Robert Abdesselam (27 January 1920 – 26 July 2006)[1] was a noted French international tennis player.

[2] Robert Abdesselam was born in El Biar on 27 January 1920, son of Kabyle Muslim Mehana Abdesselam, attorney at the Paris Court of Appeal, and a Catholic mother, Marguerite Tedeschi, after a famous painter of the Parisian bourgeoisie.

He participated as a liaison officer in the Italian campaign in the French Expeditionary Corps under the command of Marshal Alphonse Juin.

For a number of years he was the second-best French player and was selected fourteen times in Davis Cup from 1947 to 1953 and compiled a record of 11 match wins and 10 losses.

Abdesselam won the singles title at the 1948 International Championships of Egypt in Alexandria after defeating Philippe Washer in the final.

Considered by Algerian independence fighters as a traitor, he was riddled with bullets in Paris by an activist of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) on 4 May 1960.

In particular, it aims to help former tennis champions in their retraining project and award prize "Robert Abdesselam" rewarding research on the defense of trademark law and international organizations in favor of maintaining peace.