The 2003 BNP Paribas Masters was a tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 tournament played on indoor carpet courts. It was the 29th edition of the Paris Masters

Paris Masters

The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The event is part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour...

 and was part of the Tennis Masters Series

ATP World Tour Masters 1000

The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a series of nine tennis tournaments that are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America and Asia...

 of the 2003 ATP Tour

2003 ATP Tour

The ATP Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organised by the ATP. The ATP Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP Masters Series, the International Series Gold and the International Series tournaments.- January :...

. It took place at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy

Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy

Opened in 1984, Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, often abbreviated as POPB or Bercy, is an indoor sports arena on boulevard de Bercy located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 from October 27 through November 2, 2003.

Tournament review

Tim Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...

 won the men's singles title to claim his debut Masters Series title. He beat Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...

, Sébastien Grosjean

Sébastien Grosjean

Sébastien René Grosjean is a retired tennis player from France. His career-high ATP Entry ranking is No. 4 . He retired from tennis on May 27, 2010.-Career:...

, Gustavo Kuerten

Gustavo Kuerten

Gustavo Kuerten is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000...

, Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...

, and Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick

Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....

 en route to victory against Andrei Pavel

Andrei Pavel

Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...

 in the final.

Andy Roddick's performance in reaching the semi-finals lifted him to No. 1 in the rankings. Despite his loss to Henman he gained the top spot from Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero

Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat is a professional tennis player, and a former world no. 1 player, from Spain. He captured the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year, he became the 21st player to hold the world no. 1 ranking. He was also the runner-up at the 2002...

, who lost to Jiří Novák

Jirí Novák

Jiří Novák is a former Czech tennis player, who was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.-Career:Novák turned professional in 1993 and won 7 singles and 18 doubles titles during his career, winning $7,614,063 in prize money. For six years, he was the...

 earlier in the competition. He became the fourth youngest male player to reach number one.

David Nalbandian

David Nalbandian

David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...

 secured the final place in the Tennis Masters Cup

2003 Tennis Masters Cup

The 2003 Tennis Masters Cup was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 34th edition of the year-end singles championships and the 29th edition of the year-end doubles championships, and was part of the 2003 ATP Tour...

 even though he did not play at the event. Paradorn Srichaphan

Paradorn Srichaphan

Paradorn Srichaphan is a retired professional tennis player from Thailand. He is the highest ranked men's singles player from Thailand and Asia in history, reaching a career high World No. 9. His nickname is "Ball".-Career:...

, the only player who could beat him to eighth place in the rankings, lost in the third round.

Men's Singles

  Tim Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...

defeated   Andrei Pavel

Andrei Pavel

Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...

 6–2, 7–6 (8–6), 7–6 (7–2)

• It was Henman's 2nd title of the year and the 14th of his career. It was his 1st Masters Series title.

Men's Doubles

  Wayne Arthurs /   Paul Hanley

Paul Hanley (tennis)

Paul Jason Hanley is a professional male tennis player from Australia, specialising in doubles. His parents, Jay and Judy, co-own a tennis centre, one of the main reasons Hanley pursued a career in the sport.He lost the 2005 Wimbledon finals in mixed doubles, playing with Tatiana Perebiynis...

defeated   Michaël Llodra

Michaël Llodra

Michaël Llodra is a French professional tennis player. He is a prolific doubles player with three Grand Slam championships, and has also had success in singles.-Life and career:...

 /   Fabrice Santoro

Fabrice Santoro

Fabrice Vetea Santoro is a retired French professional male tennis player from Tahiti. Though not counted among the top ranked players, he had an unusually long professional career – with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career – and he is popular among spectators and other...

6–3, 1–6, 6–3

• It was Arthurs' 4th title of the year and the 10th of his career. It was Hanley's 5th title of the year and the 6th of his career.

External links

• Official Website
• ATP Tournament Profile