Gilles Simon

Gilles Simon

Country	France
Residence	Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Date of birth	December 27, 1984 (1984-12-27) (age 26)
Place of birth	Nice, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	69 kg (150 lb; 10.9 st)
Turned pro	2002
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$3,743,399
Singles
Career record	161–117
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 6 (January 5, 2009)
Current ranking	No. 42 (September 5, 2010)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2009)
French Open	3R (2009)
Wimbledon	4R (2009)
US Open	3R (2008, 2009)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (2008)
Olympic Games	3R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	16–57
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 117 (January 28, 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2008)
French Open	2R (2005)
Wimbledon	1R (2006, 2007)
US Open	3R (2007)
Last updated on: November 9, 2009.

At the 2006 Australian Open.

Gilles Simon (born December 27, 1984 in Nice) is a French professional tennis player. He is a six time winner on the ATP World Tour.^[1] Because of his small stature, he has gained one of the most intriguing nicknames in sports, "Le Petit Poulet" or "The Little Chicken." His coach is French tennis veteran Thierry Tulasne.^[2]

Personal life

Simon was born into a family with no involvement in sport, with his mother being a doctor and his father working in insurance.^[3] Supported by his parents, he started playing tennis at the age of 6.^[4] He progressed considerably as a teenager as he started to compete in junior tournaments in France. He cites Michael Chang as a major influence, as his comparatively small frame proved that size wasn't an important factor in playing tennis.^[3]

On September 2nd, Simon became a father for the first time to a baby boy named Timothee. The baby was born four weeks early, when Simon was competing in the 2010 US Open. Ahead of a third round match with Rafael Nadal, Simon was reported to have said “If I win it’ll be fabulous, if I lose, it’ll be even more fabulous.”^[5]

Career

Early career

Simon began his professional tennis career in the summer of 2002, competing at multiple Futures tournaments in France before playing in international tournaments. His first Futures title came in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2003, and reached the quarterfinals of three other tournaments. He then captured his second title in Jamaica in September. During 2004 he saw three wins in France and another in Algeria.

In January 2005, he won his first ATP Challenger hard court tournament in Nouméa, New Caledonia, and defended it the following year. Ranked as World No. 113, Simon made his Grand Slam debut at the 2005 French Open, losing in the first round to Olivier Patience in four sets.

2006

Simon competed at the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, where he beat Nicolás Massú and Tomáš Berdych before being defeated by No. 13 Thomas Johansson in the third round. After his result in the tournament, he broke into the Top 100 for the first time, climbing to No. 89.

The Frenchman reached his first ATP Tour final in Valencia with wins over Andreas Seppi in the quarterfinal and Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal but lost to Nicolás Almagro 6-2, 6-3. He also made it to the semifinals in Casablanca, as well as the round of 16 in both the ATP Masters Series tournaments in Monte Carlo and Hamburg. At the end of the year Simon was ranked 45th in the world.

2007

At the beginning of the year, Simon won his first ATP title at the Open 13 in, Marseille, France. En route to the final Simon beat Lleyton Hewitt, Jonas Björkman, and Robin Söderling. In the final Simon defeated Marcus Baghdatis 6-4, 7-6(3).

In September, he won his second title of the year and of his career at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest, Romania. He defeated Victor Hănescu in the final, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. He broke into the Top 30 for the first time on November 5 and finished the year as No. 29 in the world. By the end of the year, his career record against Top 10 players was 4–5.

2008

Simon reached the quarterfinals in Marseille, defeating World No. 3 Novak Djokovic 6–2, 6–7(6), 6–3 in the second round, and the semifinals in Rotterdam the next week.

In May, he won his third ATP title in Casablanca as a qualifier. After Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew during their semifinal match, Simon went on to defeatJulien Benneteau 7-5, 6-2 in the final. After his third-round loss to countryman Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon, Simon left Europe for the United States to familiarise himself with the hard courts before the U.S. Open Series Competing in the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, Simon's world ranking hit a career-best No. 25. He reached the finals, encountering defending champion Dmitry Tursunov and defeating him in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4.

At 2008 U.S. Open

The following week, he competed at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, including a 2–6, 7–5, 6–4 win over World No. 1 Roger Federer in the second round, before losing in the semifinals to German veteran Nicolas Kiefer. This resulted with an entry into the Top 15, three ranks behind the French No. 1, Richard Gasquet.

