The 21st century
Netherlands · born Weert, 1976 · right-handed · 's-Hertogenbosch champion 2002 and 2003
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11
Career-high ATP singles ranking, April 2003
9
ATP singles titles, two of them on grass at 's-Hertogenbosch
3
Wimbledon quarter-finals in a row, 2002 to 2004
20-18
Fifth set of his 5 hour 5 minute defeat by Mark Philippoussis, Wimbledon 2000
1994
US Open boys' singles champion
Sjeng Schalken was born in Weert in 1976. A right-hander with a one-handed backhand, he won the US Open boys' singles in 1994 and turned professional the same year. At 19 he won his first ATP title on clay in Valencia, and he won at least one tour title in eight of the nine seasons from 1995 to 2003.
His best years came in 2002 and 2003. In 2002 he won his first grass title at 's-Hertogenbosch, reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals and then the US Open semi-finals, where he lost to Pete Sampras. In 2003 he rose to a career-high No. 11, defended his 's-Hertogenbosch title, reached a second Wimbledon quarter-final and a US Open quarter-final, and won in Costa do Sauipe. He finished with nine ATP singles titles and six in doubles.
In 2004 he was defaulted at the Miami Masters for verbally abusing the umpire, and in May he escaped a fatal fire at the players' hotel in Rome. He still reached a third Wimbledon quarter-final in a row that summer. Illness late in 2004 and an Achilles tendon injury in 2005 ended his tour career; his last event was a Challenger in Bergamo in February 2006.
| 's-Hertogenbosch finals | 2002: beat Arnaud Clément 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his first grass title and his first on home soil, a week after losing the Queen's semi-final to Lleyton Hewitt. 2003: beat Clément again, 6-3, 6-4, without dropping a set all week. Also won the 2001 doubles with Paul Haarhuis, beating Martin Damm and Cyril Suk 6-4, 6-4 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon quarter-finals | 2002: lost to Lleyton Hewitt 7-5 in the fifth set, the only man to take a set off Hewitt in his title run. 2003: lost to Roger Federer 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, having been the last player to break Federer's serve at Wimbledon before an 89-game run of holds. 2004: lost to Andy Roddick 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 2000 | Lost in the third round to Mark Philippoussis 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 20-18 after 5 hours 5 minutes, played in one day; the 38-game fifth set stands in the Wimbledon Compendium's list of the longest sets in the gentlemen's singles |
| Fifth-set defeats | Before his breakthrough he lost deciding sets at Wimbledon three years running: 8-6 to Jan-Michael Gambill in 1998, 13-11 to Jim Courier in 1999 and 20-18 to Philippoussis in 2000 |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Men's doubles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | with Paul Haarhuis |
| 2002 | Men's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
| 2003 | Men's singles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | |
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 hope he's thinking about that a little bit, and taking it easy on me. He didn't do that the last three times."
The person behind the player.
's-Hertogenbosch, June 2002
His title at the Ordina Open was the seventh of his career and his first on grass; his previous five titles had all come on hard courts. He went into Wimbledon a week later seeded 18th and reached the quarter-finals.
Source: UPI's-Hertogenbosch, June 2003
In the 2003 final he broke Arnaud Clément in the third and ninth games of the first set and twice more in the second, using his backhand to win 6-3, 6-4. It was his first title of the year, and he arrived at Wimbledon the next day seeded eighth.
Source: Voice of AmericaWimbledon, 2000
His third-round match against Mark Philippoussis lasted 5 hours 5 minutes and ended 20-18 in the fifth set. The Wimbledon Compendium still lists it among the longest gentlemen's singles matches played in a single day.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Rome, May 2004
The weekend before the Italian Open, fire broke out at the Parco dei Principi hotel, killing three guests. Schalken and his wife were trapped on the seventh floor; Andy Roddick, on the floor below, waited on his balcony with outstretched arms and caught them as they jumped. Seven weeks later the two met in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Source: The Spokesman-Review (AP); The StarTemperament
Known on tour for a placid manner, he had an explosive temper as a junior and a young professional, which he said cost him matches. Only in 1999 did he learn to keep it in check on court, though it resurfaced in 2004, when he was defaulted in Miami for abusing the umpire.
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