Julien Benneteau life and biography

Julien Benneteau is a professional male tennis player from France. His career best singles ranking is ATP World No. 32, which he reached in July 2010. He formerly resided in Boulogne Billancourt and now lives in Geneva. He is generally regarded as one of the best singles players on the tour to have not won a title.

CAREER:

A 2006 French Open quarterfinalist, Julien Benneteau owns no titles. But a strong 2009 season, including a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros, helped the Frenchman reach a career-high ranking of No. 33 on October 12, 2009. Benneteau also reached the third round at the 2006 Australian Open and 2009 U.S. Open. He owns three doubles titles with three different partners.

Doubles Titles:
2010: Marseille
2009: Lyon, Shanghai
2008: Las Vegas
2006: Lyon
2003: Metz

In the 1996 Orange Bowl Bennetau won the Boys 16s singles title. At the 2006 French Open, Benneteau reached the quarter-finals by defeating Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, Radek Štěpánek and Alberto Martín. There he was defeated in straight sets (6–2, 6–2, 6–3) by fourth-seeded player Ivan Ljubičić of Croatia.

The Frenchman finished the 2008 season in the Top 50 for the second time in three years. During the season he reached two ATP finals: at Casablanca, where he lost to fellow countryman Gilles Simon and in his final tournament of the season at Lyon (lost to Robin Söderling).

In May 2009, he entered the Interwetten Austrian Open in Kitzbühel as a lucky loser and reached his third career final, falling to Spain's Guillermo García-López 6–3, 6–7(1), 3–6. In the quarterfinals of the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, he played a remarkable 53-point rally with then World No. 2 Andy Murray in the second set of a 6–4, 3–6, 1–6 loss. He lost the rally when he smashed a lob that grazed the net and went wide.

His best career victory was undoubtedly achieved on the 11th of November at the 2009 Paris Masters, when he scored a huge upset over World No. 1 Roger Federer 3–6, 7–6(4), 6–4 in the second round, in front of his home crowd.

PERSONAL:

Started playing tennis at age four
Nicknames are "Bennet" and "Muffle"
Parents are Andre, who works for a glasses company, and Laurence, who is a lawyer
Has one brother (Antoine), who briefly played Futures events from 2004-07; and two sisters (Dominique and Marie-Sophie)
Captured US Open junior doubles title in 1999 (w/Mahut)
Tennis idols growing up were Yannick Noah and Jimmy Connors
Also idolized Michael Jordan.
Favorite surfaces are indoor hard courts and clay
Likes to play soccer and ski in his spare time
Favorite soccer team is Olympic de Marseille
A member of "Team Lagardere" and coached by countrymen Olivier Malcor and Olivier Soules.

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