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Xavier Malisse

Country	Belgium
Residence	Bradenton, Florida
Born	(1980-07-19) 19 July 1980 (age 31) Kortrijk
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb; 12.1 st)
Turned pro	1998
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$4,903,401
Singles
Career record	266-241
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 19 (12 August 2002)
Current ranking	No. 83 (14 May 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2003, 2011)
French Open	4R (2002, 2004)
Wimbledon	SF (2002)
US Open	4R (2001, 2003, 2005)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2004)
Doubles
Career record	102-93
Career titles	7
Highest ranking	No. 25 (7 November 2011)
Current ranking	No. 45 (30 April 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
French Open	W (2004)
Wimbledon	3R (2005)
US Open	2R (2003)
Last updated on: 3 May 2012.

Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian tennis player. Born in Kortrijk, Belgium, he is the only men's player from his country to have been ranked in the top 20 of the ATP tour, with a career-high singles ranking of World No. 19. His nickname is "The X-Man".

Career[link]

1998-2008[link]

Malisse turned professional in 1998. His best performance in Grand Slam singles competition was at the 2002 Wimbledon championships, where he reached the semifinal, beating Britain's Greg Rusedski in five sets en route, as well as former champion Richard Krajicek. He eventually lost to runner-up David Nalbandian, again in five sets. Malisse and Olivier Rochus won the French Open doubles championship in 2004. He won three ATP tour singles titles: Delray Beach in 2005 and 2007, and Chennai in 2007.

2009[link]

After a difficult year, Malisse was just No. 205 of the world. In his first tournament of the year in Brisbane he lost in the last qualifying round to American Bobby Reynolds. A week later, in Medibank International Sydney he reached the main draw but lost to Mario Ančić in the first round. At the Australian Open he first won his qualifying matches. In the first round of the main draw he won against Michaël Llodra. But in the next round he lost to Andy Roddick in four sets. In October he won a challenger tournament in Lyon and this pushed him back into the worlds top 100 for the first time in nearly two years

2010[link]

Malisse lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Sam Querrey in five sets.

2011[link]

Xavier started the 2011 season by reaching the final of Chennai. In March he won the doubles title in the Indian Wells Masters with Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, where he lost the Bernard Tomic.

ATP Career Finals[link]

Singles: 12 (3–9)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	2 November 1998	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Jiří Novák	3–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	10 May 1999	Delray Beach, United States	Clay	Lleyton Hewitt	4–6, 7–6(7–2), 1–6
Runner-up	3.	12 March 2001	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Jan-Michael Gambill	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	30 April 2001	Atlanta, United States	Clay	Andy Roddick	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	24 May 2004	St. Pölten, Austria	Clay	Filippo Volandri	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	11 October 2004	Lyon, France	Carpet	Robin Söderling	2–6, 6–3, 4–6
Winner	1.	31 January 2005	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Jiří Novák	7–6(8–6), 6–2
Runner-up	7.	9 January 2006	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Florent Serra	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	6 February 2006	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Tommy Haas	3–6, 6–3, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	2.	1 January 2007	Chennai, India	Hard	Stefan Koubek	6–1, 6–3
Winner	3.	28 January 2007	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	James Blake	5–7, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	11 January 2011	Chennai, India	Hard	Stanislas Wawrinka	5–7, 6–4, 1–6

Doubles: 10 (7–3)[link]

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	24 May 2004	Paris, France	Clay	Olivier Rochus	Michaël Llodra Fabrice Santoro	7–5, 7–5
Winner	2.	3 January 2005	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Olivier Rochus	Simon Aspelin Todd Perry	7–6, 6–4
Winner	3.	1 January 2007	Chennai, India	Hard	Dick Norman	Rafael Nadal Bartolomé Salvá	7–6, 7–6
Winner	4.	28 January 2007	Delray Beach, United States	Hard	Hugo Armando	James Auckland Stephen Huss	6–3, 6–7, [10–5]
Runner-up	1.	15 January 2008	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	Luis Horna Juan Mónaco	4–6, 6–3, [7–10]
Runner-up	2.	13 February 2011	San Jose, United States	Hard (i)	Alejandro Falla	Scott Lipsky Rajeev Ram	4–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Winner	5.	18 March 2011	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Alexandr Dolgopolov	Roger Federer Stanislas Wawrinka	6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–7]
Winner	6.	31 July 2011	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Mark Knowles	Somdev Devvarman Treat Conrad Huey	7–6(7–3), 7–6(12–10)
Winner	7.	19 February 2012	San Jose, United States	Hard (i)	Mark Knowles	Kevin Anderson Frank Moser	6–4, 1–6, [10–5]
Runner-up	3.	6 May 2012	Munich, Germany	Clay	Dick Norman	František Čermák Filip Polášek	4–6, 5–7

Singles Performance Timeline[link]

This table is current through 2012 French Open.

