Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian 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 cov ...

player. Born in the north-western

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked in the top 20 of the

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 ...

, with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19.

Career

Juniors

As a junior Malisse compiled a singles win–loss record of 66–18, reaching as high as No. 10 in the junior world singles rankings in 1997. He made the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1997, whilst his final junior tournament was winning Eddie Herr later that year.

1998–2008

Malisse turned professional in 1998. His best performance in Grand Slam singles competition was at the 2002 Wimbledon championships, where he reached the semi-final, beating

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Vince Spadea Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He ...

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...

and Britain's

Greg Rusedski Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 ...

in five sets en route, as well as former champion

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

. He eventually lost to runner-up

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, again in five sets. Malisse and

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 won the French Open doubles ...

won the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

doubles championship in 2004. He has won three ATP tour singles titles:

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in 2005 and 2007, and

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in 2007.

2009

After a difficult year, Malisse found himself with a world ranking of 205. In his first tournament of the year in Brisbane, he lost in the last qualifying round to American

Bobby Reynolds Robert Thomas "Bobby" Reynolds (born July 17, 1982) is an American retired professional tennis player who resides in Auburn, Alabama. He was named head men's tennis coach at Auburn University in June 2016. Professional career Reynolds, a nati ...

. A week later, in

Medibank International Sydney The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...

, he reached the main draw, but lost to Mario Ančić in the first round. At the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

, he first won his qualifying matches. In the first round of the main draw, he defeated

Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...

. However, in the next round, he lost to

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...

in four sets. In October, he won a Challenger tournament in Lyon, and this pushed him back into the world's top 100 for the first time in nearly two years. He was banned for a year over doping allegations.

2010

Malisse lost in the third round of Wimbledon to

Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...

in five sets.

2011

Xavier started the 2011 season by reaching the final of

. In March, he won the doubles title in the

Indian Wells Masters The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is ...

with

Alexandr Dolgopolov Alexandr Oleksandrovych Dolgopolov (born 7 November 1988), formerly known as Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr., is a Ukrainian retired professional tennis player. He changed his forename spelling to the current form in May 2010. Dolgopolov reached the ...

of Ukraine. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, where he lost to Bernard Tomic.

2012

Xavier reached the fourth round of Wimbledon where he faced

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

. Federer won the first two sets and went a break up in the third, but Malisse came back to win the third set and move 2–0 in the fourth. Federer subsequently won six out of the next seven games to win the match and went on to win the Title.

2016–2018

After retiring in 2013 and competing in an ITF doubles event in 2015, Malisse entered the 2016 Meerbusch Challenger in doubles, ultimately conceding a walkover to end his playing career. He then participated in the

ATP Champions Tour The ATP Champions Tour is a men's tennis tour intended for former tennis professionals, who have since retired from mainstream professional tennis touring (The ATP). The Tour brings together many of the greatest tennis players in history for no ...

until 2018.

2021–2022

Malisse came out of retirement to play doubles at the 2021 European Open having received a wildcard alongside Lloyd Harris whom he was coaching. The pair made the semifinals defeating top seeds Ivan Dodig and

Marcelo Melo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to: * Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...

en route before losing to 3rd seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Wesley Koolhof in straight sets. He also participated in the

2022 European Open The 2022 European Open was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the seventh edition of the European Open and part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the 2022 ATP Tour. It took place at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium, f ...

having received again a wildcard to play doubles with

Diego Schwartzman Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist, his bes ...

. In the first round they managed to beat

Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...

and

in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, they lost to Botic van de Zandschulp and

Tallon Griekspoor Tallon Griekspoor (; born 2 July 1996) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 36, achieved on 6 March 2023. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 217 achieved on 31 Octob ...

in two tie-breaks.https://www.esportefantastico.com.br/noticia/29893/melo-e-klaasen-param-na-primeira-rodada-em-antuerpia-na-belgica

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Masters 1000 finals

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

ATP career finals

Singles: 12 (3 titles, 9 runners-up)

Doubles: 13 (9 titles, 4 runners-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 7 (4–3)

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malisse, Xavier 1980 births Belgian expatriates in the United States Belgian male tennis players Doping cases in tennis French Open champions Hopman Cup competitors Living people Olympic tennis players of Belgium Sportspeople from Kortrijk Sportspeople from Sarasota, Florida Tennis people from Florida Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles