Michaël Llodra

Michaël Llodra (French pronunciation: ​[mikaɛl jɔdʁa]; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He is a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titles and gaining victories over Novak Djokovic, Juan Martín del Potro, Tomáš Berdych, Robin Söderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Nikolay Davydenko, Janko Tipsarević and John Isner. Llodra has been called "the best volleyer on tour".

Llodra was born in Paris, where his father Michel played for football club Paris Saint-Germain. A left-hander, his serve-and-volley style is modelled on that of his idol, Stefan Edberg.

Llodra and his wife Camille were married on 9 September 2003, and have two children, a daughter, Manon (born March 23, 2004) and a son, Teo (born 5 September 2007). He is a well-known supporter of French football club Paris Saint-Germain, and has often been seen wearing the club's shirt prior to tennis games.

2002

Llodra reached his first Grand Slam final, the Australian Open Men's Doubles, with Fabrice Santoro. Unseeded, they lost to Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor. During the semifinals, Llodra inadvertently hit a bird.

2003

Llodra won his first Grand Slam title, the Australian Open Men's Doubles, with Fabrice Santoro. Their opponents in the final were once again Knowles and Nestor.

2004

Upon winning the men's doubles again for the second time at the Australian Open in 2004, Llodra and his tennis partner Fabrice Santoro made headlines by stripping off their shirts, shoes, socks and shorts. Dressed in a pair of white briefs only, Llodra threw his clothes into the crowd, to the cheers of many onlookers.

Llodra made his first appearance in the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament at that year's French Open. In the fourth round he led eventual semi-finalist Tim Henman by two sets to love and had a match point in the fifth set before Henman prevailed. Llodra also won his first ATP singles title two weeks later at 's-Hertogenbosch.

2005

On 20 November 2005, Llodra teamed up with French compatriot Fabrice Santoro to win the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, a competition which pitted the top 8 doubles teams in the world against one another.

2007

In July, Llodra won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon partnering Arnaud Clément, beating Bob and Mike Bryan, thus winning his third Grand Slam doubles title. He and Clément were ecstatic and Llodra once again celebrated by throwing his shirt, racket and towel into the crowd.

At the 2007 US Open, he and Clément were seeded 7th, but were upset in the second round by Jesse Levine and Alex Kuznetsov, 7–6, 6–4.

2008

Llodra and Clément reached a second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, but lost to the Israeli pairing of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

In singles, Llodra won two tournaments in the course of two months, the first in Adelaide, where he defeated Jarkko Nieminen in the final, and the other in Rotterdam, where he edged out Robin Söderling in a third-set tiebreak.

Llodra and his doubles partner Clément then defeated the Bryan Brothers again in four sets at the Davis Cup quarterfinals tie against USA. They are one of two teams to defeat the Bryans in Davis Cup.

He then entered the 2008 French Open, where he upset Tomáš Berdych in the second round and went on to reach the fourth round, losing to Latvian Ernests Gulbis in straight sets.

2009

Llodra at the 2009 French Open.

He made two finals in singles; the 2009 Open 13 in Marseille (l. to Tsonga) and the 2009 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in Metz (l. to Ljubicic). He also had a poor season in doubles.

2010

Llodra started off the season with opening round losses in Brisbane and Sydney. He made the second round of the 2010 Australian Open, losing to Juan Mónaco in five sets.

He lost to Marco Chiudinelli in the opening round in Rotterdam. The following week, he impressively won the 2010 Open 13 tournament in Marseille. He beat two well-known players on the rise: seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis (in the second round) and top seed Robin Söderling (in the quarterfinals). In the final, he defeated Julien Benneteau in straight sets in their first meeting on the ATP tour. Llodra and Benneteau also teamed up to win the doubles title in Marseille, thus making him the singles and doubles champion of the 2010 tournament. Llodra also won at Eastbourne, beating Guillermo García-López in straight sets in the final.

Llodra lost in the first round at the French Open, the second round at Wimbledon to Andy Roddick in four sets, and made the third round at the US Open (including an impressive straight-set win over seventh seed Tomáš Berdych) before retiring against Tommy Robredo.

