Réginald Willems (born 6 September 1977) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Belgium.

Biography

Playing career

Willems, who comes from Brussels, began competing professionally in 1996. He had his best year on tour in 2000, when he reached a career high 145 in the world. His only ATP Tour main draw appearance came at the 2000 Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, which he entered as a qualifier. He defeated German

Alexander Popp Alexander Popp (born 4 November 1976) is a former German professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003. Personal life Popp was born in Heidelberg to parents Rainer and Jennifer, and started playing ten ...

in the first round, then lost in the next round to eventual finalist

Sébastien Grosjean Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons rank ...

. At the

2000 Wimbledon Championships The 2000 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 114th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and was held from ...

he made the final round of qualifying, where he was beaten in five sets by countryman

Olivier Rochus Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian tennis player. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player. Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 French Open – Men's double ...

. All three of his

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

finals came in 2000 and he won his only title at

Pozoblanco Pozoblanco () is a town in the Córdoba Province, Spain, province of Córdoba, southern Spain, in the north-central part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located near the headwaters of the Guadamatil ...

Córdoba, Spain Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...

Coaching

In late 2008 he replaced

Julien Hoferlin Julien "Juju" Hoferlin (5 July 1966 – 8 April 2016) was a Belgian tennis coach. Hoferlin was between 2006 and 2008, coach of the Belgium Davis Cup team. During his career he was the coach of among others Dominique Monami, Olivier Rochus, Chri ...

as captain of 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 ...

. Willems took charge of a team which had been relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone for the

2009 Davis Cup The 2009 Davis Cup was the 98th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred other took part in different regional groups. Spain , imag ...

and was able to return the side to the World Group in his first year, with a 3–2 win over

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in the 2009 Play-offs. They were unable to get past the

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in the first round of the

2010 Davis Cup The 2010 Davis Cup (also known as the 2010 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 99th edition of the most important annual tournament among national teams in men's tennis worldwide. In the dramatic final, Serbia defeated Fra ...

, but remained in the World Group with an unlikely play-off win over

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in Cairns. He resigned as captain amid discontent in the team following Belgium's first-round World Group loss to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2011. His selection of the inexperienced

Ruben Bemelmans Ruben Bemelmans (; born 14 January 1988) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and world No. 128 in doubles, achieved on 1 October 2012. Beme ...

against

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...

in the second rubber of the tie was met with criticism. Olivier Rochus, who had been expected to play the match, spoke out publicly against the decision by Willems and called the missed opportunity to play Nadal as one of the biggest disappointments of his career. At the same time doubles specialist

Dick Norman Dick Norman (born 1 March 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. He achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height (6 feet 8 inches), his left-handed power game and, in the last few years of h ...

, who was omitted from the side, called for Belgium to have an impartial coach, noting that Willems is also the personal coach of Rochus and

Steve Darcis Steve Darcis (, born 13 March 1984) is a Belgium, Belgian retired professional tennis player. In his career, he won two ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 38 on 22 May 2017. Personal life Steve Darcis was born in ...

, who both played in the tie. From 2011 to 2014 he was the coach of

David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7. He is currently the Belgian No. 1, and the first Belgian man to be ranked in the top 10. Goffin has won six ATP titles ...

, during which time the Belgian rose from outside the top 200 to 42 in the world.

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willems, Reginald 1977 births Living people Belgian male tennis players Belgian tennis coaches Sportspeople from Brussels