Gilles Simon is a professional tennis player who had achieved World Number 6 on the ATP World Rankings as of January 2009. Simon was born in Nice, France, but spent most of his childhood days in Fontenay-sous-Bois. At the age of 6, he was shown potential in playing tennis, that’s why his parents quickly supported him to pursue tennis. Despite his height problem, he cited Michael Chang as his inspiration that his height wasn’t a factor to win tennis tournaments.
Early Years and Achievements
In 2002, Simon debuted as a professional tennis player at the Future tournament in France, yet his first international appearance was in Lisbon, Portugal, where he managed to reach the tournament’s quarterfinal. He also appeared in an ATP Tour in Metz and won his first singles title in Noumea, New Caledonia.
2006 was a productive year for Simon, as he was able to rank World Number 45 after reaching the final round in Valencia and the semifinal in Casablanca Open. By the following year, he won the singles title at the Open 13 where he defeated Lleyton Hewitt, Jonas Bjorkman, Robin Soderling, and Marcus Baghdatis. He also won a title at the BCR Open Romania and made it to the Top 30.
Simon was one of the few players to outshine Novak Djokovic, and this helped him get into the Top 10 when he did so during the quarterfinals in Marseille. By the following week, he joined a tournament in Rotterdam, where he reached the semifinals.
Falling Short to the Top 50 and Retirement
With many emerging potential tennis superstars, it wasn’t a surprise that Simon’s skills were at par with theirs. However, for the season in 2017, he had only managed to proceed in 2 ATP World Tournaments in Marseille and Lyon. Due to his losses shown in this particular season, his ranking dropped outside the Top 50 since 2005.
In 2020, he was eliminated from the French Open as he was beaten by Denis Shapovalov in the first round. This was at the surge of the Covid season, where he was also seen struggling playing. Even during the beginning of the 2021 season during the Murray River Open, he lost to Jeremy Chardy in the second round.
Due to his heart and mental condition, he decided to discontinue the tour and used his time to recover. By the following year, he announced his retirement on his social media page that this will be the last season he will be playing tennis.
Grand Slam Results:
- QF at the 2009 Australian Open
- 4R at 2011, 2013, and 2015 FrenchOpen
- QF at the 2015 Wimbledon Open
- 4R at 2011, and 2014 US Open