Simon participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, playing in the singles for France alongside Paul-Henri Mathieu, Michaël Llodra, and Gaël Monfils. He played doubles with Monfils, but lost in the first round to the Indian team of Bhupathi and Paes. In singles the Frenchman reached the 3rd round, with victories over the Swede Robin Söderling and the Argentine Guillermo Cañas before falling to James Blake.

At the US Open, Simon was seeded number 16. On Day 6, he lost in the 3rd Round to the #17 seed Juan Martín del Potro 4–6, 7–6(4), 1–6, 6–3, 3–6 in a 5-set match that lasted 3 hours and 47 minutes.

On September 14, Simon won his 3rd title of the year equalling his 5th ATP title, defeating Carlos Moyà 6–3, 6–4 at the 2008 BCR Open Romania. Simon entered the 2008 Madrid Masters the following month, defeating No. 11 James Blake and No. 14 Ivo Karlović to reach the semifinals in the tournament. In the semifinals, he defeated World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in 3 sets 3–6, 7–5, 7–6(6) in a match that lasted 3 hours and 23 minutes. Simon lost the final to World No.4 Andy Murray in straight sets, 4–6, 6–7(6). The tournament boosted Simon to a career high World No. 10, displacing Richard Gasquet as French No. 1 and captain of the néo-Mousquetaires.^[6]

On November 3, he qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup, a tournament usually reserved for the world's top eight players in Shanghai, after Rafael Nadal withdraw due to knee complications and fatigue.^[7] He was drawn in the red group with Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick. In his first round robin match he beat defending champion Federer with a score of 4–6, 6–4, 6–3.^[8] Simon lost to Murray in his next match, 6–4, 6–2, but followed it with a victory over Radek Štěpánek, who replaced the injured Roddick 6–1, 6–4. ^[9] After Murray defeated Federer in the final round robin match, Simon qualified for the semifinals, where he lost to world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in three sets - 4–6, 6–3, 7–5. After this, he achieved a career high of World number 7.

In December he played in the newly-formed Masters France exhibition tournament for the eight French players who had performed best at the four French tournaments. He qualified from the round-robin group stage with victories against Julien Benneteau, Marc Gicquel, and Josselin Ouanna. In the final against Michaël Llodra, who pulled out with a shoulder injury, resulting in Simon becoming the inaugural winner of the tournament.

2009

Simon during the 2009 French Open.

Simon started the year off rising to a new career high of World number 6 and played at the Hopman Cup, teaming up with compatriot Alizé Cornet to form the French partnership and mixed doubles duo.^[10]

Simon played at the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, as the 6th seed, winning against Pablo Andújar in the first round. He also competed with Jérémy Chardy as his partner in the doubles, but the pair was defeated by Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in the first round. The second round saw him beat Chris Guccione in 4 sets, 6–7(5), 6–4, 6–1, 6–2. He defeated Mario Ančić in the third round, winning in straight sets, advancing to his fourth round encounter against compatriot Gaël Monfils. Simon was leading 2 sets before Monfils retired due to a wrist injury. He then played World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, where he was dispatched 6–2, 7–5, 7–5 although he had two set points in the second set.

He participated in the Davis Cup with other French team members Michaël Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. The team competed against the Czech Republic from the 6th to the 8th of March. Simon lost 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 to Tomáš Berdych, and then played Radek Štěpánek (whom his fellow team member Tsonga beat). Simon lost to Štěpánek 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-6(0) which gave the Czechs a 3-1 lead indicating that France was out of the Davis Cup in the first round for the first time since 2000.

He went into the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami ranked No. 7 in the world. After early round wins over former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and Rainer Schüttler, he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round, 7-6(4), 3-6, 2-6. Simon competed at the Monte Carlo Masters and versed Andreas Beck in the men's singles, suffering a first round loss of 7-5, 6-1.^[11] This result caused his world ranking to drop 2 spots down to No.9.

Simon played at the Estoril Open as the top seed, before losing to Albert Montañés 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the third round.^[12] He competed with fellow players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jérémy Chardy, forming the French team at the ARAG World Team Cup in Düsseldorf. He lost to Robin Söderling and Rainer Schüttler.

