Rosset turned professional in 1988 and won his first tour singles title in1989 inGeneva as a wildcard, defeatingGuillermo Pérez Roldán. His first doubles title was won in Geneva as well in1991 with partnerSergi Bruguera.
1992 was the pinnacle of Rosset's career. Representing Switzerland at the Olympic Games inBarcelona, at21 years, 275 days old he defeated several top players en route to qualifying for the men's singles final, includingJim Courier,Goran Ivanišević,Wayne Ferreira, andEmilio Sánchez. In the final, he faced Spain'sJordi Arrese and won an exciting five-set match to claim the gold medal. Rosset also won the 1992 French Open men's doubles title with partnerJakob Hlasek. Rosset also was a member of the Swiss team which reached the final of the 1992Davis Cup. Switzerland lost in the final to the United States despite Rosset's winning a five-set singles rubber againstJim Courier (who was ranked world No. 1 at the time).
Rosset's most memorable Davis Cup match came in defeat in a singles rubber againstArnaud Clément of France in 2001, which he lost 15–13 in the fifth set after 5 hours and 46 minutes. During the later years of his playing career, Rosset also served as the Swiss Davis Cup team captain.
Rosset had a 2–2 record against his successor as Switzerland's top male tennis player,Roger Federer. Rosset won their first two meetings in 2000 (including the final of theOpen 13 at Marseille), but Federer won their meetings in 2001 and 2003.[1]
At 2.01 meters (6 ft. 7 in.), Rosset was one of the game's tallest players throughout his career. He was one of the game's fastest servers and most prolific servers of aces for most of his career.
Rosset changed his flight plans after a first-round defeat at theUS Open in September 1998. After he changed his plans, the flight he had originally planned to take,Swissair Flight 111, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all on board.[2]
Rosset's career-highATP singles ranking was world No. 9, and his career-high doubles ranking was world No. 8. He won a total of 15 top-level singles titles and eight doubles titles. He won at least one singles title on all surfaces:clay,grass,carpet, andhard court.
Switzerland
David Adams
Andrei Olhovskiy
Jordi Arrese
Andre Agassi
Mark Kratzmann
Guillermo Pérez Roldán
Andrés Gómez
Mats Wilander
Carl Uwe Steeb
Jan Siemerink
Arnaud Boetsch
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Goran Ivanišević
Tim Henman
Oleg Ogorodov
Leander Paes
David Rikl
Andriy Medvedev
Wayne Ferreira
