2005 IN REVIEW

Injuries forced this Dutchman to finish out of Top 100 for the first time since 1994 as he played just 19 matches, his fewest since 1994... His season ended in July with a right Achilles injury that he suffered in the spring... Best result was QF in Marseille (l. to to Ljubicic)... Won a pair of singles matches in Davis Cup World Group tie against Switzerland in March defeating Chiudinelli in five sets and Wawrinka 9-7 in the fifth.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1994 – Winner at Guayaquil Challenger (d. Ruud) and runner-up at Guadalajara Challenger (l. to Shelton)… Qualified for ATP stop in Rosmalen… In doubles, reached final at Prostejov Challenger (w/Winnink)… 1995 – Made Top 50 breakthrough Oct. 9 (from 69 to No. 44) after his first career ATP title in Valencia (d. Schaller)… At 19 years, 1 month, became youngest ATP winner… In Challenger play, won AMS Monte-Carlo (d. Fetterlein) for first title… Won first ATP doubles title in Amsterdam (w/Rios) as wild cards… 1996 – The youngest player (19 years, 4 months) to win an ATP title by winning in Jakarta (d. El Aynaoui) for his second career title… Also reached QF at AMS Monte-Carlo, Bogota, Beijing and Moscow… Made Davis Cup debut in World Group qualifying tie and beat New Zealand’s Greenhalgh to lead his country back into 1997 World Group… 1997 – Won third ATP title in Boston (d. No. 6 Corretja in QF, Rios in F)… Reached SF in Philadelphia and QF in St. Poelten and Rosmalen… 1998 – Reached SF in Scottsdale and Singapore and QF in five other stops… 1999 – Finished in Top 50 for first time highlighted by his fourth career ATP title in Auckland (d. Haas) without dropping a set… Advanced to 3rd RD at Roland Garros (l. to Kuerten), his best finish… On grass, reached QF in Halle and 3rd RD at Wimbledon (l. to Courier 13-11 in fifth set)… Prior to US Open, reached SF in Boston (d. Rios, l. to Safin)… Finished with 17-16 record on hard, 5-3 on grass and 4-6 on clay… Underwent arthrosopic right knee surgery on Nov. 9… 2000 – Finished as No. 1 Dutchman for first time, breaking Krajicek’s eight-year reign… Won his fifth career ATP title… Had up-and-down results for nine months (21-23 record) before finishing with an impressive 16-5 mark in last six tournaments… Opened season with QF in Doha and Auckland and in March at AMS Indian Wells, beat Kroslak, Kafelnikov and Costa before losing to Philippoussis in QF… On clay, reached 3rd RD at AMS Monte-Carlo (d. Moya, l. to Kucera, his best showing of year… During grass court circuit, reached 3rd RD at Wimbledon, losing 20-18 in fifth set to Philippoussis in longest final set in history and second-longest singles match (5 hours, 5 minutes)… In August, beat Chang at AMS Cincinnati (l. to T. Martin in 2nd RD) and reached 3rd RD at US Open (l. to Kiefer)… Played well during three-week Asian circuit with 2nd RD in Hong Kong, title in Tokyo (d. Philippoussis in QF, Arazi in SF and Lapentti in F) and runner-up in Shanghai (l. to Norman)… Saved two match points in SF win over Arazi en route to title in Tokyo… Finished season with QF at AMS Stuttgart (d. Norman, l. to Kafelnikov) and Stockholm (l. to Norman)… Compiled 28-17 record on hard, 6-8 on clay and 3-3 on grass… 2001 – Won an ATP title for third straight year and sixth in last seven… Compiled identical match record and reached two ATP finals for second consecutive season… Also led his country to Davis Cup SF… On clay, advanced to QF at AMS Monte-Carlo, losing to eventual champion Kuerten… On grass, reached QF in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and followed with 3rd RD at Wimbledon (l. to Henman)… In mid-July, returned to his home country and reached SF in Amsterdam (l. to eventual champ Corretja)… During North American summer hard court circuit, reached final in Washington, D.C. (d. Agassi in SF, l. to Roddick)… Advanced to 3rd RD at US Open for second straight year (l. to Federer)… Finished rest of season with a 14-6 mark, highlighted by his sixth career ATP title in Stockholm and QF in Tashkent, Tokyo and AMS Paris… In Davis Cup SF vs. France, lost to Escude 8-6 in fifth set