70 Facts About Elise Mertens

Elise Mertens became world No 1 in doubles on 10 May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking in either singles or doubles after Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

Elise Mertens finished runner-up at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships with Zhang Shuai and at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships with Storm Hunter.

Elise Mertens has won 21 doubles titles, including the 2022 WTA Finals with Veronika Kudermetova, six at the WTA 1000 level, and finished runner-up at the 2021 WTA Finals alongside Hsieh.

Elise Mertens is a successful singles player, and reached a major semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open, followed by two US Open quarterfinals in 2019 and 2020.

Elise Mertens achieved her career-high singles ranking of world No 12 in November 2018, and has won nine WTA Tour titles, including two at the WTA 500 level.

Elise Mertens has represented Belgium in the Billie Jean King Cup since 2017, and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in both singles and doubles.

Elise Mertens was born in Leuven, the second daughter of Liliane Barbe, a teacher, and Guido Elise Mertens, who makes furniture for churches.

Elise Mertens was home-schooled and enjoyed studying languages, speaking French, English, and Flemish Dutch.

Elise Mertens was a doubles finalist at the ITF New Delhi, alongside Marina Melnikova.

Elise Mertens made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2015 Copa Colsanitas in the doubles event, partnering Nastja Kolar.

Elise Mertens won her first WTA doubles title at the 2016 Auckland Open, partnering An-Sophie Mestach.

Elise Mertens then competed at the Dubai Championships, where, as a qualifier, she beat Tsvetana Pironkova en route to the second round, where she lost to Agnieszka Radwanska.

Elise Mertens then lost in the first round of the Malaysian Open to Lesley Kerkhove.

Elise Mertens began the season by becoming the first woman to win back-to-back titles in Hobart.

Elise Mertens defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu in the final, defending her title from 2017.

Elise Mertens' season continued with her main-draw debut at the Australian Open.

Elise Mertens defeated qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova, Daria Gavrilova, Alize Cornet and Petra Martic, all in straight sets, to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Elise Mertens lost, respectively, in the first round of Doha, Dubai and Indian Wells and in the second round in Miami.

Elise Mertens won the title by beating Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.

Elise Mertens lost in the second round at Madrid to Simona Halep.

Elise Mertens reached the fourth round at the French Open, defeating Varvara Lepchenko, Heather Watson, and Daria Gavrilova before falling again to Halep, who won the title.

Elise Mertens started off the grass-court season with first-round loss to qualifier Dalila Jakupovic in Birmingham.

At Wimbledon, Elise Mertens lost in third round to Dominika Cibulkova.

Elise Mertens started in Brisbane with a first-round exit against Kiki Bertens, she lost the match in three sets.

Elise Mertens won her first and second match in straight sets, losing to Madison Keys in the third round.

Elise Mertens played Fed Cup in her homecountry for the first time.

Elise Mertens began unseeded at this tournament, but she won her first Premier title.

Elise Mertens had a rough start to the clay-court season, losing in the opening round of four of her first five tournaments.

At the French Open, Elise Mertens beat Tamara Zidansek and Diane Parry to advance to the third round, where she was beaten by Anastasija Sevastova in a three-hour 18-minute, three-set match despite winning the first set and holding five match points in the decider.

Elise Mertens performed much stronger in the grass-court season warmup events, making the quarterfinals in Mallorca and the third round in Eastbourne.

Elise Mertens competed at the WTA Elite Trophy in singles, where she qualified for the second straight year.

Elise Mertens next competed at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, playing doubles.

Elise Mertens finished the year ranked No 17 in singles and No 6 in the world in doubles.

Elise Mertens opened the year by reaching the quarterfinals in both Shenzhen, where she was beaten by Elena Rybakina, and Hobart, losing to Heather Watson.

At the Australian Open, Elise Mertens eased through to the fourth round with straight-set wins over Danka Kovinic, Watson and CiCi Bellis before being defeated by Simona Halep.

Elise Mertens then lost to Halep for the second time that year.

At the 2020 US Open, Elise Mertens opened her campaign by beating Laura Siegemund in straight sets, followed by two-set wins over Sara Sorribes Tormo and 18-year old Caty McNally.

Elise Mertens then caused a huge upset by defeating Sofia Kenin in straight sets, making it to the quarterfinals of the US Open for the second consecutive year.

Elise Mertens continued in good form throughout to the end of the year.

Elise Mertens made quarterfinals at Rome, losing again to Karolina Pliskova in three sets.

Elise Mertens lost in the third round of the French Open to Caroline Garcia.

Elise Mertens then went to the Ostrava Open and defeated Amanda Anisimova and Karolina Muchova both in straight sets.

Elise Mertens finished the year with a final finish at Linz Open, losing to Sabalenka.

Elise Mertens started off her 2021 season at the first edition of the Gippsland Trophy.

Elise Mertens won her sixth career singles title beating Kaia Kanepi in the final, her first singles title in two years.

Elise Mertens's winning streak at the start of the season ended at seven when she lost to Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.

Elise Mertens continued her good run of form since the end of lockdown at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Elise Mertens reached the semifinals where she lost to Garbine Muguruza.

Elise Mertens began her clay-court season at the Charleston Open where she suffered a second-round upset by Alize Cornet.

Elise Mertens kicked off her grass-court season at the Birmingham Classic.

Elise Mertens competed at the Eastbourne International where she was the seventh seed.

Elise Mertens got her US Open preparation underway at the Silicon Valley Classic.

Elise Mertens was eliminated in the fourth round by world No 2 and second seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Elise Mertens started her 2022 season at the Sydney Tennis Classic where she lost to Daria Kasatkina in the second round.

Elise Mertens won her 15th doubles title with Kudermetova, defeating Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok in the final.

Elise Mertens was beaten in the third round by Anett Kontaveit.

Elise Mertens lost her world No 1 doubles ranking on 14 August 2022.

Elise Mertens withdrew before the 2022 Tennis in the Land feeling pain in her right thigh yet still decided to go to the US Open.

Elise Mertens lost in the first round of singles to Irina-Camelia Begu, and as the top seed of the US Open in doubles, partnering Kudermetova, won the first round but withdrew before the second round due to the leg injury not being able to defend her prior year quarterfinal points.

Elise Mertens lost in the second round to Claire Liu in singles but reached the doubles' semifinals partnering Kudermetova.

Elise Mertens finally broke her poor run of form at the Jasmin Open as she stormed into her first singles final in almost 14 months.

Elise Mertens defeated Jaqueline Cristian, Despina Papamichail, Moyuka Uchijima and avenged her last loss to Claire Liu in route to the final.

In Guadalajara, Elise Mertens lost to Anna Kalinskaya in the second round but she reached the doubles quarterfinal with Kudermetova and qualified for the WTA Finals in doubles for a fourth consecutive year.

Elise Mertens returned to world No 1 in doubles on 25 September 2023 after more than a year, following a semifinal showing at the Guadalajara Open with Hunter.

Elise Mertens won her eighth singles title at the 2023 Jasmin Open in Monastir, by defending it with a win over Italian Jasmine Paolini, and returned to the top 30 in the rankings.

Elise Mertens lost the championship match to McCartney Kessler, in three sets.

Elise Mertens is a baseline player, whose game blends her excellent defensive skills with aggressive shot making capabilities.

Elise Mertens's groundstrokes are hit flat, with little topspin, allowing her shots to penetrate consistently deep into the court despite Mertens' comparatively slight build.

Elise Mertens possesses extreme mental toughness, and has been noted for her consistency and determination on court, making her a formidable opponent.

Elise Mertens has stated that her favourite surface is grass, but the majority of her success has come on hard courts.