Gilles Elseneer

Full name Gilles Valere Jacque Elseneer… Began playing at age four with lessons from his grandfather Jacques…When he passed away, his father Gilbert took over and trained his son…Father was No. 3 Belgian player and was national team coach and now owns and operates a tennis club along with his mother, Viviane…Earned nicknames of "The Destroyer" and "The Exterminator" at beginning of his career… Older sister Catherine, a former top player before a knee injury ended her career, is a product manager… Older brother, Thierry, was Belgian wind surfing champion and now owns a real estate agency…Idolized Pete Sampras growing up…Attended Sent-Jan Berchmans College in Belgium…Stayed in school and delayed start of his professional career…If he wasn't a tennis player, he'd be an engineer…Enjoys snooker, chess and movies…Speaks Flemish, English and French…Best part of his game is serve and favorite surface is grass…Coached by Philippe Dehaes.

1998 - Earned first ATP points while reaching SF of Greece Futures #4…Won doubles title that week (w/Neefs)…Also teamed with Neefs to reach finals of Greece Futures #5…Was 7-6 in singles in Futures events…

1999 - Reached two Futures SFs…Was 10-11 in Futures and 2-3 in Challengers…Won doubles title at France Futures #4 (w/ Mandl)…Finalist at Greece Futures #2 (w/ E. Erlich)…

2000 - Won titles at Great Britain Futures #2 and France Futures #22…Runner-up at Ireland Futures #2…Was 27-16 in Futures events…Won doubles title in France Futures #6 (w/ Fontaine) and Ireland Futures #1 (w/ Fequery)…Reached SF in four other Futures doubles events…

2001 - Won first career ATP match at Queen's Club (d. Kempes) and reached 3rd RD…The following week, reached 2nd RD at 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Hewitt)…Was 4-2 in ATP matches…Opened year by reaching SF at Heilbronn Challenger…Retired from next two matches then missed more than two months…Lost four straight Futures matches before his run at Queen's Club…Kept up the grass success by reaching SF at Bristol Challenger (l. to Peya)…Was 12-9 in Challenger events…Won doubles titles at Challenger events in Wrexham (w/ Popp) and Bolton (w/ Neefs)…Reached doubles final at Briston Challenger (w/ Ketola)…Won doubles title at France Futures #17 (w/ Neefs)…

2002 - Opened year by reaching 2nd RD in Auckland…Also reached 2nd RD at Queen's Club…Was 2-2 in ATP matches…Won first career Challenger title at Nottingham (d. Parmar)…Reached SF at Challengers in Cherbourg and Graz…Also reaches SF at two Futures events…Was 16-10 in Challengers and 8-3 in Futures…Won doubles title at Hull Challenger (w/ Niemeyer)…Was 2-0 in Davis Cup singles play, winning dead rubbers against Greece (d. Vasiliadis) and Zimbabwe (d. Chidzikwe)…

2003 - Made Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon as qualifier and reached 2nd RD (d. Kiefer, l. to Soderling)…Was 2-4 in ATP events…Reached final at Bangalore Challenger (l. to Carraz)…Also runner-up at Manchester Challenger (l. to Mahut)…Went 24-20 in Challenger events...

2004 - The Belgian split time between Challenger circuit and ATP…Finished with a career year-end best ATP Entry Ranking of No. 119…Was 6-13 in ATP events and 22-9 in Challengers…Played eight Challenger events before May…Opened season with title at Heilbronn Challenger (d. Burgsmuller)…Reached SF at Wrexham…The following week he won Sarajevo Challenger (d. van Scheppingen)…After that title he broke into the Top 100 for the first time in his career…Reached SF at Mexico City (l. to Morrison)…Made first ATP appearance of the year in Casablanca…Reached 2nd RD in first Roland Garros appearance, defeating Ramirez Hidalgo before losing to Kuerten…Reached 2nd RD at Wimbledon for the second year in a row…Reached 2nd RD in following two weeks as well, at Newport and Los Angeles…Played in Davis Cup tie against Croatia, losing to Ljubicic and retiring from match against Ancic…Reached Botton Challenger QF…In doubles, reached final at Besancon Challenger (w/ Carlsen)…Earned a career-high $158,215.