Elise Mertens is a Belgian tennis player, winner of twelve WTA tournaments. In addition, in 2018 she became a semifinalist of the Australian Open (this is one of the so-called Grand Slam tournaments) in singles. In general, at the end of 2018, Mertens was recognized as the 13th racket of the world among women.
Performances at junior level
Elise Mertens was born in the Belgian city of Leuven on November 19, 1995. Her mother's name is Lillian, she is a teacher by profession. His father, Guido Mertens, is engaged in the manufacture of furniture.
Already in her junior years (juniors are understood as athletes and sportswomen under 18), Mertens took part in international competitions, where she showed herself as a promising tennis player. She showed the best results at the junior level in 2012 and 2013. During this period, Eliza had a chance to play in the semifinals of the European Championship and in the quarterfinals of the junior Grand Slam in singles.
And in doubles, during these years, she managed to reach the semifinals of the US Open (US Open), as well as win the champion's award at a major tournament in Mexico.
In April 2013, the Belgian was in seventh position in the junior world rankings. Unfortunately, she did not manage to lead this rating or rise even one line higher.
Career Mertens from 2015 to the present
In big adult sports, Eliza Mertens made a name for herself in 2015 at the Copa Colsanitas tournament held in Colombia. There she (together with her partner Nastya Kolar) managed to win a number of victories and move far enough along the tournament grid.
Another important achievement of Eliza Mertens was her participation in the ASB Classic Championship held in 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand. In this championship, she fought for prizes in the doubles (her partner was another Belgian An-Sophie Mestech).
In 2017, Mertens significantly improved: for the first time she managed to enter the TOP-50 of the world ranking. In many ways, this became possible thanks to the success in small tournaments. Particularly striking was her performance at the international tournament in Hobart (Tasmania, Australia). Having passed the qualifying round and hitting the main draw, the Belgian confidently defeated one rival after another. And in the final battle, where she was opposed by the experienced Romanian Monica Niculescu, Eliza was also stronger.
Then Eliza made her way to the semifinals of the WTA tournaments four more times - in Istanbul, New Haven, Bostad and Luxembourg. And at a tournament in Chinese Beijing, Mertens, for the first time in her biography, beat a tennis player from the top ten of the rating - Slovakian Dominika Tsibulkova.
In early 2018, Mertens again won the Hobart tournament. Then, at the Australian Open, Eliza reached the semifinals, where she nevertheless lost to Danish Caroline Wozniacki. At the moment, this is still a record for Mertens in the Grand Slam tournaments. In addition, during the year Eliza won two more WTA tournaments - in Lugano and Rabat. Such successes ultimately allowed the Belgian to reach 13th position in the world rankings.
It is worth mentioning another, very recent achievement of Eliza. In February 2019, she won the first Premier tournament in Doha, Qatar for the first time in her career. Her rival in the final match was Romanian Simona Halep. And this match turned out to be quite difficult for Eliza: the Belgian lost the first set (3: 6), but prevailed in the second and third (6: 4, 6: 3).
Personal facts
Eliza Mertens was not the only child in the family, she has an older sister Lauren. It was she who once first introduced four-year-old Eliza to such a sport as tennis. Lauren is now working as a pilot for one of the airlines. On the other hand, it should be noted that Eliza is not a relative of the famous Belgian footballer Dries Mertens and tennis player Yannick Mertens - all three are just namesakes.
It is known that Eliza knows three languages since childhood - English, French and Flemish. She is also a big animal lover. She has four dogs at home, as well as a number of birds (pheasants, peacocks, cranes, etc.).
