Clement N’Goran

Clement N’Goran is a former African tennis champion from Côte d’Ivoire, decorated with a Medal of Honor from the National Order of Sports Merit of Côte d’Ivoire, who dominated the sport in Africa during the 1990s and reached the top 150 ATP ranking on the tour during 1989-1992 with his exceptional talent and all-around game. N’Goran was the game’s best player for Côte d’Ivoire for more than 16 years making him the best tennis player in the history of his country. N’Goran is currently Founder and Head Coach at the N’Goran Tennis Concept and N’Goran Tennis Club Association in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 

N’Goran who started playing tennis at a very young age along with his other talented brothers became the first one to win the African Junior Championships 18 & U in the Cadet and Junior categories in 1984 and 1986 (Finalist in the Junior in 1985) respectively. In 1986, N’Goran was a semi-finalist in doubles at the ITF Roland Garros Junior Championships. He also made his debut on the Davis Cup team of Côte d’Ivoire, leading his country during a 12-year period (between 1986 and 1997), with a rubber win-lose record standing at 23 and 8 in singles and 8 and 4 in doubles in the Euro/Africa Group II.

In 1987, N’Goran reached the semi-finals at the ITF World Junior Championship (Orange Bowl), and at the International Junior Tournament at Nice. He reached the finals at the International junior tournament of Grasse, and finished the year among the 20 best ITF Junior Players in the world. In 1988, N’Goran started competing at his first Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, and went on competing at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta where he reached the quarter finals in doubles partnering with his brother Claude N’Goran.

In 1990, N’Goran won his first tournament of the ATP Challenger Tour in East Africa and reached the semi-finals of Challenger Tournaments of Casablanca and Budapest. In 1991, N’Goran’s numbers grew remarkably reaching the quarter finals at the Challenger Tournament of Indianapolis, two finals at other Challenger Tournaments in the U.S., won the Challenger Tournament of Portugal, and reached the finals of the Africa Zone Davis Cup. In 1993, N’Goran reached the semi-finals at Challenger Tournament of Calgary, and won the Challenger Tournament of Kuala Lumpur. He was Vice Champion of France Interclubs N1A with Stade Toulousain Tennis Club. N’Goran spent 5 years in the 1st Series in France (Among the top 30 best players). He endured a career injury from 1994-1995.

Over the course of his illustrious career, N’Goran competed at every major ATP Tour event including the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in both singles and doubles, culminating his active professional competing years in 1999 winning the Championship of France Inter Club N1B with Club Stade Toulousain Tennis Department.

N’Goran started his Coaching career in 1997 at the International Tennis Academy (ITA) Delray-Beach, Florida. From 1999 through 2002, N’Goran was a Travelling Coach in Europe and in Africa for the International Tennis Federation for World Championships Under 18 (18, 16, 14 years old categories). N’Goran was in charge of Coaching and detection of young talents. He also participated in several world tennis coaching conferences (Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, and other countries). Since 2003, he has been a Tennis Coach for Club Stade Toulousain in charge of training the youth (10-18 years old) and adults.

From 2007 to 2010, N’Goran was Technical Director of the International Federation, Dakar, Senegal, and Director of the Academy Center, ITF and the African Tennis Confederation in Dakar. In 2009, N’Goran returned to his home country of Côte d’Ivoire with the determination and conviction to devote his global and professional experience to inspire and train future generations of champions from Côte d’Ivoire and other regional countries. N’Goran founded N’Goran Tennis Concept (NTC), a private Training Center and Tennis Club visited by great tennis players such as Yannick Noah.

N’Goran obtained a “Staff Certificate 1st Degree High Level Sportive Education” from the French Tennis Federation at Roland Garros in France, and a “Degree Level 2 of Coach” from the International Tennis Federation and the Confederation of African Tennis. N’Goran has expertise in all phases of the game, including diet, the correction of physical postures, and designing of high-level training programs.

In December 2019, Clément N’Goran was decorated with a Medal of Honor from the National Order of Sports Merit of Côte d’Ivoire as the greatest legend in the history of Ivorian tennis.