# Nicolas Escudé

Nicolas Jean-Christophe Escudé (French:; born 3 April 1976) is a former professional tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1995. He won four singles titles and two doubles titles during his career.
Escudé is best remembered for the vital role he played in the 2001 Davis Cup final against Australia on the grass-courts of Melbourne. Escudé beat the recently crowned World No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt in the first rubber with a win in five sets, repeating what he did to Hewitt earlier that year in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Two days later, Escudé won the decisive fifth rubber for France against Wayne Arthurs in four sets.
The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour on 26 June 2000, when he became World No. 17. He's a natural left-hander who was trained since a child to play right-handed but does everything else lefty. His brother Julien Escudé is a professional football player.
Escudé teamed up with Roger Federer in the men's doubles at the French Open in 2000. However they were knocked out by Sébastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor.
In 2006, he announced his immediate retirement from the sport due to a persistent shoulder injury that had been keeping him out of the professional tennis circuit for the past 22 months.
Escudé was the captain of the France Fed Cup team from 2009 to 2012 . He was also the co-coach of Nicolas Mahut for the 2013 season with Thierry Ascione and from 2013 to 2015 of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
He is currently the technical director of the French tennis federation.

## Career finals
### Singles (4 wins, 2 losses)

* Legend
* Grand Slam (0)
* Tennis Masters Cup (0)
* ATP Masters Series (0)
* ATP International Series Gold (2)
* ATP Tour (2)
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Sep 1999 | Toulouse, France | Hard (i) | Daniel Vacek | 7–5, 6–1 |
| Loss | 1–1 | Jun 2000 | 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | Patrick Rafter | 1–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 2–1 | Feb 2001 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | Roger Federer | 7–5, 3–6, 7–6$^{(7–5)}$ |
| Loss | 2–2 | Feb 2002 | Marseille, France | Hard (i) | Thomas Enqvist | 7–6$^{(7–4)}$, 3–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 3–2 | Feb 2002 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | Tim Henman | 3–6, 7–6$^{(9–7)}$, 6–4 |
| Win | 4–2 | Jan 2004 | Doha, Qatar | Hard | Ivan Ljubičić | 6–3, 7–6$^{(7–4)}$ |

### Doubles (2 wins)

* Legend
* Grand Slam (0)
* Tennis Masters Cup (0)
* ATP Masters Series (1)
* ATP Tour (1)
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1. | Feb 2002 | Marseille, France | Hard (i) | Arnaud Clément | Julien Boutter Max Mirnyi | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 2. | Oct 2002 | Paris, France | Hard (i) | Fabrice Santoro | Gustavo Kuerten Cédric Pioline | 6–3, 7–6$^{(8–6)}$ |

## Singles performance timeline

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | SR | W–L |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | SF | A | 4R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 0 / 6 | 15–6 |
| French Open | 1R | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 0 / 9 | 7–9 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 2R | QF | 3R | 2R | A | 0 / 5 | 9–5 |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | QF | A | 2R | A | A | A | 0 / 4 | 6–4 |
| Win–loss | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 7–4 | 5–2 | 4–3 | 6–4 | 4–3 | 3–3 | 5–2 | 0 / 24 | 37–24 |
| ATP Masters Series |||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | QF | 2R | A | 4R | 0 / 5 | 9–5 |
| Miami | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 4R | 1R | 0 / 7 | 7–7 |
| Monte Carlo | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 5 | 2–5 |
| Hamburg | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | A | A | 0 / 4 | 3–4 |
| Rome | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 3 | 1–3 |
| Canada | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | 3R | 3R | A | A | 1R | 0 / 4 | 4–4 |
| Cincinnati | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1–2 |
| Madrid | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1–2 |
| Paris | A | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | A | A | 0 / 6 | 6–6 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–6 | 1–3 | 7–8 | 8–9 | 5–5 | 3–2 | 4–4 | 0 / 38 | 34–38 |
| Career statistics |||||||||||||||
| Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Finals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Year-end ranking | 670 | 646 | 189 | 413 | 93 | 37 | 37 | 48 | 27 | 34 | 114 | 64 | | |

## Top 10 wins

| Season | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | Total |
| Wins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| # | Player | Rank | Event | Surface | Rd | Score | ER |
| 1998 ||||||||
| 1. | Àlex Corretja | 9 | Halle, Germany | Grass | 1R | 6–2, 7–5 | 34 |
| 1999 ||||||||
| 2. | Carlos Moyá | 9 | US Open, New York, United States | Hard | 2R | 6–1, 6–4, 0–1, ret. | 136 |
| 3. | Marcelo Ríos | 10 | US Open, New York, United States | Hard | 4R | 6–2, 6–3, 7–5 | 136 |
| 4. | Tim Henman | 7 | Toulouse, France | Hard (i) | 2R | 6–4, 6–2 | 80 |
| 2000 ||||||||
| 5. | Richard Krajicek | 10 | Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia | Hard | 2R | 2–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–3 | 34 |
| 6. | Gustavo Kuerten | 5 | Davis Cup, Florianopolis, Brazil | Clay | RR | 6–2, 7–6$^{(7–3)}$ | 30 |
| 7. | Marat Safin | 2 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | 1R | 5–7, 6–3, 7–6$^{(7–5)}$ | 37 |
| 2001 ||||||||
| 8. | Tim Henman | 10 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | 2R | 6–3, 7–5 | 60 |
| 9. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 5 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | 1R | 7–5, 7–5 | 36 |
| 10. | Sébastien Grosjean | 8 | Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom | Grass | 3R | 5–7, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 | 38 |
| 11. | Lleyton Hewitt | 5 | Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom | Grass | 4R | 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4 | 38 |
| 12. | Marat Safin | 3 | Montreal, Canada | Hard | 1R | 6–4, 5–2, ret. | 28 |
| 13. | Lleyton Hewitt | 1 | Davis Cup, Melbourne, Australia | Grass | RR | 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 | 27 |
| 2002 ||||||||
| 14. | Juan Carlos Ferrero | 3 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | 1R | 5–7, 6–1, 6–0 | 22 |
| 15. | Sébastien Grosjean | 10 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | SF | 4–6, 7–6$^{(7–1)}$, 7–5 | 22 |
| 16. | Albert Costa | 8 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet (i) | 1R | 7–5, 3–6, 6–1 | 48 |
| 17. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 10 | Lyon, France | Carpet (i) | 2R | 7–6$^{(7–5)}$, 6–4 | 41 |
| 18. | Tim Henman | 9 | Paris, France | Carpet (i) | 3R | 6–4, 6–2 | 41 |
| 2003 ||||||||
| 19. | Jiří Novák | 10 | Marseille, France | Hard (i) | 1R | 6–2, 6–1 | 40 |
| 20. | Albert Costa | 8 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | 1R | 6–3, 6–3 | 41 |