Began playing tennis at age five with father Juergen, now deceased...Plays for the Kurhus Aachen tennis club in Bundesliga...Favourite surface is clay, best shot is the forehand and describes himself as "an aggressive baseliner"...Tennis idols growing up were Pete Sampras and Boris Becker...Likes playing golf and indoor football...Mother, Sylvia, works at a doctor's surgery...Has one brother, Benjamin, who works in the Press Office of the German Company Hamburg S�d.