Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish 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, with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19.

Xavier Malisse
Malisse at the 2005 Australian Open
Country (sports) Belgium
ResidenceSarasota, United States
Born (1980-07-19) 19 July 1980 (age 44)
Kortrijk, Belgium
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro1998
Retired2013
(last doubles match 2022)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$5,702,871
Singles
Career record294–274
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 19 (12 August 2002)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2003, 2011)
French Open4R (2002, 2004)
WimbledonSF (2002)
US Open4R (2001, 2003, 2005)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (2004)
Doubles
Career record132–115
Career titles9
Highest rankingNo. 25 (7 November 2011)
Current rankingNo. 818 (24 October 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (2003–2006, 2011)
French OpenW (2004)
Wimbledon3R (2005)
US Open2R (2003)
Last updated on: 24 October 2022.

Career

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Juniors

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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

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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 Galo Blanco, Vince Spadea, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and 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 has won three ATP tour singles titles: Delray Beach in 2005 and 2007, and Chennai in 2007.

2009

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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. 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 defeated Michaël Llodra. However, 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 world's top 100 for the first time in nearly two years.

He was banned for a year over doping allegations.[1][2]

2010

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

2011

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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 to Bernard Tomic.

2012

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Xavier reached the fourth round of Wimbledon where he faced Roger Federer. 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

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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 until 2018.

2021–2022

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Malisse came out of retirement to play doubles at the 2021 European Open having received a wildcard alongside Lloyd Harris whom he was coaching.[3] The pair made the semifinals defeating top seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo en route before losing to 3rd seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Wesley Koolhof in straight sets.

He also participated in the 2022 European Open having received again a wildcard to play doubles with Diego Schwartzman. In the first round they managed to beat Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo in straight sets.[4] In the quarterfinals, they lost to Botic van de Zandschulp and Tallon Griekspoor in two tie-breaks.[5]

Significant finals

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Grand Slam finals

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Doubles: 1 (1–0)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 2004 French Open Clay   Olivier Rochus   Michaël Llodra
  Fabrice Santoro
7–5, 7–5

Masters 1000 finals

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Doubles: 1 (1–0)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 2011 Indian Wells Hard   Alexandr Dolgopolov   Roger Federer
  Stan Wawrinka
6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–7]

ATP career finals

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

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Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (3–9)
Titles by surface
Hard (3–4)
Clay (0–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–1)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (3–8)
Indoor (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Nov 1998 Mexican Open, Mexico World Series Clay   Jiří Novák 3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 May 1999 Delray Beach ITC, US World Series Clay   Lleyton Hewitt 4–6, 7–6(7–2), 1–6
Loss 0–3 Mar 2001 Delray Beach ITC, US International Hard   Jan-Michael Gambill 5–7, 4–6
Loss 0–4 Apr 2001 Atlanta Tennis Challenge, US International Clay   Andy Roddick 2–6, 4–6
Loss 0–5 May 2004 St. Pölten Open, Austria International Clay   Filippo Volandri 1–6, 4–6
Loss 0–6 Oct 2004 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, France International Carpet (i)   Robin Söderling 2–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win 1–6 Jan 2005 Delray Beach ITC, US International Hard   Jiří Novák 7–6(8–6), 6–2
Loss 1–7 Jan 2006 Adelaide International, Australia International Hard   Florent Serra 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–8 Feb 2006 Delray Beach ITC, US International Hard   Tommy Haas 3–6, 6–3, 6–7(5–7)
Win 2–8 Jan 2007 Chennai Open, India International Hard   Stefan Koubek 6–1, 6–3
Win 3–8 Feb 2007 Delray Beach ITC, US (2) International Hard   James Blake 5–7, 6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–9 Jan 2011 Chennai Open, India 250 Series Hard   Stanislas Wawrinka 5–7, 6–4, 1–6

