Alexander Blockx (born 8 April 2005) is a Belgian tennis player. He has a career high junior tennis ranking of three in both singles and doubles, both achieved on 30 January 2023. He made his ATP Tour debut at the European Open, held at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium in October 2022. In January 2023, he won the

2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament consi ...

in the boys singles. He also reached the final in the 2023 boys doubles.

Early life

Blockx is from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

in Belgium. He has trained since childhood with Philippe Cassiers at his Forest Hills tennis academy in Belgium.

Career

2022

In 2022, Blockx reached the third round and then quarter-finals of the junior events at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and the US Open, respectively. Shortly after the US Open, Blockx and sometime junior doubles partner Gilles-Arnaud Bailly were invited to train with the

Belgium Davis Cup team The Belgium men's national tennis team represents Belgium in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Royal Belgian Tennis Federation. History Belgium competed in its first Davis Cup in 1904 when it achieved its best result until 20 ...

by captain

Johan Van Herck Johan Van Herck (born 24 May 1974) is a Belgian tennis coach and former professional player. Van Herck first broke into the top 100 of the ATP rankings in 1996, when he made semi-finals at the Copenhagen Open and Italy's Campionati Internazional ...

. Blockx was given a wildcard for the European Open qualifying, where he lost 6–4, 6–4, to Swiss pro Dominic Stricker. He was also given a wildcard into the main draw of the doubles, playing alongside Ruben Bemelmans in what proved to be Bemelmans' last professional game.

2023

Blockx reached the final at the

in both the boys' singles and, alongside Brazilian

João Fonseca João Francisco Fonseca dos Santos (born 19 February 1948), known as Fonseca, is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Honours Benfica *Primeira Divisão: 1970–71, 1971–72 *Taça de Portugal: 1969–70, 1971–72 ...

, the boys' doubles, which they lost to Learner Tien and

Cooper Williams Cooper Williams (born June 17, 2005) is an American tennis player. Williams has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 965 on June 12, 2023. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 516 on June 12, 2023. Williams is currently ranked No ...

. Blockx gained revenge over Tien by winning the boys' singles final in three sets. Although Gilles-Arnaud Bailly reached two grand slam junior finals in 2022, the last Belgian male to win a junior grand slam, prior to Blocx, was Kimmer Coppejans at the

2012 French Open The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 11 ...

. No Belgian male had previously won the boys' singles in Melbourne.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * 2005 births Living people Belgian male tennis players Flemish sportspeople Sportspeople from Antwerp Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Australian Open (tennis) junior champions {{Belgium-tennis-bio-stub