Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɪrstə(ɱ) ˈflɪpkə(n)s]; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. She reached a career-high ranking of world No. 13. Flipkens has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, winning the 2012 Tournoi de Québec, as well as seven doubles titles. She also won 13 singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, and one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour.
She had success as a junior, winning the girls' doubles title at the 2002 US Open and the singles titles at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships and the 2003 US Open. Her best Grand Slam performance as a senior was at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, where she reached the semifinal. In the same year, she was crowned Sportswoman of the Year at the Belgian Sport Awards. In 2016, Flipkens entered her first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and made it to the third round in singles. She is also the Belgian player who has played the most years in Fed Cup (16 years as of 2019). For this reason, she received the Fed Cup Commitment Award in 2016.
Flipkens was born on 10 January 1986 in Geel, Belgium as the only child of a car dealer and a housewife. She began playing tennis at four years old. Flipkens played tennis, football, volleyball and basketball before eventually deciding to pursue a career as a tennis player at the age of 12. She then went to the tennis academy in Wilrijk where she became friends with Kim Clijsters. At the age of 17, after winning Wimbledon and the US Open as a junior, she dropped out of school to continue her career as a professional tennis player. She speaks Dutch, English, French and German. One of her trademarks is her prescription glasses, which she needs to wear due to being near-sighted.
In 2001, Flipkens won the bronze medal at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Murcia, Spain.
In 2002, Flipkens and Elke Clijsters won the US Open girls' doubles title, beating Shadisha Robsinon and Tory Zawacki in the final with 6–1, 6–3.
In 2003, Flipkens won the Wimbledon Championships in girls' singles, beating Anna Chakvetadze 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 and the US Open in girls' singles, defeating Michaëlla Krajicek, 6–3, 7–5. Following her two wins in two major juniors events, Flipkens was selected to join the Belgium Fed Cup team for the 2003 Fed Cup's semifinal opposing the United States. She played her first Fed Cup match against then WTA No. 17, Meghann Shaughnessy and lost 7–6, 6–7, 7–9. She finished 2003 as world No. 1 of the junior rankings in both singles and doubles. At the end of the year, she was awarded Best Belgian Talent and named ITF Junior World Champion.
2001–08: First steps, problem with injuries
Flipkens played her first professional match on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2001 at the age of 15. Next year, she won her first ITF singles title at a $10k event in Pétange, when she defeated German qualifier Tanja Hirschauer, and two weeks later another $10k title in Koksijde. The following year, Flipkens made her debut at the WTA Tour, at the Diamonds Games in Antwerp, but finished her participation at the beginning of the tournament. 2004 was the first year when she attempted to qualify in Wimbledon into the main draw of a major. After a first-round loss at the Gaz de France Stars in September, Flipkens stated that she struggled with a congenital back injury during the second half of 2004. She was unable to play for several months.
She made her return at $50k event in Saint-Gaudens in May 2005, but lost in her first match. In late May, she made her debut in the qualifying of the French Open. Later, she also failed in qualifying for Wimbledon and the US Open. In 2006, Flipkens made big steps further, reaching the main draws at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. At the French Open, she recorded her first Grand Slam match win, defeating qualifier Virginie Pichet, but lost in the next round to Flavia Pennetta. At the US Open, she got to the same stage of tournament, falling to eventual semifinalist Jelena Janković, while at Wimbledon, she lost in the first round. She also partnered with British No. 2, Andy Murray, in mixed doubles at Wimbledon.
Flipkens started 2007 season with modest results, including only first rounds at the Australian Open and Diamond Games. In May, she stated that she suffered from a wrist injury, which resulted in not being able to play for several months. She returned in September, playing mostly at the ITF Circuit, with reaching only one final at the $50k event in Deauville, where she lost. In 2008, due to injury from previous year that caused falling in the rankings, she was forced to play mostly at ITF tournaments. She reached four finals, winning three of them, including a $75k title at the Open Féminin de Marseille. She started the year as world No. 287, but climbed till the end to No. 104.
2009–10: Breakthrough into the top 100, continues with injuries
Flipkens played at the Australian Open, where she recorded her first win there, defeating Rossana de los Ríos, before she was knocked out the tournament by top seed Jelena Janković. On her next appearances, she was eliminated in the first round at U.S. National Indoors, Barcelona Open, Estoril Open and Internationaux de Strasbourg. She then reached another Grand Slam second round at the French Open. She started the grass-court season with a loss at the Rosmalen Championships, but then reached her first Major third round at Wimbledon. She failed to reach her first round of 16, losing to top-seeded Dinara Safina, 5–7, 1–6, after having a set point in the first set.
At the US Open, she reached another Grand Slam third round, after straight-sets victories over Jelena Dokic and Anabel Medina Garrigues. She suffered a defeat in the third round, losing to compatriot and eventual champion Kim Clijsters, 0–6, 2–6. In October 2009, she again defeated Medina Garrigues to reach the quarterfinals of the Luxembourg Open, where her compatriot Yanina Wickmayer stopped her from reaching the first semifinal on the WTA Tour. Flipkens reached the top 100 for the first time in her career at the end of 2009.
Flipkens continued her good results in 2010. She first reached the quarterfinals at the Hobart International, where she went through qualifying. In the quarterfinal match, she lost to Sara Erani in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Flipkens lost in the first round to another unseeded (her comeback) Justine Henin, 4–6, 3–6. In March, she made her debut at the Premier 5/Premier Mandatory tournaments. On her way to the third round at Indian Wells, she beat Timea Bacsinszky and Aleksandra Wozniack, before she was eliminated by Elena Dementieva.
At the French Open, she defeated Ayumi Morita in the first round, 6–1, 6–4, before Maria Sharapova defeated her in straight sets in the second. In the week before Wimbledon, she reached semifinals of the Rosmalen Championships but lost to Andrea Petkovic. At Wimbledon, she lost in the second round to Yanina Wickmayer. At the US Open, she failed to repeat her third-round appearance of the previous year, losing in the first round to Patty Schnyder. By the end of the year, she reached two International-level quarterfinals, at the Korea Open and Luxembourg Open. She had been troubled by a recurring wrist injury and underwent surgery at the end of the 2010 season.
Flipkens struggled at the beginning of 2011, starting with a first-round loss at the Australian Open and did not win one singles match on the WTA Tour in main draws until May. She then reached the semifinals at the Morocco Open in Fes, during the clay-court season. At the Rosmalen Championships, she teamed up with CoCo Vandeweghe to reach the semifinals in doubles. By the end of the year, she didn't make any significant result, primarily losing in the first rounds and failing in the qualifyings.
After weak results in the second half of 2011, she returned to the ITF Circuit. She made two $25k level finals but failed to win the title in both of them. Then in April 2012, doctors discovered four life-threatening blood clots in her calf, which prevented her from playing for two months. During this time, her ranking dropped to No. 262, and she lost her funding from the Flemish Tennis Association (VTV). She returned to the WTA Tour at the Rosmalen Championships, where she beat Samantha Stosur in the first round and later reached semifinals, before she lost to Nadia Petrova. She qualified for the US Open and made it to the second round, where she was defeated by eventual finalist, Victoria Azarenka. She also partnered with Kim Clijsters in doubles, but they were beaten in the first round.