Aravane Rezaï

Best WTA ranking 15

Country France
Age 37 years
Size 1.65 m
Jeu Right-handed, two-handed backhand

Special feature: Only French player to win the WTA 1000 in Madrid (2010)

Profile & career

Aravane Rezaï, a French tennis phenomenon with an unclassifiable talent and career path, has enjoyed a meteoric rise, hitting the ground running in her early years on the circuit with Patrick Mouratoglou at her side.

She reached the last 16 of her first US Open a year later, in 2006. She went on to win four titles on the WTA main tour, all concentrated between 2009 and 2010, including her best one that year in Madrid, which saw her rise to world No.15 and become France’s No.1 player.

After that, physical and personal problems hampered her brilliant destiny but, at 37, she still hasn’t said her last word…
Aravane Rezaï joined the Mouratoglou Academy in 2009 and was personally coached by Patrick Mouratoglou in 2009 and 2010.

THE REZAÏ AWARDS

Junior career: French champion in the 17-18 age group

Aravane Rezaï was a finalist in the French Championships for 13-14 year-olds in 2001, then for 15-16 year-olds in 2003. She finally reached the Holy Grail in 2004 in the 17-18 year-old category at Roland-Garros. After that, she opted not to spend too long on the ITF junior circuit and turned pro at the tender age of 16.

WTA career: deafening beginnings

The product of a family project and coached for many years by her father and then her older brother, Aravane Rezaï didn’t wait long to make her mark as a professional. She contested her first final on the main circuit at the age of 18 in Istanbul in 2007, beating Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova before being forced to retire in the final against Elena Dementieva.
A finalist again the following year in Auckland, she finally opened her trophy cabinet in 2009 in Strasbourg. The comet Aravane Rezaï, terror of the women’s tour in 2010, was launched.

WTA honours list: four titles concentrated between 2009 and 2010

Aravane Rezaï has won four titles on the main circuit, including the Premier (now WTA 1000) tournament in Madrid in May 2010 (on clay), coached by Patrick Mouratoglou, beating three former world No1s: Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams in the final! It was the biggest success of her career.
Aravane has won two other clay-court tournaments, her first in Strasbourg in May 2009 and her last in Bastad in July 2010. She also won the Bali indoor tournament in November 2011.

Aravane Rezaï has pinned many champions of her generation to her trophy cabinet. In all, she has six wins over top 10 players, including world No. 1 Dinara Safina at the Toronto tournament in 2009. She also beat Maria Sharapova (No.2) in Istanbul in 2008, Jelena Jankovic (No.4) and Venus Williams on the way to her title in Madrid in 2010, Caroline Wozniacki (No.3) in Eastbourne in 2010 and Jelena Jankovic (No.8) in Sydney in 2011.

REZAÏ &
THE GRAND SLAMS

Aravane Rezaï has twice reached the second week of a Grand Slam tournament: the first time at the 2006 US Open, aged 19 (beaten by Elena Dementieva), and the second time at Roland-Garros in 2009, beaten by eventual finalist Dinara Safina. Her best performances are as follows:

3rd round in 2008
8th finalist in 2009
3rd round in 2009
8th finalist in 2006

Statistics & records

1 only French player to win the WTA1000 in Madrid
2010 Member of the French Fed Cup team
1 world no. 1 in clay-court exercise

Its link with the Mouratoglou Academy

Aravane Rezaï had already been a regular visitor to the Academy, but finally joined in 2009, where she was personally coached by Patrick Mouratoglou until the end of 2010. That was the start of the most successful year of her career, marked by her Madrid title and 15th place in the world rankings. “My father taught me the basics of my game, Patrick gave it a tactical dimension and gave me a much more professional framework,” she said at the time. After an initial separation in 2010, the Stéphane returned to the Academy in 2012 to try and relaunch her career, but without success.

HIS GAME: A METEOR WITH A GOLDEN ARM

Much inspired by Andre Agassi, who like her had Iranian origins, Aravane Rezaï’s tennis is based on devastating groundstrokes, both forehand and backhand. The Stéphane has a quality of ball that has few equals among the great champions of her generation, apart from the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova. Loving to get on the ball early, Aravane suffocates her opponents like a steamroller, and likes to finish points with volleys and lifts… or sometimes by surprising them with a drop shot.

Personal Life
& Interests

Aravane Rezaï has a dual Franco-Iranianculture (and dual nationality), which has enabled her to develop a very rich, engaging and spiritual personality. A polyglot – she speaks French, Persian, English and Spanish – she walked alone for long weeks on the roads to Santiago de Compostela, between Le-Puy-en-Velay and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, to reflect on the next step in her journey.