Xavier Malisse was born in Kortrijk, Belgium on 19 July 1980.
He is yet to win an ATP title but is improving all the time. He was coached for a time by Tim Henman's long-time guide David Felgate and that brought him some notable results, not least beating Henman himself in the US Open in 2001.
The Belgian repeated the trick at the 2002 French Open on his way to a creditable last 16 place, and there have been signs that he could prosper on grass. Malisse went out in the second round at Wimbledon in 2001, but he led Roger Federer - who went on to beat Pete Sampras - by two sets to love before finally losing in five.
Audiences round the world were glued to the screen when he bravely battled at the 2002 Wimbledon tournament where he narrowly lost in a 5-set semi-final to the Argentinian David Nalbandian.