Steve Darcis

Began playing tennis at age five... Nicknamed "Shark"...Father, Alain, is a tennis coach; mother, Marie Agnes, is a sports instructor; has one sister, Celine...Pete Sampras was his idol growing up but also admires fellow countrymen Olivier Rochus, Xavier Malisse and Kristof Vliegen..Considers grass and hard courts his favorite surfaces although he won his first ATP title on clay...His strengths are serve and forehand...Supports Anderlecht soccer club in his country and enjoys fishing in his spare time...Has a 1-4 career Davis Cup singles record in three ties...Coached by countryman Reginald Willems.

2011 -- The No. 3 Belgian returned to Top 100 and his best results came on Challenger circuit with 31-14 match record and titles in Scheveningen in July (d. Ilhan) and Trani in August (d. L. Mayer)...His best ATP World Tour result was QF in Vienna (l. to Brands) as a qualifier…In Grand Slam play, reached 3R at Roland Garros (as a qualifier), defeating Llodra and Petzschner (l. to Monfils) and 2R at US Open (d. Tursunov, l. to Chela)...In Davis Cup play, defeated Lopez in dead rubber in 1R and Melzer in World Group playoff tie...

2010 -- Qualified in Doha and reached QF (ret. vs Nadal)…In Challengers, won title in Cordenons and reached finals in Barletta and Mons...

2009 -- Reached QF at Queen’s…Advanced to SF or better at 6 Challengers, including final at Prostejov...

2008 -- The top Belgian finished a year-end best No. 61 and captured his second ATP title while winning a personal best 21 matches (15 more than previous year)...Began slowly with a 2-5 record before breaking through to win title in Memphis (d. Soderling) in March...Did not win back-to-back matches again until July when he reached final in Amersfoort (l. to Montanes)...Closed season with QF in Lyon, defeating No. 15 Gasquet (highest-ranked win) before losing to Benneteau...Went 0-4 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 10-11 on hard, 6-7 on clay and 2-3 on grass...Earned a career-high $534,042...

2007 -- Compiled consistent results on all three levels of competition -- Futures, Challenger and ATP...In first four months, played Futures tournaments, putting together a 17-6 mark with titles in France #6 and Turkey #3 in April...Then in May-June, advanced to SF at San Remo and Furth Challengers...In July, qualified for his first ATP tournament of season (second of his career) in Amersfoort and posted wins over Frenchmen Marc Gicquel and Gilles Simon and Russians Igor Andreev and No. 13 Mikhail Youhzny before defeating Austrian Werner Eschauer in final...Was lowest-ranked (No. 297) winner of season and afterwards climbed to No. 146...Also qualified for his first Grand Slam tournament at US Open and lost to No. 10 Haas in four sets...Played doubles for his native country in ATP World Team Chp. in Dusseldorf and went 1-2 in round robin play (w/O. Rochus)...Also a finalist at San Remo Challenger (w/Wauters)...

2006 -- Played in six tournaments due to injury and best result was runner-up at France #7 Futures in April...Qualified for his first ATP tournament in Amersfoort and lost to Zib in opening round...Did not play final four months of season...

2005 -- Compiled consistent results in Challenger and Futures level tournaments...Reached final at Kolding (l. to Tursunov) in October and Eckental (l. to Berrer) Challengers in November...Also a SF at Scheveningen Challenger and QF in four other Challengers... Early in season, won titles at France #1, 2 and 4 Futures tournaments and reached final at Germany #1...Made Davis Cup debut in dead rubber vs. Blake and lost in straight sets...In doubles, won title at Montauban Challenger (w/Wauters) and reached final at Scheveningen (w/Vliegen)...

2004 -- Played in 11 Futures tournaments, reaching final in Italy #5 and Germany #11...Also a SF in three other events...In limited Challenger play (5-4 mark), advanced to SF at Saransk and QF at St. Petersburg...

2003 -- Reached first Futures final in Glasgow and lost to 16-year-old Andy Murray in three sets...Won first Futures title at Czech Republic #6 (d. Masik) and QF in four other tournaments...