The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from Belgium

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This page contains a list of the greatest Belgian Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,569 Tennis Players, 24 of which were born in Belgium. This makes Belgium the birth place of the 20th most number of Tennis Players behind Romania, and Canada.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Belgian Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Belgian Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Belgian Tennis Players.

Photo of Justine Henin

1. Justine Henin (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 57.32, Justine Henin is the most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 65 different languages on wikipedia.

Justine Henin (French pronunciation: [ʒystin ɛnɛ̃]; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former world No. 1 tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin won 43 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including seven major titles, as well as an Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games and two Tour Finals titles. Henin, coming from a country with little success in the sport, helped establish Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis alongside Kim Clijsters, leading it to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. Henin was known for her all-court style of play and for being one of the few female players to use a single-handed backhand. Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand (which all-time great John McEnroe described as "the best single-handed backhand in both the women's or men's game") as the principal reasons for her success. She retired from professional tennis on 26 January 2011, due to a chronic elbow injury. Henin is widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of her generation and of all time. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time. In 2016, she became the first Belgian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and in 2023, the International Tennis Federation awarded Henin its highest honor, the Philippe Chatrier Award.

Photo of Nelly Landry

2. Nelly Landry (1916 - 2010)

With an HPI of 54.57, Nelly Landry is the 2nd most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Nelly Adamson Landry (28 December 1916 – 22 February 2010) was a tennis player from Belgium who became a French citizen after marriage. She was the 1948 women's singles champion at the French Championships where she was seeded third, beating Shirley Fry in a three-set final. She had been a finalist in 1938, losing to Simonne Mathieu, and reached again the final in 1949, losing to Margaret Osborne duPont. In 1936 and from 1946 until 1948 she won the singles title at the French Covered Court Championships in Paris. She won the singles title at the International Championships of Egypt, played in Alexandria, in 1948 and 1949. In the latter year she also won the Championships of Egypt at the Gezira Sporting Club in Cairo, defeating Annalisa Bossi in the final. In 1948 Landry won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at the Scandinavian Covered Court Championships. She was the No. 1 ranked Belgian player in 1933. According to John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Landry was ranked in the world top 10 in 1946 and 1948 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world No. 7 in these rankings in 1946. In 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1950 she was ranked No. 1 in France. Nelly Adamson married Pierre Henri Landry on 8 February 1937 in Bruges and subsequently Marcel Renault, both former French tennis players.

Photo of Kim Clijsters

3. Kim Clijsters (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 53.74, Kim Clijsters is the 3rd most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 66 different languages.

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] ; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters is a former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including four singles majors and two doubles majors (both partnering Ai Sugiyama), as well as three singles titles at the Tour Finals. Clijsters competed professionally from 1997 in an era in which her primary rivals were compatriot Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Coming from a country with little historical success in tennis, Clijsters became the first Belgian player to attain a No. 1 ranking. Together with Henin, she established Belgium as a leading force in women's tennis as the two of them led their country to their first Fed Cup crown in 2001 and were the top two players in the world in late 2003. Following defeats in all of her first four major singles finals, Clijsters finally won her first singles major at the 2005 US Open. Plagued by injuries and having lost desire to compete, Clijsters retired from tennis in 2007 at the age of 23 to get married and have a daughter. She returned to the sport two years later and stunned the tennis world by winning the US Open as an unranked player in just her third tournament back. She defended the US Open title the following year and then won the Australian Open in 2011, becoming the first mother to be ranked world No. 1. Along with Margaret Court, she co-holds the record for most major singles titles won as a mother (with three), and was the first mother to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Clijsters retired again following the 2012 US Open. She had a second, short-lived comeback from 2020 to 2022. Clijsters was born to athletic parents with backgrounds in professional football and gymnastics. She was renowned for her athleticism, which was highlighted by her ability to perform splits on court in the middle of points. She built the offensive side of her game around controlled aggression while also using her exceptional movement to become an elite defensive player. Clijsters was very popular and well-liked as a player, having won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

Photo of Dick Norman

4. Dick Norman (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 50.19, Dick Norman is the 4th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Dick Norman (born 1 March 1971) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height (6 feet 8 inches), his left-handed power game and, in the last few years of his career, his age (between late 2006 and his retirement in June 2013 he was the oldest player on the ATP Tour). After retirement Norman became involved in coaching and organizing local tennis events. In March 2018, he became the tournament director of the European Open in Antwerp.

Photo of David Goffin

5. David Goffin (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 50.13, David Goffin is the 5th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

David Goffin (French pronunciation: [david ɡɔfɛ̃]; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first and only Belgian man to be ranked in the top 10. He is currently the No. 1 Belgian player. Goffin has won six ATP titles and reached nine other finals, most notably at the 2017 ATP Finals. Goffin's breakthrough came at the 2012 French Open, where he was a lucky loser making his major debut. He reached the fourth round before losing to Roger Federer in four sets. Goffin has since reached four major quarterfinals, at the 2016 French Open, and the 2017 Australian Open, and the 2019 and 2022 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2017 ATP Finals, Goffin defeated Dominic Thiem, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and world No. 2 Roger Federer en route to the final where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov.

Photo of Olivier Rochus

6. Olivier Rochus (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 48.05, Olivier Rochus is the 6th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Olivier Rochus (French pronunciation: [ɔlivje ʁɔkys]; born 18 January 1981) is a former Belgian tennis player. Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 24. At 1.68 metres (5 ft 6 in) tall, he was the shortest player on the ATP World Tour. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.

Photo of Dominique Monami

7. Dominique Monami (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 46.88, Dominique Monami is the 7th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Dominique Monami (born 31 May 1973) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She is her country's first ever top-10 tennis professional. Monami was born in Verviers. In 1995, she married her coach Bart Van Roost, with whom she has a daughter, and played under the name Dominique Van Roost for much of her career, until their divorce in 2003.

Photo of Xavier Malisse

8. Xavier Malisse (b. 1980)

With an HPI of 46.59, Xavier Malisse is the 8th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed X-Man, he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked in the top 20 of the ATP Tour, with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19.

Photo of Sabine Appelmans

9. Sabine Appelmans (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 46.53, Sabine Appelmans is the 9th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Sabine Appelmans (born 22 April 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium. She was Belgium's Fed Cup captain from 2007 until 2011.

Photo of Yanina Wickmayer

10. Yanina Wickmayer (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 45.79, Yanina Wickmayer is the 10th most famous Belgian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian inactive professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieved a career-high of world No. 61, on 11 September 2023. She was awarded "Most Improved Player" by the WTA in 2009. Time magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" in June 2011.

People

Pantheon has 24 people classified as Belgian tennis players born between 1916 and 1997. Of these 24, 23 (95.83%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Belgian tennis players include Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, and Dick Norman. The most famous deceased Belgian tennis players include Nelly Landry. As of April 2024, 5 new Belgian tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Filip Dewulf, Greet Minnen, and Joran Vliegen.

Living Belgian Tennis Players

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Deceased Belgian Tennis Players

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Newly Added Belgian Tennis Players (2024)

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