Thiemo de Bakker

Full name is Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker...Mother Carlieke, introduced her son to tennis when she would bring him to local club and he taught himself how to play...At age six he started practising with coaches from Dutch Tennis Federation...Earned his first swimming diploma at age three and started playing at a soccer club at age four...Ruud Thijssen, father of Nicole Thijssen (played for junior Fed Cup team) was coach at his club and recognized his talent...He let Thiemo join practice even though he was still very young...Has one older (Yori) and one younger brother (Kayo)... Finished as No. 1 junior in world in 2006, capping his career with title at Wimbledon juniors (d. Gawron)...Also won four other junior titles, in Costa Rica, Australia, Italy and Great Britain…Advanced to SF at Roland Garros (l. to Bester)...Considers clay his best surface and forehand as best shot...Coached part-time by Rohan Goetzke, the technical director of the Dutch Tennis Federation, and mentored by Richard Krajicek...Working with Australian trainer Damian Prasad through US Open.

de Bakker DEUCE Feature (Aug. 2010)

2010 -- The top Dutchman played his first full season on ATP World Tour and cut his ranking in half for his first Top 50 finish…Posted a personal-high 28 match wins and reached his first two ATP World Tour SFs…Began season with first QF in Chennai…In April, advanced to maiden SF in Barcelona with wins over No. 10 Tsonga and Ferrero (l. to Soderling)…Advanced to 3rd RD in last three Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros (l. to Tsonga), Wimbledon (l. to Mathieu) and US Open (l. to Soderling)…In August in New Haven, reached SF (l. to Stakhovsky)…Had 2-6 mark vs. Top 10 opponents…Earned a career-high $534,276.

2009 -- The young Dutchman became first player from his country to finish in Top 100 since Raemon Sluiter was No. 82 in 2004…Moved over 150 ranking positions from previous year highlighted by a 35-13 match record in Challengers with four titles…In March played in Davis Cup first round tie in Argentina and lost to Monaco in second rubber and Chela in dead rubber…Followed by qualifying at Caltanissetta Challenger in Italy and reached final (l. to countryman Huta Galung)…In May qualified in Munich and beat No. 30 Schuettler (l. to Hewitt)…In August, captured title at Tampere Challenger (d. Luczak)…From second week in August through first week in September, won three straight titles at Vigo, Spain (d. Ascione), San Sebastian, Spain (d. Krajinovic) and Brasov, Romania (d. Riba)…His 18-match winning streak ended with SF loss at Alphen aan den Rijn (l. to Russell)...Played in Davis Cup World Group play-off tie vs. France and beat No. 13 Monfils in first rubber and lost to No. 7 Tsonga in four sets in fourth rubber…Closed season with QF at Kolding and SF at Seoul Challengers…Earned a career-high $87,791.

2008 -- Advanced to first Challenger final at Calatanissetta (l. to Huta Galung)…Won two Futures at home on clay… Reached SF at Scheveningen Challenger and QFs at Napoli, Manerbio and Alphen aan den Rijn Challengers…

2007 -- Reached QF at Alphen aan den Rijn Challenger (l. to Huta Galung)….

2006 -- Won first ATP World Tour match in Amersfoort (d. Benneteau)…Secured first two Future titles in Portugal on hard courts.