Mansour Bahrami

Mansour Bahrami
Country (sports)	Iran ; France
Residence	Paris, France
Born	26 April 1956; Arak, Iran
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1974
Retired	2003[N 1]
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$368,780
Singles
Career record	23–47
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 192 (9 May 1988)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	Q1 (1977)
French Open	2R (1981)
Wimbledon	Q1 (1976)
Doubles
Career record	108–139
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 31 (6 July 1987)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (1977Jan)
French Open	F (1989)
Wimbledon	2R (1988)
US Open	3R (1987)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (1990)

Mansour Bahrami (Persian: منصور بهرامی‎; born April 26, 1956) is a former professional tennis player. He is Iranian with dual French nationality since 1989. While only moderately successful on the ATP Tour, his showmanship has made him a long-standing and popular figure in invitational tournaments.

Tennis career

When the Iranian team was short of players, Bahrami was permitted to play the game on a tennis court. His talent was obvious and he reached the Davis Cup team (and helped the team to victory at the age of just 16) but in the late 1970s the Islamic Revolution within Iran led to tennis being viewed as a capitalist and elitist sport.[1] He spent the next three years playing backgammon as all tennis courts were closed down. In desperation, he fled to France with his life savings, of which he gambled in a casino and lost.[2]

While his best days were already behind him, and never having maximized his potential in singles, he became a successful doubles player who even reached the French Open doubles final in 1989 with Éric Winogradsky.[3][2]

Senior tournaments

Bahrami has been a mainstay of the seniors invitational tennis circuit for about 20 years.[1] Bahrami is considered to have "found his niche" on the ATP Champions Tour,[2] where his flamboyant style and propensity for trick shots chimed with the tour's more entertainment-oriented remit. In reference to his showmanship, his 2009 English-language autobiography was titled The Court Jester.[4]

ATP career finals

Doubles: 12 (2–10)

Winner - Legend
Grand Slam (0–1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–2)
ATP Tour (2–7)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	1986	ATP Bordeaux	Clay	Ronald Agénor	Jordi Arrese David de Miguel	5–7, 4–6
Loss	0–2	1986	MercedesCup	Clay	Diego Pérez	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	4–6, 3–6
Loss	0–3	1986	Paris Masters	Carpet (i)	Diego Pérez	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	3–6, 2–6
Loss	0–4	1987	Monte-Carlo Masters	Clay	Michael Mortensen	Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–5	1987	Geneva Open	Clay	Diego Pérez	Ricardo Acioly Luiz Mattar	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Win	1–5	1988	Geneva Open	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Gustavo Luza Guillermo Pérez Roldán	6-4 6-3
Loss	1–6	1988	Toulouse Grand Prix	Hard (i)	Guy Forget	Tom Nijssen Ricki Osterthun	3–6, 4–6
Loss	1–7	1989	French Open	Clay	Éric Winogradsky	Jim Grabb Patrick McEnroe	4–6, 6–2, 4–6, 6–7^(7–5)
Loss	1–8	1989	Geneva Open	Clay	Guillermo Pérez Roldán	Andrés Gómez Alberto Mancini	3–6, 5–7
Win	2–8	1989	Toulouse Grand Prix	Hard (i)	Éric Winogradsky	Todd Nelson Roger Smith	6–2, 7–6
Loss	2–9	1990	ATP Bordeaux	Clay	Yannick Noah	Tomás Carbonell Libor Pimek	3–6, 7–6, 2-6
Loss	2–10	1991	Copenhagen Open	Carpet (i)	Andrei Olhovskiy	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	3–6, 1–6

Challenger finals

Doubles: 5 (3–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	1986	Chartres, France	Clay	Éric Winogradsky	Javier Frana Gustavo Guerrero	2–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	1986	Neu-Ulm, West Germany	Clay	Jaroslav Navrátil	Menno Oosting Huub van Boeckel	7–5, 6–1
Winner	2.	1987	Clermont-Ferrand, France	Clay	Claudio Mezzadri	Christophe Lesage Jean-Marc Piacentile	6–3, 7–5
Runner-up	2.	1987	Neu-Ulm, West Germany	Clay	Michael Mortensen	Jaromir Becka Udo Riglewski	WEA
Winner	3.	1990	Dijon, France	Carpet (i)	Rodolphe Gilbert	Jan Apell Peter Nyborg	7-5, 6-2

Bibliography and filmography

Bahrami, Mansour (2006). Le court des miracles (in French). Paris: Le Cherche Midi. ISBN 2749107652.
Bahrami, Mansour; Issartel, Jean (2009). The court jester : my story. Central Milton Keynes: TennisMania Trust, in association with AuthorHouse. ISBN 1438987943.
The Man behind the Moustache, DVD (2009).

Notes

Bahrami retired from the main ATP Tour in 2003. As of 2019 he continues to appear at invitational events.

References

Tilley, Joanna (3 July 2013). "Bahrami: Iran's solo tennis representative". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
ATP profile
MacDonald, Geoff (30 January 2010). "Islamic Republic Crushed the Dreams of Iran's Top Tennis Players". New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
Bahrami, Mansour; Issartel, Jean (2009). The court jester : my story. Central Milton Keynes: TennisMania Trust, in association with AuthorHouse. ISBN 1438987943.

External links

Mansour Bahrami at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Mansour Bahrami at the International Tennis Federation
Official website

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[1] Bahrami retired from the main ATP Tour in 2003. As of 2019 he continues to appear at invitational events.

[ALJ1-2] Tilley, Joanna (3 July 2013). "Bahrami: Iran's solo tennis representative". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 7 June 2014.

[ATPp-3] ATP profile

[NTY1-4] MacDonald, Geoff (30 January 2010). "Islamic Republic Crushed the Dreams of Iran's Top Tennis Players". New York Times. Retrieved 7 June 2014.

[Autobio-5] Bahrami, Mansour; Issartel, Jean (2009). The court jester : my story. Central Milton Keynes: TennisMania Trust, in association with AuthorHouse. ISBN 1438987943.