Â鶹APP

Wimbledon 2018, photo by Carine06.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Mansour Bahrami

Mansour Bahrami, a professional tennis player, was born on 26 April, 1956 in Arak, Iran. He is an Iranian with dual French nationality since 1989. Mansour married Catharina Hendrin Breedveld in 1967, at age 27 in Texas. At 65 years old, Mansour Bahrami height is 1.77 m.

He was quite successful on the ATP Tour, Association of Tennis Professionals the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits. Mansour Bahrami’s ethnicity is Middle Eastern.Many have called him the greatest Wimbledon champion and his playing partner, Ilie Nastase, called him a maestro.

In addition, John McEnroe reckons he’s a genius and While Rod Laver believes him to be the most naturally gifted player. In 1981, at the age of twenty-four, Bahrami reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier, where his cause was taken up by influential French newspapers such as L’Equipe and Le Figaro, who demanded the renewal of his visa.

1.His father was a gardener

He did not come from a wealthy family that could easily support him to play tennis. He told AlJazeera that his father was a gardener in the biggest sports complex in Iran where he would play all the sports and games he wanted to.

However, he was not allowed to play tennis it was reserved for the elite and rich. This did not stop him from improvising anything he could find into a racket to imitate the game of tennis.

2.He didn’t own a tennis racket until he was 13

Mansour Bahrami, photo by Peter Menzel.

When he was denied the chance to play tennis in the sports complex, he started improvising. He would use metal frying pans, pieces of wood, his hands and other implements to replicate the real thing. At the age of 13 the federation needed new players so they gave him two rackets to play. Three years later he was on the national team and playing in the Davis Cup.

3.He refused to give up his Iranian identity

While he was still playing in one of the most famous tournaments on the circuit at the age of 16, it was cut short when Ayatollah took power of Iran in 1980. Calling it the Western game, tennis courts were closed and the sport was completely banned.

Mansour could have easily left his life, family and nationality behind and surrendered his Iranian identity, but he refused. Three years later, Bahrami was back on court after the rules relaxed.

4.He was once an illegal immigrant

Mansour Bahrami became an illegal immigrant when his French visa eventually ran out. He would immediately change direction when he was a policeman in fear of them putting him on the first plane back to Iran.

Having lost three years of his career because of the fundamentalist regime in Iran, he spent six years as a virtual prisoner in France because he refused to become a political refugee.

5.He gambled away his money in a casino on his first night

Photo by Kaysha on

When he won a tournament in Iran, he gave the price of tickets to Athens to his girlfriend at the time. However she encouraged him to take it and pay an extra $200 to change the ticket giving him a chance to play tennis, to which he thought, was selfless.

Once he won his first money he gambled it away in a casino on his first night. He really suffered as the cost of living in France was higher than Iran luckily France was filled with tournaments.

6.His Davis Cup debut

1909 Davis Cup tennis competition, photo by State Library of Victoria.

In 1975, Mansour made his Davis Cup debut against Britain’s Roger Taylor and lost 6-0, 6-0, 6-2. His talent ked him to the Davis Cup team where he helped the team to victory at the age of just 16.

However, in the late 1970s the Islamic Revolution within Iran led to tennis being viewed as a capitalist sport. He spent the next three years playing backgammon as all tennis courts were closed down.  This pushed him to flee to France with his life savings.

7.The ATP Champions Tour

The Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, is the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits. In reference to his showmanship, his 2009 English-language autobiography was titled The Court Jester.

He is considered to have found his real calling on the ATP Champions Tour, where his flamboyant, humorous style and propensity for trick shots make him a crowd favourite in the tour’s more entertainment-oriented remit.

8.Mansour Bahrami’s Networth

Mansour Bahrami is one of the richest Tennis Player and listed on most popular Tennis Player. His networth has shifted as from 2020 to 2021. According to various sites such as Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Mansour Bahrami net worth is approximately $1.5 Million, which many consider a lot considering his current age of 65.

9.He is a lightweight juggler and an entertainer

Wimbledon 2010, photo by Bo Mertz.

Apart from being the greatest Wimbledon champion, he was an entertainer and a lightweight juggler. His fans know him as the magical maverick who can serve while holding six tennis balls in his hand, a man who can catch tennis balls in his shorts pocket while playing an improbable winning shot and as someone who can smash volleys which then spin crazily back across the net.

Some of his common comic turns during games are faking serves, slow-motion miming and playing whilst laying down or seated. Since he was 15 the first thing on his mind was to please the crowd but he is still one of the most popular tennis players of the last 50 years.

10.He still plays tennis at the age of 65

Mansour Bahrami, photo by Peter Menzel.

Turning 65 in April, he is still playing tennis and enjoys being chief entertainer at invitationals. After decades spent on the senior doubles circuit with partners like Henri Leconte and Yannick Noah, exhibiting faked backhand serves and throwing a second or even third ball into play whenever he feels like it, Bahrami remains one of the tennis world’s star attractions.

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. Bahrami, has also brought plenty of joy to the faces of fans around the world during a career which has spanned more than 40 years having only gone as far as the second round in his singles career at Grand Slams.