Joran Vliegen (born 7 July 1993) is a Belgian tennis player. Vliegen has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 28 achieved on 14 June 2021. He also has a career high singles ranking of World No. 508 achieved on 1 August 2016. Vliegen won two singles titles on the

ITF Men's Circuit The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

, but now focuses on doubles. Vliegen has claimed 5 ATP tour doubles titles with partner

Sander Gillé Sander Gillé (born 15 January 1991) is a Belgian tennis player. Gillé has a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 24 by the ATP, achieved on 8 November 2021. He also has a career-high singles ranking of World No. 574, reached on 24 Decembe ...

Early life and background

Vliegen was born in

Maaseik Maaseik (; li, Mezeik) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. Both in size (close to 77 km2) and in population (approx. 25,000 inhabitants, of whom some 3,000 non-Belgian), it is the 8th largest municipality in Limb ...

, Belgium to parents Ivo Vliegen and Annick Desender. He has a brother named Warre. He started playing tennis at the age of five. In 2011 he moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to play college tennis at East Carolina University. He was named 2014 Conference USA Player of the Year. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in business.

Career

2018: Davis Cup debut

Vliegen made his debut with the Belgium Davis Cup team in 2018. In the quarterfinals against the

, he and fellow Belgian

lost against

Ryan Harrison Ryan Harrison (born May 7, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. Harrison has won one career ATP title in singles at the 2017 Memphis Open to go along with four in doubles, including the 2017 French Open. Before turning 16, Harriso ...

and

Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...

2019: Grand Slam debut and first quarterfinal , Three ATP doubles titles

In 2019 he and Gillé managed to pull off a surprise win over

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

's Marcelo Melo and

Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six major titles, the Australian Open and US Open in 2016 alongside Jamie Murray, and ...

in the Belgium-Brazil Davis cup tie contributing to Belgium qualifying for the 2019 Davis Cup Finals held in November. Vliegen made his Grand Slam debut in the

2019 French Open The 2019 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 26 May to 9 June, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and ...

. Partnering

Mikhail Kukushkin Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kukushkin (russian: link=no, Михаил Александрович Кукушкин; born 26 December 1987) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. Before 2008, he played for his country of birth, Russ ...

from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

he managed to reach the quarterfinals. At Wimbledon 2019, Vliegen made his debut in a mixed doubles event, and reached the third round with

Zheng Saisai Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born February 5, 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She won one WTA singles title (at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic), five WTA doubles titles, and reached the final of the 2019 French Open in dou ...

from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Vliegen won his first

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...

doubles title at the 2019 Swedish Open with fellow Belgian

. One week later, again partnering with Gillé, he also won the title at the Swiss Open. The duo continued their winning streak by reaching the final of the Austrian Open, losing to

Philipp Oswald Philipp Oswald (; born 23 January 1986) is an Austrian professional tennis player who primarily plays doubles events on the ATP Tour. On 7 December 2009, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 206, and his highest doubles ranki ...

and

Filip Polášek Filip Polášek (; born 21 July 1985) is a Slovak professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He was forced to retire in 2013 due to health issues, but returned in 2018 and began the most successful phase of his career. Polášek wo ...

. Two months later, Vliegen and Gillé picked up their third title of 2019 at the Zhuhai Championships.

2020-2021: Two titles, Second Major quarterfinal, first Masters semifinal, Olympics & top 30 debut

Vliegen won two more titles with his partner Sander Gillé at the 2020 Astana Open and at the 2021 Singapore Open. They also reached the quarterfinals at the 2020 US Open (tennis) losing to the eventual runners-up Mektic/Koolhof, their best showing at the Grand Slam thus far. The pair made their first Masters 1000 semifinal at the

2021 Mutua Madrid Open The 2021 Madrid Open (sponsored by Mutua) was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain from 29 April – 9 May 2021. It was the 19th edition of the event on the ATP Tour and 12th o ...

losing to the 2nd seeded pair of Pavic/Mektic. As a result, Vliegen reached a career-high of No. 31 on 10 May 2021.

2022: First Grand Slam mixed doubles final

At the

2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair ...