He entered Roland Garros as the 7th seed and defeated Wayne Odesnik in 5 sets in the first round, and Robert Kendrick in straight sets. He was ousted by Victor Hănescu in the third round, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.^[13]

Simon competed at the AEGON Championships at Queens as the 3rd seed, where he beat Grigor Dimitrov, but lost to Mikhail Youzhny in the third round.^[14] At 2009 Wimbledon Simon was the 8th seed. He defeated Bobby Reynolds and Thiago Alves in the first two rounds. He defeated Victor Hănescu in the third round with a comfortable 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory. He was ousted in the fourth round by unseeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Simon was the top seed at Stuttgart's MercedesCup and defeated Philipp Petzschner in the first round in straight sets before falling to Mischa Zverev 6-3 6-2. At the 2009 International German Open, after receiving a bye he then lost to wildcard Daniel Brands, 6-3 4-6 3-6.

During the 2009 US Open Series, he played at the 2009 Rogers Cup where he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round. One week later, he played at the 2009 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open in Cincinnati, another Masters 1000 tournament, where he defeated Nikolay Davydenko en route to the quarterfinals where he would lose to world no. 4 Novak Djokovic. At the 2009 US Open, Simon equalled his best result of third round before retiring with a knee injury during his third-round match against Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Simon then won his first title of 2009 at the 2009 PTT Thailand Open where defeated Viktor Troicki in the final 7-5, 6-3. At Tokyo, Simon was third seeded but fell to Mikhail Youzhny in the second round. The week later he played at Shanghai Masters as the eight seed and received bye at the first round. He beat Viktor Troicki and Tomáš Berdych but lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals by 3-6, 6-2, 2-6.

Simon returned to France to play at Lyon and lost in the semifinal to Michaël Llodra by 7-6, 3-6, 6-7. At the next tournament in Valencia, he lost to Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinal. He continued to Bercy to play at the BNP Paribas Masters. He was seeded 11th and has a first round bye. In the second round, he faced Ivan Ljubičić, who he has never beaten in 3 previous meetings. In the 3rd set of the match, Simon has a break point to go up 4-2, while lunging to return a wide serve, he aggravated a right knee injury that has been bothering him for half of the 2009 season. Although with his movement severely hampered, Simon decided to play on to finish the match in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. He went on to win the match by 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4).^[15] Two days later, he played his R3 match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, lost by 2-6, 3-6, and ended his season in Paris.

In an audio interview during the Paris tournament, Simon said the doctor has recommended him to take at least 2 months to recover from his knee injury.^[16]

2010

Gilles started the 2010 season with an exhibition event, the World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide. It started badly for him as he struggled with injury. He lost 3 straight matches including to home favourite Bernard Tomic. Simon pulled out of Australian Open due to right knee injury. ^[17] He didn't make any appearance in the 2010 season until mid-February, at the 2010 Open 13 tournament in Marseille. As the 5th seed, he lost in 1st round to Olivier Rochus 5–7, 2–6 in Marseille. He then participated at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships as the 8th seed, but lost in 1st round to Marcos Baghdatis 6–7(3), 4–6. Continued to struggle, he lost to Brian Dabul 5-7, 4-6 in 2nd round at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 in Indian Wells as 16th seed with a 1st round bye; and also loss to Horacio Zeballos in the 2nd round at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open as 20th seed with a 1st round bye. The right knee injury eventually caused Simon to miss the entire spring clay season including the French Open ^[18], the second Grand Slam Simon has missed in 2010 due to injury and has fallen down in the rankings. However, Simon has made a positive return from injury winning his first match of the season at Eastbourne.

Playing style

Simon is known for having a powerful deep forehand that he hits against topspin. His backhand is consistent and is considered his best shot. His groundstrokes, though consistent, are also very technically challenging, as he hits very deep and with much angle. He is a defensive counter-puncher tennis player, with variety and exhibits excellent defense. He takes his forehand early, much like Andre Agassi. Simon's rise in the recent years has been due to him displaying more offensive firepower in addition to his great defensive skills.

