Gilles Simon

Began playing tennis at age six...Nickname is Giloul...As a junior, he was inspired by Michael Chang, saying, "He showed me that you don't have to be tall in order to be a great player"...Father, Daniel, works for an insurance company while mother Mireille is a doctor...Older brother Jean-Marie is an engineer...Favorite French player all-time is Cedric Pioline...Hobbies include video games, rollerblading and movies...

Considers clay courts his favorite surface and backhand his best shot...Friends on tour include fellow Frenchmen Gael Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Josselin Ouanna...If he could choose a tournament to win one day it would be Roland Garros...As a kid, always dreamed of playing on a packed center court...Best moment in his career thus far is beating No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of Madrid in October 2008...Fitness trainer is Paul Quetin and coached by former ATP pro Thierry Tulasne.

2003 -- Won his first Futures title at Lisboa in June and also at Montego Bay in September...Closed season with runner-up at Rodez (France) Futures...

2004 -- Had a combination of success in Futures and Challenger level tournaments, winning four Futures titles and reaching two Challenger finals...Spent most of first half of season in Futures then in June advanced to his first Challenger final in Furth (l. to Vanek)...Two months later, reached final at Graz Challenger (l. to J. Minar)...Qualified for his first ATP tournament in Metz and lost in 1st RD to countryman Gicquel...

2005 -- Compiled a 17-15 match record in Challenger play, winning his first career title in New Caledonia to begin season (d. Phau)...Won his first ATP match over No. 27 T. Johansson in Marseille before losing in next round to J. Johansson...In April, advanced to first ATP QF in Casablanca (l. to Monaco)...Made his Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros, losing to countryman Patience in four sets in opening round...In July, advanced to 3rd RD at Stuttgart (l. to Zabaleta) and followed with SF at Poznan Challenger (l. to A. Garcia)...

2006 -- Reached first ATP final in Valencia (l. to Almagro) and won 24 matches, 18 more than previous year...In first tournament at New Caledonia Challenger, captured title (d. deVoest) and followed at Australian Open with wins over Massu and Berdych before losing to T. Johansson in 3rd RD, a Grand Slam-best showing...Then returned to Challenger play at Andrezieux in France and reached final (l. to Elseneer)...

In April, reached Valencia final with wins over Vik, Sanguinetti, Seppi and Verdasco before losing to Spaniard Almagro...Continued success with 3rd RD at AMS Monte-Carlo (d. Berdych, l. to Ljubicic), SF in Casablanca (ret. to Bracciali) and 3rd RD at AMS Hamburg (d. No. 9 Gaudio, l. to Mirnyi)...In June, reached QF in Nottingham and three months later in Palermo... Finished with records of 15-10 on clay, 7-9 on hard and 2-3 on grass...

2007 -- Finished as No. 3 Frenchman (behind No. 8 Gasquet, No. 25 Mathieu) highlighted by his first two ATP titles -- Marseille (d. Baghdatis) and Bucharest (d. Hanescu) and 35 match wins...In March, reached 3rd RD at AMS Indian Wells with win over No. 7 Robredo (l. to Chela)...On clay at AMS Rome, defeated No. 10 Murray and Canas (l. to Robredo)...Compiled a 17-8 mark after Wimbledon with QF in Bastad (l. to Ferrer), Umag (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Canas) and New Haven (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Mathieu), SF in Sopot and winner in Bucharest (d. Hanescu)...Went 4-5 vs. Top 10 opponents...Compiled marks of 18-10 on clay, 14-11 on hard and 2-3 on grass...

2008 -- The No. 2 Frenchman (behind Tsonga) won three ATP titles in four finals and broke into Top 10...It was first time since 1986 two Frenchmen finished in Top 10 (No. 4 Yannick Noah, No. 6 Henri Leconte)...Led ATP circuit with 14 match wins after losing the first set...After a 13-12 record through mid-May, finished with a 38-15 mark...

In February, reached QF in Marseille (l. to Mathieu) and SF in Rotterdam (l. to Soderling)...Won Casablanca title as a qualifier (d. Bennteau)...In July, won Indianapolis title (d. Tursunov) and a week later advanced to his first AMS SF in Toronto (d. Federer, l. to Kiefer)...Following 3rd RD showings at Beijing Olympics (l. to Blake) and US Open (l. to del Potro in five sets), returned to clay in Bucharest and repeated title (d. Moya)...

In October, reached first AMS final in Madrid (d. No. 1 Nadal in SF, l. to Murray) to break into Top 10 (No. 16 to No. 10)...Followed with SF in Lyon (l. to Soderling), 3rd RD at AMS Paris (l. to Roddick) and closed with debut at Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai where reached SF (l. to Djokovic)...One of three players (Murray, Roddick) to beat top trio of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic during season...Compiled marks of 32-18 on hard, 12-6 on clay and 4-2 on grass and went 4-8 vs. Top 10 opponents...Played most tournaments (29) among Top 10...Surpassed $1 million for first time.

2009 

In January the Frenchman reached his first Grand Slam QF at the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Nadal)...Then lost in the second round at Rotterdam (l. to Ancic) before reaching back-to-back SFs in Marseille (l. to Llodra) and Dubai (l. to eventual champion Djokovic)…He had a tough Davis Cup debut against the Czech Republic, losing to Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek in France's 3-2 first round loss in Ostrava…Of the six sets he lost, four came in tie-breaks…

In March he reached the third round (after a bye) at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with a three-set win over Yen-Hsun Lu before losing to Ivan Ljubicic…At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, he reached the fourth round (after a bye) with wins over former ATP World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 29 seed Rainer Schuettler before losing to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets…He reached the third round in Rome with a three-set win over Fabio Fognini before losing to German qualifier Mischa Zverev…

In Estoril he advanced to the QFs, losing to eventual champion Albert Montanes of Spain (after holding one match point)…Lost in the third round (after a bye) in Madrid where he lost to Ivan Ljubicic in three sets…Advanced to a personal-best third round at his home country Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros, losing to Romanian Victor Hanescu.

Transferred to grass and made a third-round exit at The Queen’s Club before posting a personal-best fourth-round effort at Wimbledon (l. to Ferrero). Suffered early losses at Stuttgart (second round) and Hamburg (opening round) before losing to countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Montreal third round.

In October he captured his first ATP World Tour title of the season, his first of his career in Asia in Bangkok, as he defeated Serbian No. 2 Viktor Troicki in straight sets...He became the fourth Frenchmen to win a title during the year, joining Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (two titles), Jeremy Chardy (one) and Gael Monfils (one).