Ronald Agénor
Country (sports) Haiti
ResidenceMiami, Florida, United States
Born (1964-11-13) November 13, 1964
Rabat, Morocco
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1983
Retired2002 (Occasionally active from 2006 to 2012)
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$2,014,601
Singles
Career record221–256
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 22 (8 May 1989)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (1990)
French OpenQF (1989)
Wimbledon2R (1989, 1993)
US Open4R (1988)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (1984DE, 1988, 1996)
Doubles
Career record26–58
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 111 (14 July 1986)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (1986, 1988)
WimbledonQ1 (1985)
US Open1R (1986)
Last updated on: 21 December 2021.

Ronald Jean-Martin Agénor (born November 13, 1964) is a former professional tennis player who represented Haiti during his playing career. He is the only Haitian to have ever earned a Top 25 world ranking in singles, reaching a highest singles ranking of world No. 22 in May 1989. During his career he won three ATP tour singles titles.

Early life and junior tennis

Agénor was born on November 13, 1964, in Rabat, Morocco, the son of Frédéric Agénor, a former Haitian Diplomat at the United Nations and Minister of Agriculture of Haiti.[1] He is the youngest of a family of six children and learned how to play tennis in Lubumbashi, Zaire (current Congo) in 1974 and discovered competitive tennis in Bordeaux, France in 1978 under the wing of his brother, Lionel.[2] He was ranked No. 8 junior player in the world in 1982 and won 2 Junior titles in Charleroi, Belgium and Monte Carlo, Monaco.[3]

Pro tennis career

Agénor joined the professional tennis circuit in 1983. In 1989 He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open where he was defeated by eventual-champion Michael Chang in four sets, and won his first top-level singles title at Athens. In 1990, Agénor won two further tour singles titles at Berlin and Genoa.

He competed in three Summer Olympic Games, in 1984 (a demonstration event), 1988 and 1996.[4]

In 1999, Agénor finished the year ranked World No. 98 and became the first player aged over 35 to finish in the top-100 since Jimmy Connors in 1992.

Agénor competed in his penultimate ATP-sanctioned tour event in July 2006 at the Aptos Futures event after a four-year layoff from tour tennis, losing 3–6, 4–6 in the first round.

In a career spanning 19 years, he reached the quarter finals at the French Open in 1989 by beating Carl Limberger, Tim Mayotte, Claudio Pistolesi and Sergi Bruguera before losing to champion Michael Chang. He also got to the fourth round of both the US Open and French Open in 1988. He represented Haiti in the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, in Seoul in 1988, and in Atlanta in 1996 and won 3 ATP Tour World titles in Athens, Genoa, and Berlin. At the French Open in 1994, he defeated David Prinosil, 14/12 in the fifth set and broke the previous record of the longest match in the number of games in the history of the French Open since the open era previously held by Emilio Sanchez. In 1987, his final at the Swiss Indoors against Yannick Noah from France, was the first ATP World Tour tennis final between two players of color in men's professional tennis history. After a break from the pro circuit, Agénor made a comeback in 1999 becoming, at 35 years of age, the oldest player to reach top 100 (ATP ranked #88) in the world since Jimmy Connors did it in 1991. In 2000, he represented and led the Lido Luzern Tennis Club in Switzerland to its first Swiss National title in 100 years. In 2001, at 37 years of age, he finished the year ATP ranked #186 appearing in a final against David Nalbandian from Argentina.

Agénor retired from professional tennis in 2002 and opened the Ronald Agenor Tennis Academy in Los Angeles, California.

In 2009, he entered qualifying for the Genova Challenger in singles, but retired in the first round.[5]

In 2012, Agénor entered the doubles draw of Futures events in Casablanca,[6] Innisbrook,[7] and Edwardsville.[8] Partnering Takanyi Garanganga, he came up short in his final match.