External links[link]

• Xavier Malisse at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Malisse arguing on the call

v t e Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Belgian male singles tennis players as of April 2, 2012 Olivier Rochus (59 7) Steve Darcis (68 ) Xavier Malisse (70 5) David Goffin (112 36) Ruben Bemelmans (145 2) Maxime Authom (184 29) Yannick Mertens (216 6) Alexandre Folie (340 1) Germain Gigounon (390 14) Julien Dubail (401 3)

Grigor Dimitrov
Григор Димитров

Dimitrov as Junior Wimbledon champion for 2008
Country	Bulgaria
Residence	Paris, France
Born	(1991-05-16) May 16, 1991 (age 21) Haskovo, Bulgaria
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Turned pro	2008
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$681,907
Singles
Career record	30–40 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 52 (August 22, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 87 (May 28, 2012)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2011, 2012)
French Open	2R (2012)
Wimbledon	2R (2011)
US Open	1R (2011) FO Juniors: QF (2008) W Juniors: W (2008) US Juniors: W (2008)
Doubles
Career record	7–11 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 200 (November 7, 2011)
Current ranking	No. 201 (February 13, 2012)
Last updated on: April 25, 2012.

Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgarian: Григор Димитров; born May 16, 1991, in Haskovo) is a tennis player from Bulgaria. He achieved a career high ranking of World No. 52 on August 22, 2011. Dimitrov also enjoyed a very successful junior career, in which he held the World No. 1 ranking and won the boy's singles titles at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships and the 2008 US Open.

Personal life[link]

Grigor was born in Haskovo, Bulgaria as the only child of father Dimitar, a tennis coach and mother Maria, a sports teacher and former volleyball player.^[2] He first held a tennis racket, given to him by his mother at the age of three and when he was five he began to play daily.^[2] During his teenage years he lived in Paris, France while training at Patrick Mouratoglou's Tennis Academy. He speaks fluent Bulgarian and English and says his main interests are all sports, cars, computers and watches.^[2]

Junior career[link]

His first major junior coup was when, at aged 14 he claimed the U14 European title. In 2006 he won the Orange Bowl U16 boys singles^[3] and was later named the Eddie Herr International 2007 Rising Star.^[4]

In 2007, Grigor was the finalist at the Orange Bowl U18 boys singles, losing to Ričardas Berankis of Lithuania. Alongside Vasek Pospisil, he reached the 2007 US Open doubles final, falling to Jonathan Eysseric and Jérôme Inzerillo. He is nicknamed G-Force

He began the 2008 Grand Slam season with a quarterfinal showing at Roland Garros, losing to Poland's Jerzy Janowicz in three sets. However he went on to win Wimbledon after defeating Henri Kontinen of Finland, 7–5, 6–3 in the final. He won the title without dropping a set despite playing with a shoulder injury throughout the tournament. The victory saw him join former junior champions Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg and guaranteed him a wildcard entry into the 2009 Wimbledon men's draw. His success continued at the US Open, which he won on September 7, defeating American qualifier Devin Britton 6–3, 6–4.^[5] On his way to the title he also defeated top seed Tsung-hua Yang of Taiwan in the semifinals. After the tournament Dimitrov announced that he was ending his junior career and focusing on improving his ATP ranking. On September 8 he became junior world number one overtaking Tsung-hua Yang.^[6] He closed at number three of the junior ranking that year.

Professional career[link]

2008[link]

Grigor began frequent participation in men's events in 2008. His first title came on clay at a futures tournament in Barcelona (May 19).

His first ATP level match was at 's-Hertogenbosch where he lost to Igor Andreev (RUS) 1–6, 3–6.

After his junior US Open title he won back to back futures tournaments in Madrid on hard court and rose 300 places to career high ranking of 477. The achievement attracted enough attention to earn him a wildcard into the AMS Madrid qualifying draw where he lost 3–6, 3–6 to then No.64 Florent Serra of France.

After being granted another wildcard to the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Championships in Basel, he won his first professional match at the ATP level by defeating No.122 Jiří Vaněk (CZE) 7–5, 4–6, 7–6 in the first round of the qualifying draw.

