Mansour Bahrami

Country (sports)	Iran  France
Residence	Paris, France
Born	(1956-04-26) 26 April 1956 (age 67) Arak, Iran
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1974
Retired	1995 (singles) 2003 (doubles)[N 1]
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$368,780
Singles
Career record	23–47 (32.9%)
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 (43.7%)
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 26 April 1956) is a former professional tennis player. He is Iranian with French nationality since 1989. While not highly successful on the ATP Tour, his showmanship has made him a long-standing and popular figure in invitational tournaments.

Early life

As a child in Iran, Mansour Bahrami taught himself to play tennis using an old metal frying pan and other kitchen utensils and did not own his first tennis racquet until he was aged 13.

In his early 20s, following Iran's Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s, tennis was viewed as a capitalist and elitist sport and therefore banned.^[1] Because all tennis courts in Iran were closed down, he spent the next three years playing backgammon daily in Tehran, until he won a local tournament with the prize of airplane flights to Athens. He paid to have the tickets changed to Nice and left his girlfriend and family behind.

France offered Bahrami the opportunity to play small tournaments, but he saw that the cost of living was quite high and needed a way to maintain his finances until he could begin winning prize money. He gambled his savings in a casino in Nice and lost the lot on his first night. When his French visa ran out and without a carte de séjour (residence permit), he became a political refugee, an illegal immigrant, constantly in fear of the police, regularly sleeping rough and making food last for days. He relied on the financial support of friends until he was able to support himself.

In May, 2023, he was featured on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel describing his early life.^[2]

Tennis career

Mansour Bahrami reached the Davis Cup team at the age of 16.

Due to the forced break in his tennis play from the Islamic revolution fallout, his potential in singles was never fully realized. He became a successful doubles player, winning two tournaments and reaching the 1989 French Open doubles final with Éric Winogradsky.^[3][4]

Senior tournaments

Bahrami has been a mainstay of the seniors invitational tennis circuit for more than 25 years.^[1] Bahrami is considered to have "found his niche" on the ATP Champions Tour,^[4] where his flamboyant, humorous style and propensity for trick shots make him a crowd favorite in the tour's more entertainment-oriented sphere. In reference to his showmanship, his 2009 English-language autobiography was titled The Court Jester.^[5] His comic turns on the court often include faking serves, slow-motion miming, hitting balls backwards between his legs, over his shoulder or from the back, and playing while lying down or seated.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 12 (2–10)

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(5–7)
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 978-1438987941.
• The Man behind the Moustache, DVD (2009).