Began playing tennis at age seven with his parents Guy (a professor of physical science) and Gisele (retired) who used to play at a local club...Has one older sister, Stephanie...Moved from Tunisia at an early age to France with his parents, who are from Brittany, a region in Northwest France...Studied until the age of 24, and was working on a physical education degree before making a commitment to the pro level...Prior to playing in Futures tournaments in 1999, played two years of second division club tennis in France...Trained at French Tennis Federation at Roland Garros in Paris for two and a half years, then went to train alone, without a coach, before returning to the federation.
Enjoys watching movies, especially thrillers, and follows television programs “24” and “Grey’s Anatomy”...Favorite soccer team is Paris Saint Germain...About breaking into the Top 100 at age 29 “better now than never”...Favorite surface is hard (indoor) and considers his physique, forehand and serve his biggest strengths...Wife, Aude (married Sept. 25, 2004); son, Noah (born Dec. 31, 2006)...Works with childhood friend Sebastien Lelievre from Brittany.
2009 -- The Frenchman finished in Top 75 for fourth straight year and posted 21 match wins for the third straight season…Season was highlighted by three ATP World Tour QF showings and a Challenger title…In February, qualified in Rotterdam and reached QF, retiring at 0-3 in third set against No. 4 Murray due to left groin injury…In April, reached Casblanca QF (l. to Andreev) and duplicated result in Indianapolis in July (l. to Querrey)…In May, won Bordeaux Challenger title (d. Montcourt and two weeks later, advanced to 3rd RD at Roland Garros (l. to Roddick)…Closed season with another QF in Lyon (l. to Llodra)…Went 13-16 on hard, 6-6 on clay and 2-3 on grass.
2008 -- The Frenchman finished in Top 75 for third straight year highlighted by 21 match wins for second season in a row...Best result was runner-up on grass in 's-Hertogenbosch in June (l. to Ferrer)...Also reached SF in Amersfoort (l. to Darcis) in July and QF in Estoril (l. to Davydenko) in April, Casablanca (l. to Simon) following month, Los Angeles (l. to Roddick) in August and Metz (l. to Mannarino) in October...In Grand Slam play, reached 3rd RD at Australian Open (l. to Davydenko) and Wimbledon (l. to Federer)...In Challenger play, won title in Besancon (d. Peya) in February...Went 1-6 vs. Top 10 opponents with lone win coming over No. 9 Gasquet in 2nd RD of 's-Hertogenbosch...Compiled marks of 8-13 on hard, 7-7 on clay and 6-3 on grass...In doubles, captured first ATP title in Washington (w/Lindstedt) and reached final in Chennai (w/Baghdatis)...Finished a year-end best No. 39 in doubles...Earned a career-high $515,478.
2007 -- Finshed at No. 70 and compiled a 21-25 match record...Reached QF or better at six tournaments, including second ATP final...Opened with QF in Zagreb, but failed to win back-to-back matches again until April when he reached SF in Casablanca (l. to Mathieu)...Followed with QF on grass at Halle and on clay at Gstaad and Bucharest...In October, posted first win over Top 10 player by defeating No. 9 Robredo in Lyon en route to his second straight runner-up finish (l. to Grosjean).
2006 -- Finished a year-end best No. 50 while reaching his first ATP final in Lyon (l. Gasquet)...En route, defeated three seeds: Hrbaty (2nd), Grosjean (QF) and Malisse (SF)...In US Open debut, posted wins over No. 18 Ferrero and No. 24 Gaudio (l. to Federer in 4th RD)... Also reached SF in Metz (l. to Melzer) and QF in Amersfoort (l. to Djokovic)...In Challenger-level play, compiled a 19-9 record with title in St. Brieuc (d. Wessels) and runner-up in Montauban (l. to Ouahab)...
2005 -- Compiled consistent results in Futures and Challenger level play, winning a French Futures title and Grenoble Challenger (d. Enqvist)...Also reached SF in four other Challengers...In ATP competition, advanced to his first QF in Lyon with first Top 20 win over No. 16 Ferrer, Sanguinetti before losing to Monfils...In doubles, won first Challenger title in Tampere (w/Roger-Vasselin)...
2004 -- Enjoyed more success on his home soil, winning two Futures titles while reaching three other finals...Captured his first Challenger title in Timisoara (d. Marach) without dropping a set... Also a SF at Budaors and Grenoble Challengers...Won his lone ATP match of season in Metz (d. Simon, l. to Haehnel)...
2003 -- Won one Futures title in his native country and reached another final...
2002 -- Won two of three French Futures finals and made his ATP debut in Marseille, defeating Mahut (l. to Escude)...Best Challenger result was QF at Trani (l. to Marin)...
2001 -- Advanced to finals at two Futures...
2000 -- Played two French Futures events and reached 2nd RD at Noisy-Le-Grand...
1999 -- In first Futures tournament, advanced to final in St. Brieuc (l. to Willems)...
2013
On 10 February, partnering Llodra, the duo became the eighth all-French pair to win the Montpellier doubles title since 1987…Beat Brunstrom-Klaasen 11-9 in Match TB in final…