Thiemo de Bakker

Currently ranked 43rd in the world, Thiemo de Bakker is a Dutch tennis player who is the top ranked tennis player in his country. Born on September 19, 1988, Theimo de Bakker started playing tennis at a young age under the influence of his father. He was the 2006 Junior World Champion and also won the Boys Singles title during the 2006 Wimbledon Championships.

De Bakker started his professional career in 2006, entering the ATP Amersfoort event in 2006. He faced off with and defeated Julien Benneteau after the first round with a score of 6–3 6–3. He fought French player, Marc Gicquel, but lost after three sets with a score of 6–4 3–6 2–6. Because he was the reigning Junior Champion, de Bakker was given a wild card pass to the 2007 Wimbledon Championships main draw. Unfortunately, he lost to qualifier, Wayne Arthurs. De Bakker upped his game following this loss and in October of the same year won his first senior intentional title in the Futures in Portugal after defeating British player, Morgan Phillips, in the final with a score of 7–6 6–4. He won another Futures tournament two weeks later. He reached a career-high ATP ranking of 228 in 2008.

In 2009, he faced off with Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the BMW Open in Munich, where he lost to Hewitt with a score of 6-3 6-3 in straight sets. He ended 2009 ranked at 96 in the world. In 2010, de Bakker faced off with the world’s number two, Rafael Nadal, in the finals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, losing to Nadal in less than one hour.

2010 has also been a prosperous year as well, since he was able to grace all Grand Slam tournaments, reaching No. 43 in November 15, 2010 of the World ranks. He also currently holds a 20-22 record in singles.