Henri Leconte (; born 4 July 1963) is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. During his career, he won singles titles on all four major court surfaces: hard, clay, grass and carpet. Leconte's career-high singles ranking was world No. 5.
Biography and career Leconte first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player who won the French Open junior title in 1981. He turned professional that year and won his first career doubles title at Bologna, and his first top-level singles title the following year, 1982, in Stockholm. Leconte played in the Davis Cup final for the first time in 1982, when France was defeated 4–1 by the United States.
Leconte teamed up with Yannick Noah to win the men's doubles title at the French Open in 1984. In 1985, Leconte and Noah reached a second Grand Slam doubles final at the US Open, where they finished runners-up. Leconte reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6 in 1985. In singles in 1985, Leconte reached the quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon, the latter run of which included a dazzling win over world no. 2, Ivan Lendl, in the fourth round.
1986 saw Leconte reach two Grand Slam singles semi-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon, and attain his career-high singles ranking of world No. 5. Leconte also played on the French team that won the World Team Cup that year.
In 1988, Leconte reached the men's singles final at the French Open beating Simon Youl, Bruno Orešar, Horacio de la Peña, Boris Becker, Andrei Chesnokov and Jonas Svensson. In the final, Leconte could not overcome two-time former champion Mats Wilander who defeated him in straight sets.
In 1991, Leconte was involved in the Davis Cup final for a second time. France again faced the US, and this time Leconte defeated Pete Sampras in straight sets in a critical singles rubber, and also teamed with Guy Forget to win the doubles rubber, as France upset the heavily favoured U.S. team 3–1.
In total, Leconte played for France's Davis Cup team for a total of 13 consecutive years, compiling a 41–25 record. He compiled a doubles record of 17–5 and was undefeated with Guy Forget (11 wins), winning his last 14 doubles matches (from March 1985 to July 1993).
In 1992, Leconte reached the semi finals at the French Open, losing to eventual runner-up Petr Korda.
Leconte won his final top-level singles title in 1993 in Halle. He also won his final doubles title that year at Indian Wells.
Leconte retired from the professional tour in 1996, having won a total of nine career singles titles and ten doubles titles. Playing on the ATP Champions Tour for over-35's, he formed a doubles partnership with the Iranian player Mansour Bahrami.
He is now the manager of an event company (HL Event) based in Belgium and opened a tennis academy in Fès, Morocco, in 2006.
Since 2010, Leconte has appeared on Australian television as a commentator on the Seven Network's coverage of the Australian Open. There, he obtained a cult following as a result of a zany exhibition doubles performance, and his passionate and often parochial commentary, especially for compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, whose winning shots he routinely described as "unbelievable!""Henri Leconte in Fine Form in the Commentary Box During the Australian Open". Herald Sun. Published and accessed 27 January 2010.
In 2014, Leconte appeared as a commentator for the 2014 Australian Open. One match he commentated was the third-round match between Frenchmen Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He has since appeared regularly as a commentator for matches involving French players in the men's draw.
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Tournament19801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996SRW–L Australian OpenALQAAA4RNH3R3R1R3RA1RA2RAA0 / 78–7 French Open1R1R1R2R2RQFSF1RFAQF2RSF1R1RA1R0 / 1527–15 WimbledonQ2R1R2RAQFSFQF4RA2R3R3R4R1R1RA0 / 1326–13 US OpenAA1RA3R4RQF4R3RA2RA3R1RAAA0 / 917–9Win–loss0–11–20–32–23–213–414–38–413–40–18–43–29–43–31–30–10–10 / 4478–44
Trivia He participated in 2005 in the second season of La Ferme Célébrités, a TV reality game show. In 2007, his son Maxime also participated in the TV reality game show Secret Story, the French version of Big Brother. He also appeared as a contestant on BBC Celebrity Masterchef 2017, reaching the semifinals.