2009[link]

At the start of 2009 he was granted a wildcard to the main draw of the 2009 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In the first round he upset the then world No.23 Tomáš Berdych (CZE) 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. In the second round he faced World No.1 Rafael Nadal and pushed Nadal to the edge before losing 5–7, 6–3, 2–6.

He was granted a wildcard to the main draw of the ATP World Tour 250 event Open 13 in Marseille, France. He lost 6–4, 3–6, 5–7 to world No.8 Gilles Simon of France in the first round, after serving for the match at 5–3 in last set.

At the Besançon challenger in France Grigor was defeated by ATP 102 Denis Istomin in the round of 32. He then completed two victories for Bulgaria v Hungary in the Davis Cup. He reached the round of 16 in the Thailand Challenger where he lost to Danai Udomchoke of Thailand in straight sets.

Four first round exits in Challengers followed, including a disappointing first round exit in his home country, Bulgaria. He then reached the quarter finals of two successive challengers in Cremona, Italy and Nottingham, England.

He reached the 2nd round of the Queen's Club Championships, where he lost 6–7, 6–7 again to Gilles Simon.

In Wimbledon where he got a wildcard as the 2008 Juniors Champion he won the first set of his first round match against Igor Kunitsyn 6–3. He then struggled with a knee injury and the trainer was brought on. Despite this he attempted to continue but lost the following 10 games before he retired.

He was granted a wildcard to the main draw of the Catella Swedish Open in Båstad, Sweden an ATP World Tour 250 event. He lost his first round match vs. Guillermo Cañas 3–6, 6–7.

He reached the quarter finals of the challenger in Segovia, Spain losing out in three sets to Marcel Granollers of Spain. After beating Nicolas Mahut of France in the first round of the Istanbul Challenger Grigor lost out to Martin Fischer of Austria in straight sets

As the 2008 winner of the US Open Boys Tournament he was granted a wildcard for the 2009 US Open Qualification Tournament. He won his first round match vs. Tobias Kamke (Germany) 6–3, 7–5. In the second round he lost to the number 1 seed of the qualification Thomaz Bellucci 6–4, 6–3.

On September 27, 2009 Dimitrov won his first doubles challenger title in Trnava, Slovakia together with Teymuraz Gabashvili. In the final they beat Minars and Rosol from Czech Republic, in a very close match 6–2, 2–6, [10–8].

2010[link]

Dimitrov started the 2010 season with a quarterfinal finish at a challenger event in Nouméa, New Caledonia. He then attempted to qualify for the Australian Open, but lost in the first round to Robert Kendrick in three sets. He bounced back a week later by qualifying at the Honolulu challenger, reaching the round of 16 before losing to Donald Young. Dimitrov then participated for Bulgaria in the Davis Cup, claiming all 3 wins in a 3–2 victory over Monaco. Following the Davis Cup tie, Grigor had a number of early losses in various challenger tournaments.

Grigor receives the Apano Cup trophy

Dimitrov won his first ATP tour match of the year on the grass courts of the AEGON Championships in London. He beat Alex Bogdanovic 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 before losing to World No. 31 Feliciano López 2–6, 4–6 in the second round. Grigor then had a great run in the Marburg challenger, where he came through qualifying to reach the semi-finals where he lost out to Simone Vagnozzi.

Grigor again had a number of disappointing losses in challenger events and another Davis Cup tie. Dimitrov then participated in four futures tournaments, posting impressive results, including two tournament victories in Germany, and another in Spain. Dimitrov gained enough points to enter the world's top 250 for the first time in his career.

His recent good form translated to the Challenger Tour, capturing his first ever challenger title in Geneva, where he defeated number 118 Pablo Andújar 6–2, 4–6, 6–4 in the final.^[7]

He then played another challenger in Bangkok, where he beat former top 20 player Dmitry Tursunov 7–6, 6–3 in the quarterfinals en route to his second consecutive tournament win. He defeated Konstantin Kravchuk in the final 6–1, 6–4 in a win that placed him in top 150 in the world. He was the highest ranked teenager on the ATP Tour at that time.

