72 Facts About Elise Mertens

1.

Elise Mertens is a Belgian professional tennis player.

2.

Elise Mertens became world No 1 in doubles in May 2021, the third Belgian to hold the top ranking across both disciplines after Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

3.

Elise Mertens finished runner-up at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships with Zhang Shuai.

4.

Elise Mertens has won 16 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including the 2022 WTA Finals with Veronika Kudermetova, four at WTA 1000 level, and finished runner-up at the 2021 WTA Finals alongside Hsieh.

5.

Elise Mertens is a successful singles player, and reached her first major semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open, reaching the US Open quarterfinals in 2019 and 2020.

6.

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

7.

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

8.

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

9.

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

10.

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

11.

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

12.

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

13.

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.

14.

Elise Mertens then lost in the first round of the Malaysian Open to qualifier and eventual quarterfinalist Lesley Kerkhove.

15.

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

16.

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

17.

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

18.

Elise Mertens defeated qualifier Viktoria Kuzmova, 23rd seed Daria Gavrilova, Alize Cornet and Petra Martic, all in straight sets, to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

19.

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

20.

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

21.

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

22.

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

23.

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

24.

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

25.

Elise Mertens started in Brisbane with a first-round exit against top-10 player and sixth seed Kiki Bertens, she lost the match in three sets.

26.

Elise Mertens won her first and second match in straight sets, before falling to 17th seed Madison Keys in the third round.

27.

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

28.

Elise Mertens was unable to win her two matches against Alize Cornet and Caroline Garcia.

29.

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

30.

Just two days later, Elise Mertens played in Dubai, where she was placed as 16th seed.

31.

Elise Mertens lost in her opening-match against qualifier Zhu Lin, after a battle of nearly three hours.

32.

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

33.

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

34.

Elise Mertens defeated Jil Teichmann, Kristyna Pliskova, and former world No 9, Andrea Petkovic, in straight sets, before taking revenge on wildcard Kristie Ahn to reach her second Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, becoming the first Belgian woman to reach the last eight since Kim Clijsters won the title in 2010.

35.

Elise Mertens squandered a one-set lead, going down in three sets to world No 15 and the eventual champion, Bianca Andreescu.

36.

Elise Mertens became the first Belgian to reach a US Open final, as well as winning one, in doubles, and the first Belgian woman to win a Grand Slam doubles title since Clijsters won Wimbledon in 2003.

37.

Elise Mertens failed to register much success in singles during the Asian hardcourt swing, outside of a semifinal appearance at the Pan Pacific Open, but reached her fourth doubles final of the year with Sabalenka at the Premier 5-level Wuhan Open, where the pair lost to Duan Yingying and Veronika Kudermetova.

38.

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

39.

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

40.

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

41.

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.

42.

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

43.

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

44.

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

45.

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

46.

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

47.

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

48.

Elise Mertens eventually lost in a rematch against Azarenka however with a closer scoreline this time.

49.

Elise Mertens did not leave empty handed though, as her and Aryna Sabalenka took the doubles title together.

50.

Elise Mertens finished off the year with a final finish at Linz Open losing to Sabalenka a couple weeks after winning a title together.

51.

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

52.

Elise Mertens's winning streak at the start of the season ended at seven when she lost to 25th seed, Karolina Muchova, in the fourth round.

53.

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

54.

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

55.

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

56.

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

57.

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

58.

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

59.

Elise Mertens was beaten in the third round by fourth seed and eventual finalist, Anett Kontaveit.

60.

Elise Mertens lost in the fourth round to third seed and eventual finalist, Ons Jabeur.

61.

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

62.

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 prior to round two due to the leg injury.

63.

Elise Mertens returned back from injury at the Pan Pacific Open.

64.

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

65.

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.

66.

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

67.

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 with four different partners.

68.

Elise Mertens reached her second quarterfinal at the Australian Open with new partner Storm Sanders.

69.

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

70.

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

71.

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

72.

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