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

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Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (1–0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1–0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (7–4)
Titles by surface
Hard (8–3)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (7–3)
Indoor (2–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jun 2004 French Open, France Grand Slam Clay   Olivier Rochus   Michaël Llodra
  Fabrice Santoro
7–5, 7–5
Win 2–0 Jan 2005 Adelaide International, Australia International Hard   Olivier Rochus   Simon Aspelin
  Todd Perry
7–6(7–5), 6–4
Win 3–0 Jan 2007 Chennai Open, India International Hard   Dick Norman   Rafael Nadal
  Bartolomé Salvá Vidal
7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–4)
Win 4–0 Feb 2007 Delray Beach ITC, US International Hard   Hugo Armando   James Auckland
  Stephen Huss
6–3, 6–7(4–7), [10–5]
Loss 4–1 Jan 2008 Auckland Open, New Zealand International Hard   Jürgen Melzer   Luis Horna
  Juan Mónaco
4–6, 6–3, [7–10]
Loss 4–2 Feb 2011 Pacific Coast Championships, US 250 Series Hard (i)   Alejandro Falla   Scott Lipsky
  Rajeev Ram
4–6, 6–4, [8–10]
Win 5–2 Mar 2011 Indian Wells Masters, US Masters 1000 Hard   Alexandr Dolgopolov   Roger Federer
  Stanislas Wawrinka
6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–7]
Win 6–2 Jul 2011 Los Angeles Open, US 250 Series Hard   Mark Knowles   Somdev Devvarman
  Treat Huey
7–6(7–3), 7–6(12–10)
Win 7–2 Feb 2012 Pacific Coast Championships, US 250 Series Hard (i)   Mark Knowles   Kevin Anderson
  Frank Moser
6–4, 1–6, [10–5]
Loss 7–3 May 2012 Bavarian Championships, Germany 250 Series Clay   Dick Norman   František Čermák
  Filip Polášek
4–6, 5–7
Loss 7–4 Jul 2012 Atlanta Open, US 250 Series Hard   Michael Russell   Matthew Ebden
  Ryan Harrison
3–6, 6–3, [6–10]
Win 8–4 Jul 2012 Los Angeles Open, US (2) 250 Series Hard   Ruben Bemelmans   Jamie Delgado
  Ken Skupski
7–6(7–5), 4–6, [10–7]
Win 9–4 Feb 2013 Pacific Coast Championships, US (2) 250 Series Hard (i)   Frank Moser   Lleyton Hewitt
  Marinko Matosevic
6–0, 6–7(5–7), [10–4]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 7 (4–3)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (4–3)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Oct 2000 San Antonio, United States Challenger Hard   Ronald Agénor 7–6(7–3), 6–3
Loss 1–1 Oct 2005 Mons, Belgium Challenger Hard   Olivier Rochus 2–6, 0–6
Win 2–1 Jul 2008 Moncton, Canada Challenger Hard   Danai Udomchoke 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–1 Aug 2009 Granby, Canada Challenger Hard   Kevin Anderson 6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–2 Aug 2009 Vancouver, Canada Challenger Hard   Marcos Baghdatis 4–6, 4–6
Loss 3–3 Sep 2009 St. Remy, France Challenger Hard   Marcos Baghdatis 4–6, 1–6
Win 4–3 Oct 2009 Orleans, France Challenger Hard   Stéphane Robert 6–1, 6–2

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (2–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1999 Ostend, Belgium Challenger Clay   Wim Neefs   Marcos Ondruska
  Steven Randjelovic
2–6, 4–6
Win 1–1 Jul 2008 Bogotá, Colombia Challenger Clay   Carlos Salamanca   Juan Sebastián Cabal
  Michael Quintero
6–1, 6–4
Win 2–1 Sep 2008 Donetsk, Ukraine Challenger Hard   Dick Norman   Harel Levy
  Noam Okun
4–6, 6–1, [13–11]
Loss 2–2 Sep 2012 Orleans, France Challenger Hard   Ken Skupski   Lukáš Dlouhý
  Gilles Müller
2–6, 7–6(7–5), [7–10]

