Dick Norman
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- This is the article about the tennis player. For the football player, see Dick Norman (football).
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| Country | .svg/22px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
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| Residence | Waregem, Belgium | |
| Date of birth | March 1, 1971 | |
| Place of birth | Waregem, Belgium | |
| Height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | |
| Weight | 210 lb (95 kg/15 st) | |
| Turned pro | 1991 | |
| Plays | Left | |
| Career prize money | US$1,008,934 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 26-67 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 85 (November 6, 2006) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 2nd (2006) | |
| French Open | 3rd (2006) | |
| Wimbledon | 4th (1995) | |
| US Open | 2nd (2002) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 18-21 | |
| Career titles: | 1 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 98 (June 11, 2007) | |
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Infobox last updated on: June 21, 2007. |
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Dick Norman (born March 1, 1971 in Waregem, Belgium) is a Belgian tennis player.
Turning professional in 1991, Norman notched up only his 14th Grand Slam appearance at the 2006 Wimbledon, where, at 35, he was the second oldest male competitor, to Andre Agassi. With Agassi's retirement immediately following the 2006 U.S. Open, Norman succeeded him as the oldest active player on the ATP tour.
In 1995, he made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon, despite qualifying out of the lucky loser's draw. He defeated successive but aging former Wimbledon Champions Pat Cash and Stefan Edberg in the first and second rounds respectively, then doubles guru Todd Woodbridge in the 3rd round, before falling to another former Champion Boris Becker in the fourth round. It remains the furthest that any player has ever advanced in a Grand Slam Tournament coming out of the lucky loser draw.
He disappeared from tennis scene after a few unimpressive seasons, but has made a resurgence starting in 2003, at the age of 32, when most players have retired. He has qualified for three Grand Slam tournaments in three of the last four years (2003, 2005, 2006). Nine of his fourteen Grand Slam appearances have come after his 32nd birthday, although none nearly as successful as his 1995 Wimbledon run. Most times he'd lose in the first or second round. Still he has exceeded $1 million in career earnings, in large part due to his Grand Slam "successes".
In November 2006, at the age of 35 years and eight months, Norman attained his career-high ATP ranking as World No. 85.
In July 2007, at Newport, Norman made it to his very first ATP semifinal, defeating the 8th seed Michael Berrer along the way. His first round win was over fellow "giant", 6'9" wild card John Isner, who was playing in his first-ever ATP match.
As of February 2008 he remained the oldest active player on the ATP tour at 36 years and 11 months; and although his ranking had dropped back to World No. 169, partly as a result of his having taken a break of several months from the tour over the preceding Autumn and Winter following the birth of his first child, he appeared to remain committed to continuing his career on the circuit.
Although Norman is currently the oldest player on the tour, Jimmy Connors continued to compete regularly until the week of May 10th 1993 when he was 40 years and 8 months of age and played another six isolated tournaments over the three years to follow, the very last of which took place in the week of April 29th 1996 when he was 43 years and 7 months old, so Norman is not in totally uncharted territory where the men's game is concerned, despite the fact that few players nowadays continue beyond the age of 35.
He has won over ten titles on the Challenger circuit. In January, 2007 he teamed with countryman Xavier Malisse to win the doubles title at the ATP event in Chennai.