ATP career finals

Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (3–5)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (2–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–1)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–4)
Indoors (1–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1987 Gstaad, Switzerland Grand Prix Clay Spain Emilio Sánchez 2–6, 3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Loss 0–2 Jul 1987 Bordeaux, France Grand Prix Clay Spain Emilio Sánchez 7–5, 4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–3 Oct 1987 Basel, Switzerland Grand Prix Carpet France Yannick Noah 6–7(6–8), 4–6, 4–6
Loss 0–4 Jul 1988 Bordeaux, France Grand Prix Clay Austria Thomas Muster 3–6, 3–6
Win 1–4 Apr 1989 Athens, Greece Grand Prix Clay Sweden Kent Carlsson 6–3, 6–4
Win 2–4 Jun 1990 Genoa, Italy World Series Clay France Tarik Benhabiles 3–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win 3–4 Oct 1990 Berlin, Germany World Series Carpet Soviet Union Alexander Volkov 4–6, 6–4, 7–6(10–8)
Loss 3–5 Jul 1993 Båstad, Sweden World Series Clay Austria Horst Skoff 5–7, 6–1, 0–6

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (0–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (0–2)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1986 Bordeaux, France Grand Prix Clay Iran Mansour Bahrami Spain Jordi Arrese
Spain David de Miguel		 5–7, 4–6
Loss 0–2 Jan 1995 Jakarta, Indonesia World Series Clay Japan Shuzo Matsuoka South Africa David Adams
Russia Andrei Olhovskiy		 5–7, 3–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 15 (9–6)

Legend
ATP Challenger (6–6)
ITF Futures (3–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–3)
Clay (8–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 1990 Hossegor, France Challenger Clay France Rodolphe Gilbert 4–6, 4–6
Win 1–1 Mar 1991 Marseille, France Challenger Clay Czech Republic Martin Strelba 5–7, 6–4, 6–2
Win 2–1 Jun 1992 Yvetot, France Challenger Clay Spain Alex Corretja 6–4, 2–6, 7–5
Win 3–1 Oct 1993 La Possession, Réunion Island Challenger Hard United States Jeff Tarango 6–3, 6–4
Loss 3–2 Dec 1993 Andorra la Vella, Andorra Challenger Hard Germany Joern Renzenbrink 4–6, 7–5, 3–6
Win 4–2 May 1998 USA F1, Delray Beach Futures Clay Australia Michael Hill 6–3, 6–3
Win 5–2 May 1998 USA F2, Vero Beach Futures Clay Chile Nicolás Massú 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win 6–2 May 1998 USA F3, Boca Raton Futures Clay Chile Nicolás Massú 6–1, 6–2
Win 7–2 Jun 1999 Fürth, Germany Challenger Clay Czech Republic Tomas Zib 6–2, 7–6
Loss 7–3 Jul 1999 Lugano, Switzerland Challenger Clay Czech Republic Michal Tabara 7–6(7–3), 4–6, 2–6
Win 8–3 Jul 1999 Contrexéville, France Challenger Clay France Gerard Solves 7–6, 6–2
Loss 8–4 Jul 1999 Newcastle, United Kingdom Challenger Clay United States Jeff Tarango 6–3, 0–6, 6–7
Win 9–4 May 2000 Birmingham, United States Challenger Clay Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 7–5, 6–3
Loss 9–5 Oct 2000 San Antonio, United States Challenger Hard Belgium Xavier Malisse 6–7(3–7), 3–6
Loss 9–6 Mar 2001 Salinas, Ecuador Challenger Hard Argentina David Nalbandian 4–6, 2–6

