Jocelyn Robichaud (born 8 April 1978 in Joliette, Quebec)[1] is a former tour professional tennis player. Robichaud captured three junior Grand Slam titles and played Davis Cup for Canada. More of a doubles specialist, he won three Challenger events in doubles and reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 119.

Jocelyn Robichaud
Country (sports) Canada
ResidenceMontreal
Born (1978-04-08) 8 April 1978 (age 46)
Joliette, Quebec, Canada
Turned pro1997
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$107,888
Singles
Career record1–3
Career titles0
0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 384 (27 October 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ1 (1995, 1996)
WimbledonQ1 (1995)
Doubles
Career record7–17
Career titles0
3 Challenger, 5 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 119 (1 May 2010)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (2000)
Wimbledon1R (2000)
US OpenQ2 (2000)
Last updated on: 14 January 2022.

Junior tennis

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Robichaud won his first of three Grand Slams in doubles partnering Jong-min Lee, as the tandem defeated the Dutch duo of Raemon Sluiter and Peter Wessels in the final of the 1995 U.S. Open, 7–6, 6–2. After winning the Victorian Junior Championships and Australian Hardcourt Junior Championship, Robichaud and partner Daniele Bracciali captured the 1996 Australian Open junior title, defeating Bob and Mike Bryan in the final, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3. Robichaud partnered Martin Verkerk at the next major and the pair reached the semi-finals of the 1996 French Open. He rejoined Bracciali to win his third junior slam as the duo captured the 1996 Wimbledon Championship by dispensing of the South African pair of Damien Roberts and Wesley Whitehouse in the final, 6–3, 7–6. Bracciali and Robichaud nearly made it a third Grand Slam title together but fell in the final of the 1996 U.S. Open to the Bryan twins, 7–5, 3–6, 4–6. Robichaud reached an ITF junior doubles ranking of World No. 1, in December, 1995.

In singles, Robichaud's best results were reaching the third round of the 1995 Australian Open, the quarter-finals of the junior 1995 Italian Open, and the third round of the 1996 Wimbledon Championship. His career-high ITF Junior singles ranking was World No. 11, which he reached in December, 1995.

Senior tennis

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Rochichaud captured the Aptos Challenger twice in succession – in 1996 and 1997 – both times partnering fellow Québécois Sébastien Leblanc. His third Challenger title was winning the 1999 drkoop.com USTA Challenger of Miami, partnering Miles Wakefield. In addition, Robichaud captured an additional 5 ITF Futures tennis event titles. His career (main draw) match win–loss doubles record at Challenger level was 43 and 33, while at ATP Tour and Grand Slam level it was 6 wins, 15 losses. His best top-flight result were reaching the quarter-finals of the 1997 Canadian Open, partnering Tommy Haas. In fact, all 6 of his ATP Tour match wins occurred at his home country's major tournament. Rochibaud appeared in the main draw of a Grand Slam event twice as a senior, both times in doubles, at the 2000 French Open, partnering Jack Waite, and Wimbledon, with Michael Sell. He and Waite lost in straight sets while he and Sell lost 8–10 in the fifth set to Marc-Kevin Goellner and Jan Siemerink.

As for singles, the highlights of Rochibaud's time on tour were winning his first senior-level match, at age 18, to World No. 627 Sergio Gómez-Barrio 6–3, 6–4 while taking Quebec tennis star and World No. 160 Sébastien Lareau in his second match to a second set tie-break, at the 1994 Montebello Challenger; reaching the final of Canada F1 in June, 1998 followed by the semi-final of Canada F2 the following week; reaching the final of Greece F2 in May, 2001; and reaching the semi-final of Canada F3, in June, 2001. The sole ATP Tour event he competed in over the years, in a main draw, was the Canadian Open, in which he made 3 appearances, going 0 and 3. In Challengers, he had 1 match win (the one over Gómez-Barrio) and 7 defeats, including going 0–5 at the Granby Challenger, while in Futures events he had a winning record of 39 and 33. His career-high singles ATP ranking was World No. 384, which he reached in October, 1997.

Davis Cup

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Robichaud appeared in rubbers in 4 Canadian Davis Cup ties, all of which Canada lost. He got his first match action winning a dead singles rubber in a tie lost away to Ecuador, 2–3, in April 1998 American Group I semifinal action. He defeated a young Giovanni Lapentti 6–3, 7–6(2). In February 1999, in the quarter-finals of American Group I, Robichaud won his second Davis Cup match, teaming with star Canadian doubles player Daniel Nestor to defeat the Colombian duo of Mauricio Hadad and Miguel Tobón 7–6(5), 6–7(4), 6–7(3), 6–0, 6–4. Canada lost this away tie too, 2–3.