At the BNP Paribas Masters tournament in Paris-Bercy, he played his best tennis in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, where he defeated second seed Novak Djokovic and then eleventh seed Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Llodra then held three match points against world no. 5 and eventual champion Robin Söderling, but eventually lost in a third-set tiebreak. Had Llodra won, it would have been an all-French final in Paris with compatriot Gaël Monfils.

2011

At the Australian Open, Llodra and Zimonjic lost in the quarterfinals to Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in straight sets. They reached the final in Rotterdam, but lost to Jürgen Melzer and Petzschner in a super-tiebreak. They reached the semifinals in Dubai, but lost to Jérémy Chardy and Feliciano López, again in a super-tiebreak. They reached the quarterfinals in Miami, again losing to Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. In Madrid, they lost the final to the Bryan brothers. In Rome, they reached the quarterfinals, losing to Carlos Berlocq and Jarkko Nieminen.

The team made the semifinals at the French Open and at Wimbledon, losing to Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in a match featuring two tiebreaks, and to the Bryan brothers in a five-set thriller, also with two tiebreaks. They won their first two titles of the year in Washington, D.C. and at the Canadian Open, against Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău and the Bryan brothers, respectively. They lost in the final in Cincinnati, again against Bhupathi and Paes.

They did not make it past the round of 16 at the US Open, but they took their third title of the year at the China Open, again against Lindstedt and Tecau. They lost in the final in Shanghai against Mirnyi and Nestor in a super-tiebreak. They took their fourth title together in Basel, again defeating Mirnyi and Nestor in the final in straight sets.

They reached the quarterfinals in Bercy and participated in the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals in London, winning their first round-robin match against Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi.

In singles, Llodra reached the quarterfinals in Marseille, losing to Robin Söderling in straight sets. He also reached the quarterfinals in Madrid, losing to finalist Rafael Nadal. He lost in the first round at the French Open and in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. In the US Open, he lost in the second round to Kevin Anderson in straight sets.

2012

At the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (Bercy), Llodra reached the semifinals, after upsetting tenth and seventh seeds John Isner and Juan Martín del Potro, even though he was the lowest-ranked player in the draw. He also beat American Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals. He faced David Ferrer for a place in the final, but lost.

2013

At the Dubai Open in Dubai, UAE. Llodra stunned world no. 8 and Australian Open 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, but lost to Dmitry Tursunov in the next round. Llodra was also in the men's doubles finals of the French Open 2013 with his partner Nicolas Mahut, but lost to the Bryan brothers in the final.

2014

In 2014 Llodra played fewer tournaments and had less success in singles than the previous years. He suffered first-round losses at the 2014 Australian Open and 2014 French Open, and skipped Wimbledon. He did, however, get a win at the 2014 US Open, defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets.

Llodra is known for his skilled net play. The Guardian journalist Xan Brooks described Llodra as "one of those talented, maddening French players in the tradition of Henri Leconte, Guy Forget and Fabrice Santoro; at once supremely gifted and curiously brittle" and that he "plays like he's just flown in from the 20th-century. His game is all dinks and slices and sly changes of pace." Two-time French Open finalist Robin Söderling called Llodra's serve "unbelievable" and his volleys the "best on the tour". To aid his touch on volleys, Llodra is one of the few professionals to use all natural gut strings, which give him better feel at the expense of power at the baseline.

Llodra is one of the last remaining serve-and-volleyers in the top ranks of men's professional tennis, a tactic aided by his left-handed serve which allows him to create unusual angles. Llodra has been called the 'best serve and volleyer in the world' by the website Essential Tennis.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 7 (3–4)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	6–7(4–7), 3–6
Winner	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	2004	Australian Open	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(7–4), 6–3
Runner-up	2004	French Open	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Xavier Malisse Olivier Rochus	5–7, 5–7
Winner	2007	Wimbledon	Grass	Arnaud Clément	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Arnaud Clément	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	5–7, 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up	2013	French Open	Clay	Nicolas Mahut	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(4–7)

Olympics

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Silver	2012	London	Grass	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–7(2–7)