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A 2R A A 1R A 1R A A A A 1R Q2 0 / 4 1–4 20%
French Open A 1R 1R 1R 4R QF 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R Q3 Q3 A A Q3 2R Q2 0 / 11 11–11 50%
Wimbledon A Q3 1R A A 2R A A A 2R 1R A A A A A 1R Q2 0 / 5 2–5 29%
US Open A 1R 1R 2R 4R 3R 1R 1R A 2R 2R A Q1 A Q2 Q2 Q1 Q3 0 / 9 8–9 47%
Win–loss 0–0 0–2 0–3 1–2 6–2 7–3 1–3 1–2 0–1 2–4 3–3 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–3 0–0 0 / 29 22–29 43%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics 1R Not Held 1R Not Held A Not Held 1R Not Held A NH 0 / 3 0–3 0%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A Q2 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Miami A A 2R 2R 1R 1R 3R A 2R A A A A A A 1R Q2 Q1 0 / 7 4–7 36%
Monte Carlo A A QF 2R 1R QF 3R 2R A A 1R Q3 Q3 A A A A A 0 / 7 9–7 56%
Hamburg A A A 1R A A 2R 3R A 1R A A Q1 A A A A A 0 / 4 3–4 43%
Rome A A 3R 3R SF 1R 1R 1R 1R Q3 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 8 8–8 50%
Canada A A A A A A A A A 1R 1R A A Q2 Q2 A A 1R 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Cincinnati A A 1R 1R A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A Q1 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Paris A A 2R A 2R 2R 2R 1R Q1 A Q2 A A A A A A A 0 / 5 4–5 44%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 7–5 4–5 5–4 3–4 5–6 3–5 1–2 0–2 0–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–1 0 / 38 28–38 42%
Career statistics
Titles / finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 3 0 / 1 1 / 1 2 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1
Overall win–loss 0–2 17–14 20–22 25–20 24–18 24–17 35–25 16–27 5–16 19–25 15–23 10–14 0–5 0–1 1–1 3–7 6–16 1–3 221–256
Win % 0% 55% 48% 56% 57% 59% 58% 37% 24% 43% 39% 42% 0% 0% 50% 30% 27% 25% 46.33%
Year-end ranking 418 49 74 44 28 37 29 74 132 58 71 146 326 511 237 96 137 188 $2,014,601

Doubles

Tournament1985198619871988198919901991199219931994SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
French Open A 1R A 1R A A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Wimbledon Q1 A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
US Open A 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 3 0–3 0%
ATP Masters Series
Miami A 1R 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Monte Carlo A A A A 1R 1R A A A Q2 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Hamburg A A 1R A A A A A Q1 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Canada A A A A A A A A Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Cincinnati A 2R A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Win–loss 0–0 1–2 0–2 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 6 1–6 14%

After tennis

Agénor has also recorded music as a rock musician .

Agenor was once Honorary Consul of Haiti in Bordeaux, France (1989) and speaks several languages fluently. He is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club,[9] a group of high level sportsmen personally committed to the peace through sport movement, which is part of Peace and Sport, an organization under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco.[10] In 1989, he was Honorary Consul of Haiti in Bordeaux, France. In 2006, the city of Castelnau de Médoc, in wine country region of Bordeaux in France, named its newly built tennis facility after Ronald "Salle Ronald Agénor". In 2018, he was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at George Washington University, in Washington DC,[11][12] and the tennis court “Court Ronald Agénor” was inaugurated in the Bordeaux Wine region, at Sainte Terre Tennis Club, France.

References

  1. ↑ Sundiata Djata (2008). Blacks at the net : Black achievement in the history of tennis (1 ed.). Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 110–116. ISBN 978-0815608981.
  2. ↑ Enock Néré (5 July 2018). "Ronald Agénor, un nouvel Haitien au Hall of Fame". Le Nouvelliste (in French).
  3. ↑ "ITF|Ronald Agenor Juniors Singles Overview". www.itftennis.com. 1982. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  4. ↑ "Ronald Agenor". Olympic Games.
  5. ↑ http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2009/1763/qs.pdf
  6. ↑ "ITF MEN'S WORLD TENNIS TOUR|MOROCCO F3 FUTURES". www.itftennis.com. June 2012. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  7. ↑ "ITF MEN'S WORLD TENNIS TOUR|USA F17 FUTURES". www.itftennis.com. June 2012. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  8. ↑ "ITF MEN'S WORLD TENNIS TOUR|USA F23 FUTURES". www.itftennis.com. August 2012. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  9. ↑ "Meet our champions for peace". Peace and Sport.
  10. ↑ "Peace and Sport". Peace and Sport.
  11. ↑ "2018 Hall of Fame Inductees". Black Tennis Hall of Fame. 10 April 2018.
  12. ↑ Rode Louis Azer Chery (14 July 2018). "Ronald Agénor, un troisième sportif haïtien au Hall of fame". LOOP Haiti (in French).
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