The following year, Canada again faced a South American opponent away in the zonal group I quarter-finals and lost, this time to Chile, 1–4. Robichaud again played the doubles tie, this time partnering Sébastien Lareau – they lost to Fernando González and Nicolás Massú, 4–6, 4–6, 6–2, 2–6. Then his fourth and final Davis Cup rubber was a doubles loss with Fred Niemeyer, to the Argentine Davis Cup team of Agustín Calleri and Mariano Puerta, 6–7(5), 3–6, 4–6, in a 2001 American Group I semifinal match-up.

Post-playing career

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In 2008, Robichaud captained Canada's youth Davis Cup team,[2] and was a youth coach for Tennis Canada at its national training centre at Uniprix Stadium.[3]

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Doubles: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1995 US Open Hard   Lee Jong-min   Raemon Sluiter
  Peter Wessels
7–6, 6–2
Win 1996 Australian Open Hard   Daniele Bracciali   Martin Lee
  James Trotman
6–2, 6–4
Win 1996 Wimbledon Grass   Daniele Bracciali   Damien Roberts
  Wesley Whitehouse
6–2, 6–4
Loss 1996 US Open Hard   Daniele Bracciali   Bob Bryan
  Mike Bryan
7–5, 3–6, 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 2 (0–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (0–0)
ITF Futures (0–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 1998 Canada F1, Mississauga Futures Hard   Emin Agaev 4–6, 2–6
Loss 0–2 May 2001 Greece F2, Kalamata Futures Hard   Marko Tkalec 1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 14 (8–6)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (3–3)
ITF Futures (5–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (8–4)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1996 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard   Sébastien Leblanc   Neville Godwin
  Geoff Grant
7–6, 6–7, 7–5
Win 2–0 Jul 1997 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard   Sébastien Leblanc   David Caldwell
  Adam Peterson
7–6, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Jun 1998 USA F4, Tallahassee Futures Clay   Michael Russell   Cecil Mamiit
  Kyle Spencer
6–3, 2–6, 1–6
Loss 2–2 Jun 1998 Canada F1, Mississauga Futures Hard   Michael Russell   Ali Hamadeh
  Todd Meringoff
4–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win 3–2 Jun 1998 Canada F2, Montreal Futures Hard   Simon Larose   Jan-Ralph Brandt
  Michael Russell
6–3, 6–4
Loss 3–3 Jan 1999 India F2, Ahmedabad Futures Hard   Simon Larose   Andrew Rueb
  Todd Meringoff
6–7, 3–6
Loss 3–4 Oct 1999 Houston, United States Challenger Hard   Bobby Kokavec   David Di Lucia
  Michael Sell
6–7, 0–6
Win 4–4 Nov 1999 Miami, United States Challenger Hard   Myles Wakefield   Bob Bryan
  Mike Bryan
7–5, 4–6, 6–2
Win 5–4 Nov 1999 USA F19, Grenelefe Futures Hard   Bobby Kokavec   Cedric Kauffmann
  Miles Maclagan
4–6, 7–5, 6–1
Loss 5–5 Feb 2000 Wrocław, Poland Challenger Hard   Kyle Spencer   Petr Kovačka
  Pavel Kudrnáč
6–3, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Loss 5–6 Apr 2000 San Luis Potosí, Mexico Challenger Clay   Michael Sell   José de Armas
  Jimy Szymanski
7–5, 4–6, 2–6
Win 6–6 Jan 2001 USA F3, Hallandale Beach Futures Hard   Frédéric Niemeyer   Noam Behr
  Giorgio Galimberti
7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win 7–6 Mar 2001 New Zealand F3, Tauranga Futures Hard   Wesley Whitehouse   Mark Draper
  John Hui
6–3, 6–3
Win 8–6 May 2001 Greece F1, Chalkida Futures Hard   Philip Gubenco   Ivan Cerović
  Marko Tkalec
6–3, 7–5

References

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  1. ^ "itftennis.com". Archived from the original on 16 December 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  2. ^ Tennis Canada
  3. ^ "Tennis Canada". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2020.

Sources

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