The 21st century

Peter Wessels

Netherlands · born Zwolle, 1978 · right-handed, one-handed backhand · Newport champion 2000

A painted still life of a grass court in the 21st century, not a portrait of the player
A period scene. No freely licensed photograph of this player has been found yet.

All players

1

ATP singles title, Newport 2000

2

ATP singles finals, both on grass

488

His ranking when he reached the 's-Hertogenbosch final in 2007

72

Career-high ranking, February 2005

Playing career

Peter Wessels was born in Zwolle in 1978. As a junior he won the 1995 French Open boys' doubles with his compatriot Raemon Sluiter and finished that year No. 5 in the world junior singles rankings. He turned professional in 1996.

Most of his career was spent on the Challenger circuit, where he won several titles. His one ATP title came on grass at Newport in 2000, and his career-high ranking of No. 72 in February 2005. In 2006 he and Michaëlla Krajicek took the Netherlands to the Hopman Cup final in Perth, where he won four of his five singles matches. In 2007, ranked outside the top 450, he reached a second grass final at 's-Hertogenbosch.

After his playing career he moved to the United Arab Emirates to coach, first at the PSS Tennis Academy and from 2015 at the Emirates Palace Tennis Academy in Abu Dhabi. Based in Dubai, he has worked with Sorana Cîrstea since 2024.

On grass

Newport 2000Unseeded; beat the sixth seed David Prinosil and the seventh seed Wayne Arthurs, then Jens Knippschild 7-6, 6-3 in the final
's-Hertogenbosch 2007Ranked 488th, beat the top seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-3 in the quarter-finals and lost the final to the second seed Ivan Ljubičić 6-7, 6-4, 6-7
WimbledonFirst round in 1999, 2001 and 2005. By his own account he lost to Andre Agassi on Centre Court in three close sets

Every grass title: 1

Show every title, tournament by tournament
Newport, Rhode Island
2000 Men's singles Hall of Fame Open

Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions

"I couldn't predict he would be the greatest ever, but you could see his potential."

Wessels on Roger Federer, whom he played in 1999 and 2000, Sport360, 2015

Anecdotes

The person behind the player.

1999 to 2000

The one who beat Federer

Wessels played the teenage Roger Federer twice and finished with one win each. Before their meeting at the 2000 US Open, he recalled, "I played him the year before and I beat him."

Source: Sport360

's-Hertogenbosch, June 2007

From 488th to the final

Ranked 488th in the world, Wessels upset the top seed, Tommy Robredo, in the quarter-finals of the Dutch grass tournament and reached the final, where the second seed Ivan Ljubičić needed three sets and two tie-breaks to beat him.

Source: Reuters, via Dawn

Perth, January 2006

A Hopman Cup final

Partnering Michaëlla Krajicek, Wessels won four of his five singles matches, beating Gastón Gaudio and Nicolas Kiefer among others. The Dutch reached the final and lost a close mixed doubles to Taylor Dent and Lisa Raymond of the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Dubai, 2024

In Cîrstea's box

Sorana Cîrstea worked with him whenever she was in Dubai, where he is based. "It's going great. We have a good chemistry," she said, adding that it was a little tough because he worked a lot.

Source: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Abu Dhabi, 2015

Still in love with the game

Living in the UAE, he still played amateur tournaments while coaching. His advice to young players was short: "You need to love the game." As a boy, he said, he never liked watching tennis on television unless it was Becker or Edberg.

Source: Sport360

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Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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