Gilles Simon

Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player, who has played on the ATP Tour since 2002.

Gilles Simon was born in Nice on December 27, 1984, to his parents Mireille and Daniel. He started playing tennis at age six and was encouraged by his parents to pursue the sport. Despite a growth condition that left Simon shorter than other players his age, the French player excelled at the youth level.

By 2002, he was competing in ITF Futures level competitions and first played at an ATP Tour event in October 2004, aged 19. In 2005, Simon continued to progress at Challenger level and climbed up to 113th in the rankings. As a result, the French player made his Grand Slam debut at the 2005 Roland Garros but lost in round one against Olivier Patience.

Simon then had his breakthrough year in 2006. At the Australian Open, he progressed to the third round and broke into the top 100 following this result. Moreover, he reached round three at his debut Monte-Carlo Masters and the Madrid Open. Simon got to his first-ever ATP final in Valencia but lost against Nicolas Almagro.

He consolidated his breakthrough season with a consistent 2007. At the Grand Slams and Masters, he regularly reached the second round. However, he excelled in lower-ranked ATP competitions and won his first two titles on the tour. His first victory came at the Marseille Open before he won the BCR Open Romania in September.

Now firmly established on the ATP Tour, Simon progressed at a rapid rate in 2008. The Frenchman added three titles to his collection with wins at the Marrakech Open, and the Indianapolis Tennis Championships and successfully defended his title at the BCR Open.

To cap a fine season, Simon reached his first-ever Masters final at the 2008 Shanghai Masters. Following an impressive campaign, Simon entered 2009 sixth in the rankings. He carried his momentum into 2009 and reached the Australian Open quarter-final.

Once again, Simon was consistent and continuously reached the third and fourth rounds at the Grand Slams and Masters. He then finished the season in strong form with two quarter-final runs at the Cincinnati Open and Shanghai Masters before winning the PTT Thailand Open.

An early season injury stunted Simon’s progress in 2010. However, he won the Moselle Open to add to his list of honors despite an otherwise patchy season. In 2011, Simon was back to form, yet could not find a way to get into big tournament finals.

He reached two Grand Slam round of 16s and two Masters quarter-finals. Yet, the Frenchman kept notching ATP titles by winning the Sydney International and the Hamburg Open. Simon continued to progress deep into Masters level competitions in 2012.

He made the Indian Wells quarter-final and semi-finals at Monte Carlo and Paris. He also lifted his third career BCR Open title in Romania. A similar form came in 2013, as the French player reached round four at the Australian and French Opens and progressed to the Miami Open quarter-final.

Again, though, Simon showed a knack for winning ATP titles by winning at the Moselle Open. Simon made a slow start in 2014 and struggled for form. However, he recovered late in the campaign and reached his second Masters final at the Shanghai Open, but lost against Roger Federer.

In addition, 2014 was the first time in seven seasons that Simon failed to win a single ATP title. Yet, Simon bounced back in 2015, making the final 16 at Indian Wells and Miami. He also sealed another title at the Marseille Open before his best-ever run at Wimbledon.

Simon progressed to the quarter-finals in the All-England Club but lost against Federer again. In 2016, Simon produced two more deep runs in Masters competitions. He first made the final eight at the Miami Open and the semi-finals at the Shanghai Masters.

However, he failed to progress to an ATP event final for the first time since 2005. 2017 was a season of struggle as Simon only progressed past the round of 16 in two competitions he entered. Due to the dip in form, he finished the season outside the top 50 for the first time since 2005. He recovered in 2018 with a round of 16 runs at Wimbledon.

Moreover, Simon added his 13th and 14th ATP titles in 2018, winning at the Maharashtra Open and the Moselle Open. After reaching the Indian Wells third round in 2019, Simon’s form generally declined. However, he reached his final ATP final this season at Queen’s, where he lost against Feliciano Lopez.

Throughout the disrupted 2020 season, Simon struggled to generate form, and his best Grand Slam performances came at the Australian and US Opens, where he reached the second round. Early in 2021, Simon announced a hiatus from the game for mental health reasons.

After his return in April, several early round exits followed for a difficult 2021. Simon’s struggles continued in 2022 as he generally couldn’t progress past qualifying at the Grand Slams and Masters events. Before retiring late in the season, the Frenchman did make round three at the Roland Garros and the Paris Masters.