Kirsten Flipkens was born on January 10, 1986, in the city of Geel in Belgium. She is now a professional tennis player for Belgium.
Until now, she has 1 WTA singles title which she won at the 2012 Tournoi de Québec as well as 5 WTA doubles titles to her credit. She has also won thirteen singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit, as well as one singles title at the WTA Challenger Tour.
She also had an illustrious junior career where she won the girls’ doubles title at the 2002 US Open along with Elke Clijsters. She also won the singles titles at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships after beating Anna Chakvetadze and won the singles title at the 2003 US Open after defeating Michaëlla Krajicek.
Flipkens also won the bronze medal at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Murcia, Spain in 2001. She was even named as the ITF Junior World Champion in 2003.
Biotable
| Age | 36 |
| Height | 1.65 mts |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Turned professional | 2001 |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Highest ranking (Singles) | No. 13 |
| Current ranking (Singles) | No. 186 |
| Social media profile | Instagram @kirstenflipkens
Twitter @FlipperKF |
Personal Information and Relationships
- Flipkens was born on 10 January 1986 in Geel, Belgium to Marino Flipkens and Carry Claes.
- She has no siblings.
- Her father was a car dealer and her mother was a housewife.
- She began playing tennis from the tender age of 4 after watching her parents play and decided to pursue it as a career at the age of 12.
- Soon after that, she joined a tennis academy in Wilrijk where she became friends with Kim Clijsters.
- She is currently coached by Maxime Braeckman.
Career
- Kirsten made her professional debut on the ITF Circuit in 2001 at the age of 15.
- She won her first ITF singles title at $10K in Pétange, when she defeated Tanja Hirschauer.
- Soon after that, she won the $10K title in Koksijde.
- In 2002, she made her debut at the WTA Tour, at the Diamonds Games in Antwerp.
- She took a small break from playing in 2004 due to a congenital back injury and was off the courts for several months.
- She returned to the courts in 2005 at a $50K event in Saint Gaudens but could not progress beyond the first round.
- In 2006, she reached the main draws of the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open but did not progress beyond the first round.
- In 2008, she won the $75K title at the Open Féminin de Marseille on the ITF Circuit.
- In 2009, at the US Open, she reached the third round after defeating Jelena Dokic and Anabel Medina Garrigues but lost to Kim Clijsters.
- In 2010, at the French Open, she beat Ayumi Morita in the first round but lost to Maria Sharapova in the second round.
- In the same year, she reached the semifinals of the Rosmalen Championships, where she lost to Andrea Petkovic.
- In 2012, she was diagnosed with blood clots in the calf which were life threatening. This kept her off the courts for the next 2 months.
- She made her comeback to the WTA Tour at the Rosmalen Championships, where she beat Samantha Stosur in the first round to reach the semifinals where she, unfortunately, lost to Nadia Petrova.
- In the same year, she won her first WTA title at the Tournoi de Québec.
- Soon after that, at the Generali Ladies Linz tournament, where she got onto the main draw and defeated Alizé Cornet and Ana Ivanovic to reach the semifinals. However, she then lost in three sets to Julia Görges.
- In 2013,she reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career at Wimbledon, where she beat Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round and Petra Kvitová in the quarterfinals. However, she lost to Marion Bartoli in the semifinals.
- In 2016, at the Mallorca Open, she beat Garbiñe Muguruza to reach the semi final, where she was beaten by Caroline Garcia.
- She had better luck in doubles in 2017 when she reached the final of the Nuremberg Cup by partnering with Johanna Larsson where they, unfortunately, lost to Melichar and Smith.
Prize Money Earnings
She has earned a total of around 5,875,100 US$ from her participation in different championships. In fact, for the year 2022, she has earned around US$ 240,256 so far.
Endorsements and Sponsors
- All of Kirsten’s clothing and footwear on the court were sponsored by Adidas up to 2017.
- She now wears clothing that is designed by her.
- Her tennis racquets are provided by Babolat.
- Her glasses are sponsored by Oakley.
Net Worth
Kirsten’s total net worth as of today is estimated to be around 5 million US$. While there is absolutely no confirmation on this figure, it is likely to be true due to the large amounts of cash she collects as prize money and also from her endorsements.
Trivia
- Her favorite surface to play on is grass.
- Her favourite tournament is Wimbledon
- Her tennis idols growing up were Marcelo Rios and Steffi Graf.
- She speaks English, Dutch, French and German.
- Her nickname is Flipper
- She has three cats, Billie, Tiger and Babette, and a dog named Belle.
- Her favorite book is The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.
- Her favorite movie is Pearl Harbor.
- She enjoys mountain biking, watching Netflix and hanging out with family and friends.
- She describes herself as loyal.
- In 2012, she was nominated for “Comeback Player of the Year” at the WTA Awards.
- In 2013, she won the award for Sportswoman of the Year in Belgium.
- She has also won the VTV Award for “Belgian Player of the Year” twice.
- In 2016, she received the Fed Cup Commitment Award for being the player who played the most years for the Belgian Fed Cup team.
