Ronald Agénor
 |
|
| Country (sports) |
 Haiti United States
|
|---|---|
| Residence | Beverly Hills, California, USA |
| Born |
November 13, 1964 Rabat, Morocco |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Turned pro | 1983 |
| Retired | 2012 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $2,014,601 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 221–257 (at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 3 |
| Highest ranking | No. 22 (May 8, 1989) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (1990) |
| French Open | QF (1989) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (1989, 1993) |
| US Open | 4R (1988) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 1R (1984DE, 1988, 1996) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 26–58 (at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 111 (July 14, 1986) |
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 as high as World No. 22 in May 1989.
Ronald Agenor is a former ATP #22 world ranked tennis player and has sustained one of the longest careers in the history of the game (19 years) and has scored wins against the world’s greatest players such as Agassi, Connors, Vilas, Noah, Higueras, Wilander, Stich, Korda, Muster, Sanchez, Gilbert, Annacone, Rosset, Leconte, Forget, Curren, and Cash, just to name a few. 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, Genova, 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, he made history by playing against Yannick Noah from France in what would be 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, Ronald made an incredible comeback in 1999 and at 35 years of age, became 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 lead the Lido Luzern Tennis Club in Switzerland to its first Swiss National title in 100 years. In 2001, at 37 years of age, Ronald finished the year ATP ranked #186 appearing in a final against David Nalbandian from Argentina. In 2010, Ronald played an exhibition match with John McEnroe, competed against Pat Cash, and defeated Patrick Rafter at the Delray Beach Champions Tour Event and was featured on the ATP Uncovered Video Series “Ronald Agenor Uncovered”. The interview was broadcast on ESPN and all the major TV Channels around the world. He participated in various Charity and Fundraising Events for Haiti such as the “Hit For Haiti” in Indian Wells. In 2011, he defeated legend Bjorn Borg, and Pat Cash at the Marbella Masters in Spain.
Ronald is an Ambassador for Peace and Sport, an organization under the High Patronage of SAS Prince Albert II of Monaco. In 2006, the city of Castelnau de Médoc, in the world-famous wine country region of Bordeaux in France named its newly built tennis facility after Ronald. In 1989, he was Honorary Consul of Haiti in Bordeaux, France. He speaks several languages fluently. Besides coaching the game of tennis, Ronald produced the first two of a series of Instructional Tennis Videos, "Monster Forehand" and "Blazing One-Handed Backhand". Ronald is the son of a former Haitian Diplomat at the United Nations and Minister of Agriculture of Haiti. He is the youngest of a family of six children and learned how to play tennis in Congo (Ex Zaire) in 1974 and discovered competitive tennis in Bordeaux, France in 1978 under the wing of his brother, Lionel. He trained with the French Tennis Federation training program during one year at the Ligue de Guyenne in Bordeaux and was ranked #8 junior player in the world in 1982. He turned pro in 1983 and retired from Professional tennis in 2002 and opened the Ronald Agenor Tennis Academy in Los Angeles, CA. That same year he married former international print and runway Model, Tonya, and has two daughters, and became a US citizen in 2006. Ronald's other passion is music and started to play the guitar at age 15 and made several recordings.
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