Benhabiles turned pro tennis in 1981 after winning the junior French Open competition. He did not win a title at an ATP tournament, although he was twice in a final: in 1984 he lost to Vitas Gerulaitis in Treviso and in 1990 in Genoa to Ronald Agénor . He reached his best position in the ATP world rankings on June 8, 1987 with 22nd place.
Benhabiles played a single game for the French Davis Cup team , in 1987 in doubles against South Korea . In 1992, at the age of 27, he retired from professional tennis.
Then Benhabiles began a coaching career; initially with Nicolas Escudé , then after moving to the USA in 1997 as coach of Andy Roddick . He brought the latter into the top ten by June 2003. After separating from Roddick, Benhabiles worked with Richard Gasquet until January 2004, and with Tatiana Golovin and Benjamin Becker in 2006 .