, Vliegen and Gillé caused an upset by eliminating the defending champions and home favorites Pierre Hugues Herbert and

Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...

in three tight sets without dropping one service game. In the second round they saw off the Australian pairing of

Luke Saville Luke Saville (born 1 February 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has had success as a doubles player where he reached his highest ranking of World No. 23 on 8 November 2021. Saville reached the final at the 2020 Australian Op ...

and Jordan Thompson before falling to the unseeded pairing of

Rafael Matos Rafael Fabris de Matos (born 6 January 1996) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. Matos has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 27 achieved on 14 November 2022. He also has a career high ATP singles ranking of No. 440 achieved on 21 ...

and

David Vega Hernández David Vega Hernández (; born 23 June 1994) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Vega Hernández has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 403 achieved on 21 July 2014. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 32 ...

in a third super match tie-break. He also entered the mixed doubles event for the first time, partnering Norwegian

Ulrikke Eikeri Ulrikke Pia Eikeri (born 16 December 1992) is a Norwegian tennis player. Eikeri has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, one doubles title on WTA Challenger Tour and 11 singles titles and 30 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She reached th ...

. In the first round they won against the Kazakh pairing of

Anna Danilina Anna Sergeyevna Danilina (russian: Анна Сергеевна Данилина; born 20 August 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakh tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 11 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). In singles, ...

and

Andrey Golubev Andrey Golubev ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Го́лубев; born July 22, 1987) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 33, achieved on 4 October 2010 and his doubles ranking i ...

in three sets. In the second round they progressed past the home team of

Clara Burel Clara Burel (; born 24 March 2001) is a French tennis player. On 21 February 2022, she peaked at No. 74 in the WTA singles rankings. In singles, she reached two Grand Slam junior finals and won two silver medals at the Youth Summer Olympics. I ...

and

Hugo Gaston Hugo Gaston (; born 26 September 2000) is a French tennis player. His career high ATP ranking in singles is world No. 58, which he achieved on 11 July 2022, and in doubles is world No. 220, which he achieved on 16 May 2022. He won the 2018 Aust ...

in straight sets. In the third round they faced 2021 Wimbledon champions

Desirae Krawczyk Desirae Marie Krawczyk (; born January 11, 1994) is an American professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. Krawczyk has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 10, achieved in July 2022, and has won seven titles on the WTA Tour, ...

and

Neal Skupski Neal Skupski (born 1 December 1989) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 14 November 2022. He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles, havi ...

and lost the first set comprehensively before bouncing back to win the second set in the tie-break and the third set match tie-break. Their semifinal followed a similar pattern, this time against 2018 Wimbledon champion

Nicole Melichar Nicole Melichar-Martinez (née Melichar; cz, Nicole Melicharová, ) is an American tennis player who specializes in doubles. She has won twelve doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA 125 doubles title as well as two singles and seven double ...

and twice French Open Men's doubles champion

Kevin Krawietz Kevin Krawietz (born 24 January 1992) is a German professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the French Open doubles title in both 2019 and 2020 alongside compatriot Andreas Mies. The ...

, with them again bouncing back from a poor first set to win the second in the tie-break and the third set match tie-break to reach their first Grand Slam final. They lost in the final to

Ena Shibahara is an American-born Japanese professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. She won her first Grand Slam title at the 2022 French Open alongside Wesley Koolhof in mixed doubles, and also reached the women's doubles semifinals at the 20 ...

and

Wesley Koolhof Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 in doubles on 7 November 2022. He has won 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, mos ...

. This made Vliegen the first Belgian man to reach the final of a mixed doubles event of a Grand Slam tournament.

Significant finals

Grand slam finals

Mixed doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ATP career finals

Doubles: 8 6 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Challenger and Futures Finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Doubles: 51 (37–14)

Performance timelines

Doubles

''Current through the

.''

Mixed doubles

''Current through the

2022 Australian Open The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...

.''

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vliegen, Joran 1993 births Living people Belgian male tennis players Olympic tennis players of Belgium East Carolina University alumni Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics College men's tennis players in the United States People from Maaseik Sportspeople from Limburg (Belgium) 21st-century Belgian people