In a second challenger in the same venue in Bangkok in the very next week Grigor beat Ivan Dodig (First Round), Go Soeda (SF) and Alexandre Kudryavtsev (F) on his way to win the tournament, which was his third consecutive Challenger win and gave him a spot in the Top 140 in the ATP ranking. He expressed that after this victory it is his aim to enter the ATP top 10 in 2011.^[8]

He made an early exit in his first challenger after a two week break but bounced back a week later, beating top 100 player Lukáš Lacko and world number 32 Michaël Llodra on the way to the final of the Orléans challenger. In the final Grigor lost out to Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6–2, 6–7, 6–7 in a very tight match.

After two disappointing challenger tournaments in Germany, in which Dimitrov suffered first round exits, he reached the semifinals of the challenger tournament in Helsinki, his last tournament of the year. There he played Lithuanian youngster Richard Berankis. After the loss of a tight first set in a tiebreak, Dimitrov dominated the second set but was dominated by Berankis in the third. Berankis eventually won the match, 6–7, 6–0, 1–6. In an off-court incident after the match, Dimitrov pushed the chair umpire with both hands and sweared at him because he felt he was treated unfairly after some close calls in the first set tiebreak. Dimitrov was fined €2,000, and the ATP will investigate this incident to see if further disciplinary action is warranted. By reaching the semifinals in Helsinki, Dimitrov reached his best ever ATP world ranking (106).

2011[link]

Dimitrov's first tournament of the year was the Australian Open, where he advanced through the qualifying rounds with the lost of just one set. He defeated world number 38 Andrey Golubev with 6–1, 6–4, 6–2 in the first round to advance for the first time to the second round of a Grand Slam tournament where he eventually lost to 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka with a 5–7, 3–6, 3–6 loss. Nonetheless, Dimitrov achieved his top ever ATP ranking, ending January at 85th spot. Thus, he became the top ranked Bulgarian male tennis player of all time.

On February 6, Dimitrov qualified for the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.^[9] In Rotterdam, he faced 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round. He lost 4–6, 4–6.

In March 2011, Dimitrov won the 2011 Challenger DCNS de Cherbourg defeating the defending champion and number two seed Nicolas Mahut in the final to move to number 71 in the ATP World Rankings.

On April 1, Dimitrov became the first Bulgarian man ever to be seeded at an ATP World Tour tournament being seeded 8 at the 2011 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, TX.^[10] On April 27, he reached his first quarterfinals in an ATP tournament, defeating Marcos Baghdatis at the 2011 BMW Open in Munich, achieving a career-best ranking of #66.

Dimitrov lost in the first round of the 2011 French Open against Jeremy Chardy.

Dimitrov then advanced to his second ATP quarterfinals at the 2011 AEGON International after he defeated sixth seeded Kevin Anderson in the 2nd round, but lost in the 3rd round to 3rd seed Janko Tipsarevic (who went to reach the final).

On June 16, he became the first Bulgarian man ever to reach a doubles final at an ATP tournament together with Andreas Seppi at the 2011 AEGON International in Eastbourne.^[11] At Wimbledon, he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7–6, 4–6, 4–6, 6–7 in the second round. At 2011 Western & Southern Open Dimitrov defeated Marsel İlhan in the first round, but lost to world number 6 David Ferrer in the second round 6–4, 1–6, 5–7.^[12]

At 2011 US Open Dimitrov was defeated by Gaël Monfils in the first round 6–7, 3–6, 4–6.^[13] In the Open de Moselle in Metz, Dimitrov was beaten 2–6, 2–6 in 53 minutes by qualifier Igor Sijsling in the first round.^[14] After that, in the Thailand Open, Dimitrov beat Ivan Dodig 6–2, 7–5 in the first round, then Simone Bolelli 7–6, 6–1 in the 2nd round, before falling to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals in two sets 4–6, 4–6. In his next tournament (the China Open) in the 1st round he once again met Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who was 1st seed at that tournament) and lost again, this time 6–7, 5–7. At 2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters Dimitrov beat Marsel İlhan (for the second time this year) in the first round but was defeated by Andy Roddick in the second round, losing 6–7, 5–7.^[15] At 2011 If Stockholm Open Dimitrov beat Ryan Sweeting (2–0 sets) and Juan Ignacio Chela (2–1 sets) before losing to Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals 5–7, 4–6.^[16]

2012[link]

