Elise Mertens

Elise Mertens is the rare two-way pro who reached world No. 1 in doubles while keeping a singles game good enough for a decade in the upper tiers — and she built all of it from the ITF floor, not a teenage hype wave. Born in Leuven in 1995, she turned professional in 2013 after a junior career that included reaching the semifinals of the 2012 US Open girls' doubles event. Her older sister Lauren, now an airline pilot, introduced the then four-year-old Elise to tennis; growing up she looked up to Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, and trained at the Kim Clijsters Academy from 2015 until it shut down in 2022. She finished 2017 at No. 35, up from No. 120 in 2016 — her first Top 50 year-end finish.

Mertens is a baseline craftswoman built on movement and pressure-point math rather than raw pace. She's known for stamina, footwork, speed and court coverage, and the numbers back the profile: she saves roughly 59% of break points faced, sits near 59% on serve pressure points, and creates massive pressure on return, winning around 58% of second-serve returns. What she lacks is a one-strike weapon — she wins just over 35% against opponents' first serves — so the wins come from depth, consistency and refusing to give away free points.

The singles peak arrived fast. The breakthrough was the 2018 Australian Open semifinal, where she beat world No. 4 Elina Svitolina in straight sets to become only the third Belgian woman to reach the last four in Melbourne, joining Henin and Clijsters. She hit a career-high No. 12 in November 2018 and has won ten WTA singles titles, including two at the 500 level, with two more US Open quarterfinals (2019, 2020). The bigger trophies, though, came in doubles: she reached No. 1 on 10 May 2021 and has won five Grand Slam doubles crowns — the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open with Aryna Sabalenka, 2021 Wimbledon and 2024 Australian Open with Hsieh Su-wei, plus 2025 Wimbledon with Veronika Kudermetova.

The current beat runs through Melbourne again: she reclaimed the No. 1 doubles ranking after she and Zhang Shuai won the 2026 Australian Open, her third title in Melbourne and the sixth Grand Slam of her career. In singles she's holding near No. 22, with grass — including a 2025 Libéma Open title in 's-Hertogenbosch — looking like her sharpest surface heading into the summer.