Sébastien Lareau
Major Accomplishments
Won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with Daniel Nestor.
Career-high ATP World Tour singles ranking of No. 76.
Career-high ATP World Tour doubles ranking of No. 4.
Won the US Open doubles title (first Canadian to win a Grand Slam) with American Alex O’Brien in 1999.
Runner-up in the doubles draw at the Australian Open with O’Brien in 1996 and 1997.
Biography
As a junior player Sebastien Lareau teamed up with his fellow Canadian Sebastien LeBlanc in 1990 as the pair won the French Open and Wimbledon Junior doubles titles. A year later, he advanced to the quarter-final round of the doubles draw in the Canadian Open and in 1993 he reached the semifinals of the US Open with Leander Paes.
Also as a junior player, Lareau won the final Canadian (closed) Nationals in 1994. He also won the Canadian Nationals doubles title with Martin Laurendeau in 1992, Daniel Nestor in 1993 and with LeBlanc in 1994.
During his professional career, Lareau won 17 ATP World Tour doubles titles. He earned seven of those titles in 1999 including the ATP World Tour Doubles Championship, the ATP Masters Series in Paris, several other Masters 500 and 250 events and the US Open, defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. He was also a finalist at the 1996 and 1997 Australian Open while partnered with O’Brien.
In singles play, Lareau reached the third round of the 1998 Australian Open, the second round of the 1997 French Open, the second round of the US Open three times (1995, 1998, 1999) and the second round of Wimbledon four times (1993, 1998-2000).
Lareau’s most notable achievement was winning the doubles gold medal with Daniel Nester at the 2000 Sydney Olympics as the pair defeated favoured Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in the final 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(2). It was the first Olympic tennis medal in Canadian history.
“We just went out and played some really good tennis, said Lareau. That match was probably the highlight of my life, so far. An amazing day. It seems like it’s easy to play together. I know where Daniel is going to be positioned,” he added.
In Davis Cup action, Lareau holds an overall win-loss record of 26-15, 17-16 in singles in 17 ties.
Lareau retired from the Tour in January of 2003 at the age of 29.