Kirsten Flipkens

Kirsten “Flipper” Flipkens is a Belgian professional tennis player who was born on January 10, 1986 in Geel, Belgium. Flipkens is an only child of a housewife and a car dealer, and she started playing tennis when she was just 4 years old. Aside from tennis, Flipkens also plays football, basketball, and volleyball. She eventually decided to pursue tennis and subsequently attended a tennis academy where she befriended Kim Clijsters.

It was in 2001 that Flipkens played her first event in the ITF Circuit. The following year, she played at her first WTA qualifying tournament that was held in Brussels and Antwerp. Since turning pro, Flipkens had a number of ups and downs in her performance. It was only in 2009 that she was able to have her first Top 100 season, when she finished at No. 81.

By 2012, she almost made it to the Top 50, but fell short at No. 54. During the said year, she also won WTA titles as well as ITF titles. The following year, Flipkens finally broke through the Top 20, and had a fantastic year, although it ended with an injury, which caused her to withdraw from Carlsbad and Stanford.

In 2013, she achieved a career high of world rank number 13 and received the Sportswoman of the Year Award in Belgium. She took part in the very first International Premier Tennis League tournament and her team ended in the third top spot. While she began the year with an injury, Flipkens was able to finish as world rank number 93 in the world in 2015.

She was able to reach the final round of the Monterrey Open in 2016 and finished the season as number 63 in the world. In 2017, she was able to reach the WTA Acapulco quarterfinal and the doubles final round at Nuremberg.

Throughout her career, Flipkens has a record of 489 matches won with 354 losses. She has 1 WTA title and 12 ITF Circuit titles to her name, although she does not have any Grand Slam titles yet. In doubles, she has a record of 112 victories and 109 losses. She has 5 WTA titles and 2 ITF titles in the doubles division.

The highest rank she reached was at No. 13 in August 2013. However, as of April 15, 2017, she is ranked at No. 59.

Player Statistics:
• 489–354 (58.0%) career record – singles
• 1 Women’s Tennis Association career titles - singles
• 12 International Tennis Federation career titles – singles
• 112–109 (50.7%) career record - doubles
• 5 Women’s Tennis Association career titles - doubles
• 2 International Tennis Federation career titles – doubles