Major finals
Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (0–1) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1988 French Open Clay Mats Wilander 5–7, 2–6, 1–6
Doubles: 2 (1–1) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1984 French Open Clay Yannick Noah Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2Loss 1985 US Open Hard Yannick Noah Ken Flach Robert Seguso 7–6(7–5), 6–7(1–7), 6–7(6–8), 0–6
Masters Series finals Doubles: 2 (1–1) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1991Indian Wells, US Hard Guy Forget Jim Courier Javier Sánchez 6–7(1–7), 6–3, 3–6Win 1993Indian Wells, US Hard Guy Forget Luke Jensen Scott Melville 6–4, 7–5
Career finals Singles: 16 (9 titles, 7 runners-up) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin 1–0 Nov 1982 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Mats Wilander 7–6(7–4), 6–3Loss 1–1 Jul 1983 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Guillermo Vilas 6–7(4–7), 6–4, 4–6Loss 1–2 Oct 1983 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) John McEnroe 1–6, 4–6, 5–7Loss 1–3 Feb 1984 Memphis, United States Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors 3–6, 6–4, 5–7Win 2–3 Jul 1984 Stuttgart Outdoor, West Germany Clay Gene Mayer 7–6(11–9), 6–0, 1–6, 6–1Win 3–3 Apr 1985 Nice, France Clay Víctor Pecci 6–4, 6–4Loss 3–4 Oct 1985 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Ivan Lendl 4–6, 4–6, 6–7(6–8)Win 4–4 Dec 1985 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Kelly Evernden 6–7(6–8), 6–2, 6–3Loss 4–5 Jun 1986 Bristol, United Kingdom Grass Vijay Amritraj 6–7(6–8), 6–1, 6–8Win 5–5 Sep 1986 Geneva, Switzerland Clay Thierry Tulasne 7–5, 6–3Win 6–5 Sep 1986Hamburg, West Germany Clay Miloslav Mečíř 6–2, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2Win 7–5 Apr 1988 Nice, France Clay Jérôme Potier 6–2, 6–2Loss 7–6 May 1988Hamburg, West Germany Clay Kent Carlsson 2–6, 1–6, 4–6Loss 7–7 Jun 1988French Open, Paris Clay Mats Wilander 5–7, 2–6, 1–6Win 8–7 Nov 1988 Brussels, Belgium Carpet (i) Jakob Hlasek 7–6(7–3), 7–6(8–6), 6–4Win 9–7 Jun 1993 Halle, Germany Grass Andriy Medvedev 6–2, 6–3
Doubles: 19 (10–9) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1–0 1981 Bologna, Italy Carpet (i) Sammy Giammalva Jr. Tomáš Šmíd Balázs Taróczy 7–6, 6–4Win 2–0 1982 Nice, France Clay Yannick Noah Paul McNamee Balázs Taróczy 5–7, 6–4, 6–3Loss 2–1 1982 Bournemouth, England Clay Ilie Năstase Paul McNamee Buster Mottram 6–3, 6–7, 3–6Win 3–1 1982 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Yannick Noah Fritz Buehning Pavel Složil 6–2, 6–2Win 4–1 1982 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Pavel Složil Mark Dickson Terry Moor 6–1, 7–6Loss 4–2 1983Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco Clay Yannick Noah Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy 2–6, 4–6Win 5–2 1983 Aix-en-Provence, France Clay Gilles Moretton Iván Camus Sergio Casal 2–6, 6–1, 6–2Loss 5–3 1984 Philadelphia, United States Carpet (i) Yannick Noah Peter Fleming John McEnroe 2–6, 3–6Win 6–3 1984French Open, Paris Clay Yannick Noah Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2Win 7–3 1984 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Pascal Portes Colin Dowdeswell Wojtek Fibak 2–6, 7–6, 7–6Win 8–3 1984 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Tomáš Šmíd Vijay Amritraj Ilie Năstase 3–6, 7–6, 6–4Loss 8–4 1985US Open, New York Hard Yannick Noah Ken Flach Robert Seguso 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 0–6Win 9–4 1988 Nice, France Clay Guy Forget Heinz Günthardt Diego Nargiso 4–6, 6–3, 6–4Loss 9–5 1988Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco Clay Ivan Lendl Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez 0–6, 3–6Loss 9–6 1990 Queen's Club, England Grass Ivan Lendl Jeremy Bates Kevin Curren 2–6, 6–7Loss 9–7 1991Indian Wells, United States Hard Guy Forget Jim Courier Javier Sánchez 6–7, 6–3, 3–6Loss 9–8 1992 Toulouse, France Hard (i) Guy Forget Brad Pearce Byron Talbot 1–6, 6–3, 3–6Win 10–8 1993Indian Wells, United States Hard Guy Forget Luke Jensen Scott Melville 6–4, 7–5Loss 10–9 1994 Halle, Germany Grass Gary Muller Olivier Delaître Guy Forget 4–6, 7–6, 4–6
References
External links
H Talent Management Henri Leconte client biography