in a four hour, 55-minute marathon… In second-to-last event of year in Stockholm, did not drop a set en route to final before rallying from a 0-3 (two breaks) fifth set deficit against Finnish qualifier Jarkko Nieminen… Won next six games to capture his first career indoor title… In doubles, won a career-high three titles (w/Haarhuis) and reached final in Scottsdale…2002 – Compiled his first Top 20 season with seventh career ATP title and turning in a Grand Slam-best SF showing at US Open… Compiled a career-best 12-2 mark on grass, reaching SF at Queen’s, winning his first native country title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (d.Clement) and advancing to QF at Wimbledon… Both of his losses came to No. 1 Hewitt, including a dramatic five-set defeat at All England Club… It was his fourth five-set loss at Wimbledon in last five years… Had never advanced past 3rd RD in 28 career Grand Slam tournaments… At US Open, posted wins over Philippoussis (retired), Ljubicic, Sargsian, Kuerten and Gonzalez (7-6 in fifth) before losing to eventual champion Sampras in SF… Became first Dutchman to reach US Open SF since Tom Okker in 1971 and afterwards broke into Top 20 for first time… Helped his country back into Davis Cup World Group with victory over Finland… Followed with runner-up in Moscow (l. to Mathieu)… Earned a career-high $888,581… Compiled records of 12-2 on grass, 7-3 on carpet, 13-16 on hard and 5-8 on clay… 2003 – Finished in Top 20 for second year in a row with a personal-best 41 match wins… Captured two ATP titles for first time in a year and has won at least one title for five straight seasons… Had QF efforts at Wimbledon and US Open… His best results in first five months of play came in Rotterdam, Dubai and Munich, where he reached QF in all three events… Put together a 14-3 run in June-July with grass title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch without dropping a set (d. Clement), QF at Wimbledon for second straight year (l. to Federer) and SF at Indianapolis (l. to Roddick)… Did not win back-to-back matches again until US Open where he advanced to QF (l. to Roddick) and followed with first South American title in Costa do Sauipe (d. Schuettler)… Helped his country into 2004 Davis Cup World Group by winning both of his singles matches vs. India… Compiled records of 25-13 on hard, 9-2 on grass and 6-5 on clay…2004 – Finished out of Top 50 for first time in six years after being sidelined for two months due to illness… Saw his Grand Slam tournaments played streak come to an end at 35 after missing Roland Garros with a viral infection… He was later diagnosed with mononucleosis in August and played only one tournament after mid-August… His streak of having won at least one ATP title for five consecutive years also came to an end… His best result of season came in opening week in Chennai where he lost to Moya in SF… In his only two Grand Slam appearances, reached 4th RD at Australian Open and QF at Wimbledon for third straight year (l. to Roddick in both)… During summer hard court circuit, went 2-4, retiring in two matches due to dizziness and fatigue… Returned in October to play AMS Madrid and lost in 1st RD to Koubek… Compiled 11-12 record on hard, 5-3 on grass and 3-6 on clay.

PERSONAL

Learned to play tennis against a wall and drove parents mad... Won title in Auckland on Jan. 16, 1999, three years to day after his 15-year-old brother Tuur, died of cancer... His older brother, Pier, has Down’s Syndrome... Younger sister, Nellamie... Captured US Open juniors (d. Mehdi Tahiri) title and reached Wimbledon junior SF in 1994... Finished No. 9 in world junior rankings in ‘94... Enjoys old-time cars, movies and musical favorite is Dire Straits and classical music... Enjoyed reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, “A Long Walk to Freedom”... A fan of PSV Eindhoven soccer team... Member of 2001-02 ATP Player Council... Has a 21-13 career Davis Cup record (15-12 in singles) in 17 ties since 1996... Wife, Ricky... Coached by Henk van Hulst and Willem Jan van Hulst, son of Henk who runs the Henk van Hulst Training School.