Singles: 10 (5–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	January 5, 2004	Next Generation Adelaide International, Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Dominik Hrbatý	4–6, 0–6
Winner	1.	June 14, 2004	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Guillermo Coria	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	June 13, 2005	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Mario Ančić	5–7, 4–6
Winner	2.	January 5, 2008	Next Generation Adelaide International, Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Jarkko Nieminen	6–3, 6–4
Winner	3.	February 18, 2008	ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Robin Söderling	6–7(3–7), 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up	3.	February 16, 2009	Open 13, Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	5–7, 6–7(3–7)
Runner-up	4.	November 1, 2009	Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, Lyon, France	Hard (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	5–7, 3–6
Winner	4.	February 15, 2010	Open 13, Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Julien Benneteau	6–3, 6–4
Winner	5.	June 19, 2010	AEGON International, Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Guillermo García-López	7–5, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	February 26, 2012	Open 13, Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Juan Martín del Potro	4–6, 4–6

Doubles: 48 (26–22)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	May 1, 2000	Mallorca, Spain	Clay	Diego Nargiso	Alberto Martín Fernando Vicente	7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–3)
Runner-up	1.	January 14, 2002	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	6–7(4–7), 3–6
Runner-up	2.	July 22, 2002	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Justin Gimelstob	Sébastien Grosjean Nicolas Kiefer	4–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	January 13, 2003	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	April 14, 2003	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Mahesh Bhupathi Max Mirnyi	4–6, 6–3, 6–7(6–8)
Runner-up	4.	May 5, 2003	Rome, Italy	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Wayne Arthurs Paul Hanley	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	5.	September 29, 2003	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Fabrice Santoro	Julien Benneteau Nicolas Mahut	6–7(2–7), 3–6
Runner-up	6.	October 27, 2003	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Fabrice Santoro	Wayne Arthurs Paul Hanley	3–6, 6–1, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	November 8, 2003	Houston, United States	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(8–6), 3–6, 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 4–6
Runner-up	8.	January 5, 2004	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Arnaud Clément	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	5–7, 3–6
Winner	3.	January 19, 2004	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6(7–4), 6–3
Runner-up	9.	May 24, 2004	Paris, France	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Xavier Malisse Olivier Rochus	5–7, 5–7
Winner	4.	August 23, 2004	Long Island, United States	Hard	Antony Dupuis	Yves Allegro Michael Kohlmann	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	October 25, 2004	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Carpet (i)	Arnaud Clément	Dominik Hrbatý Jaroslav Levinský	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	10.	January 10, 2005	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Arnaud Clément	Mahesh Bhupathi Todd Woodbridge	3–6, 3–6
Winner	6.	May 2, 2005	Rome, Italy	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	11.	May 9, 2005	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Fabrice Santoro	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	6–4, 6–7(2–7), 6–7(3–7)
Winner	7.	October 3, 2005	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Fabrice Santoro	José Acasuso Sebastián Prieto	5–2, 3–5, 5–4(6–4)
Winner	8.	October 24, 2005	Lyon, France	Carpet (i)	Fabrice Santoro	Jeff Coetzee Rogier Wassen	6–3, 6–1
Winner	9.	November 13, 2005	Shanghai, China	Carpet (i)	Fabrice Santoro	Leander Paes Nenad Zimonjić	6–7(6–8), 6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Winner	10.	October 30, 2006	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Arnaud Clément	Fabrice Santoro Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 6–2
Winner	11.	February 12, 2007	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	7–5, 4–6, [10–8]
Winner	12.	June 25, 2007	London, United Kingdom	Grass	Arnaud Clément	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	September 25, 2007	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Nicolas Mahut	Sonchat Ratiwatana Sanchai Ratiwatana	6–3, 5–7, [7–10]
Winner	13.	October 1, 2007	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	13.	October 7, 2007	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	14.	January 14, 2008	Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Arnaud Clément	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	5–7, 6–7(4–7)
Winner	14.	March 3, 2008	Las Vegas, United States	Hard (i)	Julien Benneteau	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 4–6, [10–8]
Winner	15.	September 29, 2008	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	5–7, 6–3, [10–8]
Winner	16.	October 20, 2008	Lyon, France	Carpet (i)	Andy Ram	Stephen Huss Ross Hutchins	6–3, 5–7, [10–8]
Winner	17.	February 16, 2009	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Julian Knowle Andy Ram	3–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Runner-up	15.	September 21, 2009	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Arnaud Clément	Colin Fleming Ken Skupski	6–2, 4–6, [5–10]
Winner	18.	February 15, 2010	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Julien Benneteau	Julian Knowle Robert Lindstedt	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	August 9, 2010	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Julien Benneteau	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	17.	February 13, 2011	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Nenad Zimonjić	Jürgen Melzer Philipp Petzschner	4–6, 6–3, [5–10]
Runner-up	18.	May 8, 2011	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	3–6, 3–6
Winner	19.	August 7, 2011	Washington, United States	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Robert Lindstedt Horia Tecău	6–7(7–9), 7–6(10–8), [10–7]
Winner	20.	August 14, 2011	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–5]
Runner-up	19.	August 21, 2011	Cincinnati, United States	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	6–7(4–7), 6–7(2–7)
Winner	21.	October 9, 2011	Beijing, China	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Robert Lindstedt Horia Tecău	7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–4)
Runner-up	20.	October 16, 2011	Shanghai, China	Hard	Nenad Zimonjić	Max Mirnyi Daniel Nestor	6–3, 1–6, [10–12]
Winner	22.	November 6, 2011	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Nenad Zimonjić	Max Mirnyi Daniel Nestor	6–4, 7–5
Winner	23.	February 19, 2012	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Nenad Zimonjić	Robert Lindstedt Horia Tecău	4–6, 7–5, [16–14]
Runner-up	21.	August 4, 2012	Summer Olympics, London, United Kingdom	Grass	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–7(2–7)
Winner	24.	February 10, 2013	Montpellier, France	Hard (i)	Marc Gicquel	Johan Brunström Raven Klaasen	6–3, 3–6, [11–9]
Winner	25.	March 2, 2013	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Hard	Mahesh Bhupathi	Robert Lindstedt Nenad Zimonjić	7–6(8–6), 7–6(8–6)
Runner-up	22.	May 8, 2013	Paris, France	Clay	Nicolas Mahut	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(3–7)
Winner	26.	February 16, 2014	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Nicolas Mahut	Jean-Julien Rojer Horia Tecău	6–2, 7–6(7–4)

