Kristof Vliegen

Began playing tennis at age six at same club as WTA Tour player Kim Clijsters...The two were enrolled in same tennis clinic, attended same school and grew up near each other in Flemish part of Belgium...Still good friends with Clijsters and sent her a short message after she reached World No. 1 in summer of 2003...Father, Theo, is retired, and mother is Mia Leinders...Older brother Frank, is an insurance company manager...Moved at age 11 to Federation’s training center in Antwerp where he lived, studied and trained for eight years...Speaks English, French and Flemish...Enjoys cars and soccer and often takes PlayStation2 on road with him to tournaments... Listens to U2, Tom McRae, Dave Matthews, Sting, David Gray...Considers serve as best shot and likes to mix it up (play some serve and volley on occasion)...Says variety is one of his strengths, which makes it only natural that hard court is his favorite surface...Admired Boris Becker growing up and he is still his idol...Turned pro in 2001 and moved to Brussels after finishing school...Has a 10-10 career Davis Cup record (5-6 in singles) in 13 ties...Fitness coach is Noel Taton and coached by Gunter Vanderveeren.

2002 – Improved year-end ranking 345 positions, winning one Challenger and two Futures titles...

2003 – Reached first ATP final in Adelaide as qualifier (l. to Davydenko)...Made Grand Slam debut at US Open (l. to Kafelnikov)...Won two Challenger titles...

2004 – Broke into Top 100 for first time...Finalist at Barcelona Challenger and SF at ATP stop there (d. No. 8 Nalbandian, l. to Robredo)...Reached QF in Umag...

2005 – Finished in Top 100 for first time...Reached QF in Chennai and Basel (d. No. 7 Coria, l. to Hrbaty)...Qualified at Roland Garros and reached 2nd RD (d. Dupuis, l. to eventual finalist Puerta)...Also qualified into AMS Paris, defeating C. Rochus in 1st RD before losing to T. Johansson...Went 16-12 in Challengers with finals in Bermuda and Scheveningen...In doubles, reached SF in Umag (w/Scherrer) and won Challenger title in Barletta (w/Vanhoudt)...

2006 – Belgian No. 1 for first time posted a personal-high 32 match wins...Began year with SF in Chennai (l. eventual champion Ljubicic) and made career-best Grand Slam showing at Australian Open debut with 3rd RD...Compiled an 8-4 record in North America over next two months with QF in San Jose, SF in Memphis (d. Blake in 1st RD) and 3rd RD in Miami...In April, reached 3rd RD at AMS Monte Carlo (l. to eventual champion Nadal) and later in Madrid (d. No. 7 Blake, l. to Safin)...Also reached second ATP and first clay court final in Munich (l. to O. Rochus)...Advanced to SF in Halle and QF in Stockholm...Went 2-2 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 18-13 on hard, 7-6 on clay and 5-3 on grass...Earned a career-high $477,925...

2007 – Finished in Top 100 for third straight year at No. 97...Opened season with QF in Auckland (l. to eventual champion Ferrer) and biggest result came in February in 1st RD Davis Cup tie vs. Australia...In opening match vs. No. 18 Hewitt, rallied from a 1-2 sets deficit to win in five and then defeated Guccione in straight sets in fifth and decisive rubber to give his country a 3-2 victory...In April, advanced to 3rd RD at AMS Monte Carlo (d. Mathieu, Safin, l. to Nadal) and 2nd RD in Barcelona (l. to Nadal again)...Best Grand Slam showing was 3rd RD at Roland Garros where he upset No. 13 Gasquet (l. to Canas)...In October, advanced to final at Mons Challenger (l. to Gulbis)...In doubles, won Sunrise Challenger title (w/Economidis) and reached final at Istanbul Challenger (w/Norman).

2008

The Belgian finished in Top 100 for fourth straight year, compiling a 26-5 Challenger record with four titles...Opened season with 2nd RD at Chennai and Australian Open (l. to Andreev), and followed with title at Wroclaw Challenger (d. Melzer)...Lost to Berdych in Belgium's 1st RD Davis Cup loss to Czech Republic, and then struggled with 4-13 ATP-level record through August...Returned to Challengers and won three titles in four tournaments, at Geneva (d. Schukin), Dusseldorf (d. Beck) and Grenoble (d. Sidorenko)...In between, reached SF at Freudenstadt (l. to Greul)...In doubles, titled at Freudenstadt (w/Norman) and runner-up at Sunrise (w/Wessels).