Tarik Benhabiles
Encyclopedia
Tarik Benhabiles is a former French tennis player. He achieved his highest ATP
-ranking on June 8, 1987, when the right-hander was listed as the number 22 player in the world.
Benhabiles's professional career began in 1981, the year he won the junior championship at Roland-Garros, and it ended in 1992. He never won an ATP title, but he reached two finals. He lost to Vitas Gerulaitis
at Treviso in 1984, and he lost to Ronald Agénor
at Genova in 1990. Benhabiles did win the closed French national tournament in 1986. Benhabiles was a member of the French Davis Team national team, but he played only one match, a 1987 doubles match against South Korea. He ended his professional player career in 1992, when he was 27. His career singles record was 69-107.
After he retired, Benhabiles began a coaching career, first working with Nicolas Escudé
until 1997 and then relocating to the United States to coach a young Andy Roddick
. He built a strong relationship with Roddick and helped guide him to the ATP Top 10 in June 2003. A few months later, with a new coach, Brad Gilbert
, Roddick won the U.S. Open and was ranked by the ATP as the top player in the world.
After Roddick, Benhabiles coached Richard Gasquet
(until January 2004), Tatiana Golovin
(in 2006), Benjamin Becker
, and Vania King
.
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...
-ranking on June 8, 1987, when the right-hander was listed as the number 22 player in the world.
Benhabiles's professional career began in 1981, the year he won the junior championship at Roland-Garros, and it ended in 1992. He never won an ATP title, but he reached two finals. He lost to Vitas Gerulaitis
Vitas Gerulaitis
Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis was a Lithuanian–American professional tennis player. He is known for winning the men's singles title at one of the two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977. Gerulaitis won the tournament held in December, while Roscoe Tanner won the earlier January tournament...
at Treviso in 1984, and he lost to Ronald Agénor
Ronald Agenor
Ronald Jean-Martin Agénor is a former professional tennis player who represented Haïti during his playing career. He is known as the only Haitian to have ever earned a top-25 world ranking....
at Genova in 1990. Benhabiles did win the closed French national tournament in 1986. Benhabiles was a member of the French Davis Team national team, but he played only one match, a 1987 doubles match against South Korea. He ended his professional player career in 1992, when he was 27. His career singles record was 69-107.
After he retired, Benhabiles began a coaching career, first working with Nicolas Escudé
Nicolas Escudé
Nicolas Jean-Christophe Escudé is a former professional tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1995. He won four singles titles and two doubles titles during his career....
until 1997 and then relocating to the United States to coach a young Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....
. He built a strong relationship with Roddick and helped guide him to the ATP Top 10 in June 2003. A few months later, with a new coach, Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert , is an American tennis coach, a television tennis commentator, an author and former professional tennis player. He was born in Oakland, California and graduated from Piedmont High School ....
, Roddick won the U.S. Open and was ranked by the ATP as the top player in the world.
After Roddick, Benhabiles coached Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
(until January 2004), Tatiana Golovin
Tatiana Golovin
Tatiana Golovin is an inactive French professional tennis player. She is best known for her explosive forehand, which was said to be one of the best at the time. She notably won the 2004 French Open mixed doubles event with Richard Gasquet, and reached the singles quarterfinal at the 2006 U.S....
(in 2006), Benjamin Becker
Benjamin Becker
Benjamin Becker is a German professional tennis player. Becker's primary weapon is a very big serve that he can hit at up to 220km/h, along with powerful groundstrokes....
, and Vania King
Vania King
Vania King is a Taiwanese American female tennis player. King won both the 2010 Wimbledon Women's Doubles and 2010 US Open Women's Doubles titles with Kazakh partner Yaroslava Shvedova....
.