SPEAKER: HENRI LECONTE

Three is the number of surgeries he has had on his back. Four is the highest he has ever been ranked on the ATP circuit. And five, he says, is the maximum number of years that any player, here on in, will be able to dominate the game.

That is 38-year-old Henri Leconte, the maverick Frenchman tennis ace.

A junior French Open winner at age 17, Leconte won his first major title in 1982 and can easily be tagged as the only world-class player never to have won a singles Grand Slam title.

He did win a French Open doubles title, partnering Yannick Noah in 1984, but on balance, you would have to say that Leconte never really did justice to his talent.

Then again, Slams are not what the French ace is about -- he makes no bones about the fact that his personal high point was the win against the US in the 1991 Davis Cup finals. "For us, the Davis Cup came before the Grand Slams in importance," he says. "I think it's very important to play for your country."

Leconte was born in Lillers, France, and since 1995 has been staying in the Lake Geneva area, of Switzerland. He plays the senior circuit eight months in the year, and still gets the crowds going with his brand of serve and volley.

And on the side, Leconte also dabbles in television, hosting chat shows.

Taking time off from winning the recent Masters tournament in Mumbai, beating no less than Bjorn Borg in the finals.

Henri Leconte has won the following 9 tournaments in the ATP circuit:

Stockholm 1982
Stuttgart 1984
Nice & Sydney 1985
Genève & Hambourg 1986
Nice & Bruxelles 1987
Halle 1993.

Henri was finalist in the following tournaments:

Kitzbühel & Sydney 1983
Memphis 1984
Sydney 1985
Bristol 1986
Hambourg & Roland Garros 1988.
Team of the Davis Cup

Henri was a member of the team of the French Davis Cup from 1982 till 1991.

In 1982 he was the in the final against the team of the USA, were the French team won the Runner up title.

In 1991 he and the French Davis Cup team won for the first time in 59 years the Davis Cup title for the French Nation against the USA (Sampras, Agassi etc.).