Equipment

Simon plays with a Microgel Prestige MP paintjob of a Prestige Tour 630 Racquet and 2009 Team series bag, both from Head, a brand which he appeared in an advertisement for.^[19] His racquet is strung with Head IntelliTour 16 String. He is sponsored by Adidas.^[20]

Major finals

Masters Series finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2008	Madrid	Hard (i)	Andy Murray	4–6, 6–7(6)

Career finals

Singles: 8 (6–2)

|}

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	April 16, 2006	Valencia, Spain	Clay	Nicolás Almagro	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	February 18, 2007	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Marcos Baghdatis	6–4, 7–6(3)
Winner	2.	September 16, 2007	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Victor Hănescu	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	3.	May 24, 2008	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Julien Benneteau	7–5, 6–2
Winner	4.	July 20, 2008	Indianapolis, United States	Hard	Dmitry Tursunov	6–4, 6–4
Winner	5.	September 14, 2008	Bucharest, Romania (2)	Clay	Carlos Moyà	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	October 19, 2008	Madrid, Spain	Hard (i)	Andy Murray	4–6, 6–7(6)
Winner	6.	September 28, 2009	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Viktor Troicki	7–5, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through to Roland Garros 2009, which he was eliminated on 29 May, 2009.

• A = did not participate in the tournament.

ATP Tour career earnings

References

Source: http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/450301.asp

1. ↑ Men's Tennis Rankings Sports.espn.go.com, Retrieved April 20, 2009
2. ↑ "Gilles Simon". ATP. 2009-03-15. http://www.atpworldtour.com/tennis/3/en/players/playerprofiles/?playernumber=SD32. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} From a Family of Non-Jocks to the Top 10 Tennis.com, March 31, 2009
4. ↑ Simon, Gilles Itftennis.com, April 18, 2009
5. ↑ http://www.menstennisblog.info/2010/09/gilles-simon-becomes-father.html
6. ↑ Gilles Simon s'est fait un nom, Romain Schneider. Le Figaro, October 18, 2008.
7. ↑ "Fatigued Nadal out of Masters Cup". BBC Sport. 2008-11-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7706939.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
8. ↑ "Federer undone by Simon in opener". BBC Sport. 2008-11-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7710316.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-10. 
9. ↑ "Simon beats Štěpánek and waits on Federer-Murray". BBC Sport. November 14, 2008. http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKTRE4AD2W220081114. 
10. ↑ Current Results Hopman cup.com, June 9, 2009
11. ↑ Monte Carlo Rolex Masters Montecarlomasters-series.com, April 14, 2009
12. ↑ Simon Accepts Estoril Open Wildcard Estorilopen.net, May 2, 2009
13. ↑ Draws/Men's Singles Roland Garros.com, May 22, 2009
14. ↑ DrawsSingles AEGONChampionships.com, June 9, 2009
15. ↑ http://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/breves2009/20091110_234604_simon-rejoint-tsonga.html L'Equipe, Nov 11, 2009
16. ↑ http://www.fft.fr/bnpparibasmasters/2009/?ID=5631 BNP PARIBAS MASTERS 2009, Nov 12, 2009
17. ↑ http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2010-01-16/201001161263609599281.html?fpos=r2,Australian Open 2010, Jan 15, 2010
18. ↑ http://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/breves2010/20100517_121454_gilles-simon-forfait.html, L'Equipe May 17, 2010
19. ↑ Head Retrieved on April 20, 2009
20. ↑ Gilles Simon Tennis-warehouse.com, Retrieved on April 20, 2009
21. ↑ http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2005/$$121905.txt
22. ↑ http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2006/$$121806.txt
23. ↑ http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2007/$$122407.txt
24. ↑ http://stevegtennis.com/rankings/2008/$$122908.txt
25. ↑ http://www.atptennis.com/en/media/rankings/Current_Prize.pdf

External links

• Gilles Simon at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Gilles Simon at the International Tennis Federation
• Gilles Simon at Davis Cup

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten French male singles tennis players as of November 29, 2010 1. Gaël Monfils (12 ) 2. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (13 ) 3. Michaël Llodra (23 ) 4. Richard Gasquet (29 ) 5. Gilles Simon (42 ) 6. Julien Benneteau (42 ) 7. Jérémy Chardy (45 ) 8. Florent Serra (69 1) 9. Arnaud Clément (78 1) 10. Adrian Mannarino (83 15)