Dimitrov started his 2012 season by competing at the 2012 Hopman Cup alongside Tsvetana Pironkova. Their team was defeated by the Czech Republic 1–2, after they won a match in mixed doubles but lost their singles matches. Then, their team defeated Denmark 2–1.^[17] Against USA, Dimitrov trounced Mardy Fish 6–2, 6–1 in his first win (although not official ATP win) against a Top 10 player. At 2012 Australian Open Dimitrov defeated Jérémy Chardy to reach the second round but then he lost to Nicolás Almagro. Dimitrov competed in the 2012 SAP Open singles tournament but lost in the first round.^[18] In the doubles tournament, Dimitrov and doubles partner John Paul Fruttero lost to №1 seeded Christopher Kas and Santiago González. At the 2012 BNP Paribas Open Dimitrov defeated Ivan Dodig in the first round, but lost to David Ferrer in the second round, 6–2, 6–2. Dimitrov's next tournament was the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open, where he reached the fourth round after defeating Mikhail Kukushkin, Juan Ignacio Chela, and Tomas Berdych, before losing to Janko Tipsarević.^[19][20] Dimitrov entered the 2012 Strabag Prague Open as the 5th seeded player. In the first round he defeated Jan Hájek and then lost to Aljaž Bedene in the second. At the French Open, Dimitrov was a set and a break up against 17th seed Gasquet before suffering an injury, he went onto lose the set, the momentum and eventually the match.

Coaching[link]

As a child, Dimitrov was coached by his father, Dimitar, at Tennis Club Haskovo. As his talent became more apparent he started to receive coaching from abroad, most notably from Spaniard Pato Alvarez, who has also coached Britain's Andy Murray. Alvarez has reportedly said that Dimitrov is the best 17 year old he has coached. Around the time of his success at the 2009 ABN AMRO in Rotterdam, Dimitrov formally began a coaching relationship with Peter Lundgren, former coach of world number ones Marat Safin and Roger Federer. Lundgren has also been quick to praise Dimitrov, saying that "he is better than Federer was at his age."^[21] In June 2010 he ended his coaching relationship with Lundgren and was subsequently coached by Australian pro Peter McNamara.^[22] Dimitrov and McNamara have ended their coaching relationship at the end of the 2011 season.^[23] As of 2012, Dimitrov is being coached by Patrick Mouratoglou.^[24]

Playing style[link]

Dimitrov plays right-handed and he plays a single-handed backhand. He considers the backhand down the line as his favorite shot and his favorite surfaces are hard court and grass.^[2] Despite this he has had notable success on clay courts as well. His game has been compared to former world #1 Roger Federer due to the similarity in their ground strokes, particularly off the backhand side. Despite his recent improvement in this area, some people^[who?] believe his movement needs to be improved if he wants to reach the top of the game. His return of serve has also been cited as a weakness.

Junior Finals[link]

Singles[link]

Grand Slam Singles Wins (2)

Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponents	Score
2008	Wimbledon	Grass	Henri Kontinen	7–5, 6–3
2008	US Open	Hard	Devin Britton	6–4, 6–3

Doubles[link]

Grand Slam Doubles Runner-Up (1)

Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents	Score
2007	US Open	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	Jonathan Eysseric Jérôme Inzerillo	2–6, 4–6

Finals[link]

ATP World Tour[link]

Doubles: 1(0–1)[link]

Result.	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	June 16, 2011	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Andreas Seppi	Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram	3–6, 3–6

Challengers and Futures Circuit[link]

Singles[link]

Win[link]

Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
2008	Valldoreix F20 ITF FU $10,000	Clay	Pablo Santos-González	6–3, 6–4
2008	Móstoles-Madrid F34 ITF FU $15,000	Hard	Ignacio Coll-Riudavets	7–6(7–3), 6–3
2008	Alcorcón-Madrid F35 ITF FU $15,000	Hard	Ludovic Walter	6–4, 6–4
2010	Bitburger F9 ITF FU $10,000	Clay	David Goffin	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
2010	Germany F10 (The Apano Cup) ITF FU $15,000+H	Clay	Jan-Lennard Struff	7–5, 7–5
2010	Spain F29 ITF FU $15,000	Clay	Sergio Gutiérrez-Ferrol	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
2010	Switzerland CH ATP Challenger €30,000 +H	Clay	Pablo Andújar	6–2, 4–6, 6–4
2010	Thailand CH ATP Challenger $35,000 +H	Hard	Konstantin Kravchuk	6–1, 6–4
2010	Thailand CH 2 ATP Challenger $35,000 +H	Hard	Alexandre Kudryavtsev	6–4, 6–1
2011	Cherbourg CH ATP Challenger €42,500 +H	Hard (i)	Nicolas Mahut	6–2, 7–6(7–4)