOQR0 / 216–8ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian Wells MastersAAAAA2R1RA1RQFNH1R2R1R0 / 74–7Miami OpenAAAAF2RA1RQF2RNH2R1R2R0 / 89–8Monte-Carlo MastersAAAA2R1RSFAQF2RNHSFF2R0 / 814–8Madrid OpenAAAASFA1R2RSF1RNH2RF1R0 / 89–8Italian OpenAAAA1RQF1RAWW2R1R2R1R2 / 913–7Canadian OpenAAAAAAAA2R1RNHQF1RA0 / 41–4Cincinnati MastersAAAAA2RAAFF1RSF1RA0 / 69–6Shanghai MastersAAAAQFQF2R2RSFQFnot heldA0 / 610–6Paris MastersAAAA2R2R1R2R2R2R2RQFAA0 / 85–8Win–loss0–00–00–00–011–68–74–63–413–816–81–37–89–72–52 / 6474–62Career statisticsTitles0000224215030019Finals0011655547242042Overall win–loss0–14–316–1421–1735–2037–2433–2133–1539–2351–2014–1038–2024–207–15353-223Year-end ranking160836448232730275111029129
Mixed doubles Tournament2011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023SRW–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAA1R2R1R1RQFA2R1RA0 / 74–6French OpenAAA2R2R1RFSF2RNHQFAA0 / 711–7WimbledonA1R2R1RAFA2RANHAQFA0 / 67–6US OpenAAA2R1RSFAAANHAAA0 / 34–3Win–loss0–00–11–12–31–38–44–23–33–20–02–12–20–00 / 2326–22
Major finals Grand Slam finals Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up) ResultDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss2018 Australian Open Hard Juan Sebastián Cabal Oliver Marach Mate Pavić4–6, 4–6Win2019 Wimbledon Grass Juan Sebastián Cabal Nicolas Mahut Édouard Roger-Vasselin6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–6(8–6), 6–7(5–7), 6–3Win2019US OpenHard Juan Sebastián Cabal Marcel Granollers Horacio Zeballos6–4, 7–5
Mixed doubles: 2 (2 runners-up) ResultDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 2016 Wimbledon Grass Anna-Lena Grönefeld Heather Watson Henri Kontinen 6–7(5–7), 4–6Loss 2017 French Open Clay Anna-Lena Grönefeld Gabriela Dabrowski Rohan Bopanna 6–2, 2–6, [10–12]
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 7 (2 titles, 5 runner-ups) ResultDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 2014 Miami Open Hard Juan Sebastián Cabal Bob Bryan Mike Bryan 6–7(8–10), 4–6Win 2018 Italian Open Clay Juan Sebastián Cabal Pablo Carreño Busta João Sousa 3–6, 6–4, [10–4]Loss2018Cincinnati MastersHard Juan Sebastián Cabal Jamie Murray Bruno Soares 6–4, 3–6, [6–10]Win2019Italian Open (2)Clay Juan Sebastián Cabal Raven Klaasen Michael Venus6–1, 6–3Loss2019Cincinnati MastersHard Juan Sebastián Cabal Ivan Dodig Filip Polášek 6–4, 4–6, [6–10]Loss2022Monte-Carlo MastersClay Juan Sebastián Cabal Rajeev Ram Joe Salisbury4–6, 6–3, [7–10]Loss2022Madrid OpenClay Juan Sebastián Cabal Wesley Koolhof Neal Skupski7–6(7–4), 4–6, [5–10]
ATP career finals
Doubles: 42 (19 titles, 23 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (2–1)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (2–5)ATP World Tour 500 Series (6–4)ATP World Tour 250 Series (9–13)Finals by surfaceHard (5–9)Clay (12–14)Grass (2–0)Finals by settingOutdoor (16–22)Indoor (3–1)