Arnaud Clément (born December 17, 1977) is a
professional tennis player from France.
He was born in Aix-en-Provence, and currently lives
in Geneva, Switzerland. He turned professional in
1996, and his most significant achievement has been
to reach the Australian Open men's singles final in
2001, where he was defeated by Andre Agassi,
defeating the then-unseeded but current number one
Roger Federer and former number one Yevgeny
Kafelnikov on his way to the final. While playing he
often wears a bandana and sunglasses.
Clément has been ranked as high as 10 in the world
in singles and as high as 24 in doubles, where he
has often partnered fellow Frenchmen Sebastien
Grosjean and Michael Llodra. He has won four ATP
singles titles (Lyon 2000, Metz 2003, Marseille
2006, Washington 2006), and five doubles titles. In
September 2005 he defeated Great Britain's Andy
Murray in the U.S. Open tournament.
In March 2006, Clement ended his two and a half year
period of not winning an ATP singles title by
capturing the Marseille Open, defeating world number
2 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and Mario Ančić in
the finals. In August 2006, Clement won his first
ATP title in the United States, defeating Murray in
straight sets in the final of the Legg Mason Tennis
Classic.
In July 2007, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra won
the men's double title at Wimbledon, beating World
N. 1 and number one seeds defending champions Bob
and Mike Bryan, thus winning his first Grand Slam
doubles title (Llodra had won two previous titles
with Fabrice Santoro, making it his third Grand Slam
title). He and Llodra were ecstatic and celebrated
by throwing their shirts, rackets and towels into
the crowd.
Arnaud was selected to represent one of the world's
best-known and most important fashion label,
Lacoste. He was seen from May 2004 onwards in a
pan-European print and TV campaign alongside the
Danish pop singer Natacha Thomas. The advert was
directed and shooted by Bruno Aveillan, who in the
course of his career has already filmed top stars
such as Monica Bellucci, Claudia Schiffer, Marcel
Desailly, Zinedine Zidane or Gisele Bündchen.
At Roland Garros 2004, Fabrice Santoro defeated
Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 16-14 in six hours and
33 minutes. It was, as of May, 2006, the longest
singles match in male professional tennis history.
