Réginald Willems (born 6 September 1977) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Belgium.

Biography

Playing career

Willems, who comes from Brussels, began competing professionally in 1996. He had his best year on tour in 2000, when he reached a career high 145 in the world. His only ATP Tour main draw appearance came at the 2000 Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, which he entered as a qualifier. He defeated German Alexander Popp in the first round, then lost in the next round to eventual finalist

Sébastien Grosjean Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive ...

. At the 2000 Wimbledon Championships he made the final round of qualifying, where he was beaten in five sets by countryman

Olivier Rochus Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a former Belgian tennis player. Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse. His career-high singles ranking is wo ...

. All three of his Challenger finals came in 2000 and he won his only title at

Pozoblanco Pozoblanco () is a town in the Córdoba Province, Spain, province of Córdoba, southern Spain, in the north-central part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located near the headwaters of the Guadamatil ...

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Coaching

In late 2008 he replaced Julien Hoferlin as captain of the

Belgium Davis Cup team The Belgium men's national tennis team represents Belgium in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Royal Belgian Tennis Federation. History Belgium competed in its first Davis Cup in 1904 when it achieved its best result until 2 ...

. Willems took charge of a team which had been relegated to the Europe/Africa Zone for the

2009 Davis Cup The 2009 Davis Cup was the 98th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred other took part in different regional groups. Spain won their ...

and was able to return the side to the World Group in his first year, with a 3–2 win over

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in the 2009 Play-offs. They were unable to get past the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

in the first round of the

2010 Davis Cup The 2010 Davis Cup (also known as the 2010 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 99th edition of the most important annual tournament among national teams in men's tennis worldwide. In the dramatic final, Serbia defeated Fra ...

, but remained in the World Group with an unlikely play-off win over

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in Cairns. He resigned as captain amid discontent in the team following Belgium's first-round World Group loss to

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in 2011. His selection of the inexperienced

Ruben Bemelmans Ruben Bemelmans (; born 14 January 1988) is a Belgians, Belgian coach and former professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and wo ...

against

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

in the second rubber of the tie was met with criticism. Olivier Rochus, who had been expected to play the match, spoke out publicly against the decision by Willems and called the missed opportunity to play Nadal as one of the biggest disappointments of his career. At the same time doubles specialist

Dick Norman Dick Norman (born 1 March 1971) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height (6 feet 8 inches), his left-handed power game and, in the last few years of his ca ...

, who was omitted from the side, called for Belgium to have an impartial coach, noting that Willems is also the personal coach of Rochus and

Steve Darcis Steve Darcis (, born 13 March 1984) is a Belgian coach and former professional tennis player. In his career, he won two ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 38 on 22 May 2017. Personal life Steve Darcis was born i ...

, who both played in the tie. From 2011 to 2014 he was the coach of

David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...

, during which time the Belgian rose from outside the top 200 to 42 in the world.

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willems, Reginald 1977 births Living people Belgian male tennis players Belgian tennis coaches Tennis players from Brussels