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 2R 3R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R 1R 2R 8–12
French Open A 1R A 3R 4R 3R 4R 2R 1R A A A 2R 2R 1R 1R 13–11
Wimbledon A 1R A 2R SF 1R 4R 2R 2R A 2R 1R 3R 4R 4R 1R 20–13
US Open A 3R 2R 4R 3R 4R 1R 4R 3R 2R Q1 Q1 1R 1R 1R 1R 17–13
Win–loss 0–0 2–3 1–1 6–3 11–4 7–4 6–4 5–4 4–4 1–2 1–2 1–2 3–4 6–4 3–4 1–4 58–49
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters A 3R A A 1R 2R 2R 1R 3R A 2R A A 3R 2R 1R 10–10
Miami Masters A 1R 2R A 1R 2R 3R 2R 2R A 3R A 1R 2R 2R 3R 10–12
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A 1R A A 1R A 1R 1–8
Rome Masters A A A A 3R 1R A A 2R A A A A 2R Q2 1R 4–5
Madrid Masters A A A A 2R A 1R A 1R A A A A 3R A 1R 3–5
Canada Masters A A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 3R QF A A A 2R A A 1R 6–8
Cincinnati Masters A 1R A 2R 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R A A A A 1R A A 4–8
Shanghai Masters Not Masters Series A A A A A 0–0
Paris Masters A A A 3R 2R A 2R 1R 1R A A A 1R A A A 4–6
Hamburg Masters A A A A 1R 2R 1R A 1R A 1R NMS 1–5
Win–loss 0–0 2–3 1–1 3–3 6–9 3–7 4–8 3–6 7–9 0–0 3–4 0–0 1–3 6–6 2–2 2–6 43–67
Career statistics
Titles–Finals 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 0–2 1–1 0–2 2–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 3–12
Year-end ranking 161 145 127 33 25 55 48 47 37 112 162 94 60 49 47 135

Doubles

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Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 2R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R A A 2R 1R 2R 6–9
French Open 2R W 3R QF A A A 1R 2R 3R 1R 15–7
Wimbledon 2R 2R 3R A A A A 1R A 1R 2R 5–6
US Open 2R 1R A 1R A A A 1R 3R 1R 1R 3–7
Win–loss 4–4 8–3 5–3 4–3 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–3 4–3 2–4 2–4 29–29

Top 10 wins

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Season 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
Wins 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 0 2 2 1 0 2 0 1 1 16
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score
2001
1.   Marat Safin 2 Los Angeles, United States Hard 2R 7–5, 6–3
2.   Tim Henman 9 US Open, New York, United States Hard 3R 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 7–5, 4–6, 6–4
2002
3.   Marat Safin 6 Rome, Italy Clay 2R 6–3, 6–4
4.   Tim Henman 6 French Open, Paris, France Clay 2R 6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
5.   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6 Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom Grass 3R 7–6(7–4), 7–5, 6–1
2003
6.   Lleyton Hewitt 6 Cincinnati, United States Hard 1R 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
2004
7.   Rainer Schüttler 7 French Open, Paris, France Clay 1R 6–4, 7–5, 6–4
2006
8.   Gastón Gaudio 8 Rome, Italy Clay 1R 4–6, 6–3, 6–3
9.   Nikolay Davydenko 5 Toronto, Canada Hard 1R 6–3, 7–5
2007
10.   Rafael Nadal 2 Chennai, India Hard SF 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
11.   James Blake 6 Delray Beach, United States Hard F 5–7, 6–4, 6–4
2008
12.   David Nalbandian 7 Miami, United States Hard 2R 6–1, 6–4
2010
13.   Novak Djokovic 3 Queen's Club, London, United Kingdom Grass 3R 6–3, 4–6, 6–2
14.   Tomáš Berdych 8 Washington, D.C., United States Hard QF 6–4, 3–6, 6–2
2012
15.   Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7 Valencia, Spain Hard (i) 1R 3–1, ret.
2013
16.   David Ferrer 4 Rosmalen, Netherlands Grass 1R 7–6(7–3), 6–3

References

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  1. ^ "ANTIDOPING – Articles – Decision in the case of Xavier Malisse". ITF Tennis. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse have doping ban suspended by Belgian court".
  3. ^ "Sports news". new.in-24.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Malisse Teams With Schwartzman For Antwerp Win | ATP Tour | Tennis". ATP Tour.
  5. ^ "Melo e Klaasen param na primeira rodada em Antuerpia na Belgica". esportefantastico.com.br (in Portuguese). 21 October 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
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