Singles

Doubles

Bird

In the 2002 Australian Open Men's Doubles semifinal against Julien Boutter and Arnaud Clément, a small bird (identified as a house martin) flew into the court chasing a moth. It flew into the path of a hard hit volley by Llodra. After an impromptu funeral ceremony led by Boutter, the match continued, with Llodra and Santoro eventually winning 6–3, 3–6, 12–10. Llodra remarked afterwards, "I didn't do it deliberately. But at least I saved the moth."

Nude in the locker

In the 2005 Key Biscayne tournament Llodra was hiding nude in Ivan Ljubicic's locker. When Ljubicic discovered him, Llodra stated that he "tried to get his positive energy". In 2005 Ljubicic was playing his most successful season by then.

Accusation of racism

After his first round victory over Ernests Gulbis at the 2012 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, during which Llodra was overheard by fans and journalists making racist and sexist comments to a female Gulbis fan, Llodra was fined $2500 by the ATP for his behaviour. He later admitted making the comments in interviews with French media and complained that the fine was too high. Llodra did not make matters better for himself during an interview with a reporter from the Chinese news Web site SINA.com, in which the Frenchman attempted to apologize for his remarks. "My words were not aimed at China," Llodra began. "I love Chinese — I can totally make love with a Chinese girl," he added, before being cut off by the A.T.P. official monitoring the interview. The journalist, who took offense at the remark, said that he did not find Llodra's apology sincere. This was not the first incident in which charges of racism have been leveled at Llodra. He denied his comments were racist during his 2011 French Open first round defeat at the hands of Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis, comparing the atmosphere on court to that of a north African souk while veteran Moroccan umpire Mohammed El Jennati was in the chair.