Building Blockx: #NextGenATP Belgian's childhood spark fueled 'unbelievable passion'
pemlsquo;Does this little guy also want to try a ball?rsquo;/em/p
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That was the question that started it all for a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-blockx/b0pg/overview'Alexander Blockx/a, who began playing tennis at age four. Blockxrsquo;s brother Maxime, three years his senior, was taking tennis lessons and while Alexander was watching courtside, coach a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/philippe-cassiers/c732/overview'Philippe Cassiers/a uttered the phrase that kickstarted the Belgianrsquo;s journey in the sport./p
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To this day, Blockx is coached by Cassiers, a 15-year partnership that has featured great success. Blockx became the junior No. 1 in singles and doubles in 2023, the same year he won the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a boysrsquo; singles event. /p
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Competing mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, the 19-year-old is living out his dream as a professional tennis player, a pinch-me moment for someone whose start in tennis was nearly accidental./p
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ldquo;It wasnrsquo;t planned for me, I was just going with to see [my brother] a bit,rdquo; Blockx recalled to ATPTour.com. ldquo;Eventually when we got there, the coach asked my parents, lsquo;Does this little guy also want to try a ball?rsquo; I said, 'Yes', and I started playing and never stopped.rdquo;/p
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Cassiers, who runs a tennis academy outside of Antwerp, instantly noticed Blockxrsquo;s natural ability./p
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ldquo;There was a little boy sitting on the bench next to mommy and daddy mdash; and that was Alexander,rdquo; Cassiers said. ldquo;I asked, lsquo;Do you want to try?rsquo; He stood up and was like, lsquo;Letrsquo;s do itrsquo;. We threw him a couple balls and you could tell he was really motivated, ready to play right away. He wasnrsquo;t scared. He was ready to go for it and it was really fun. I talked to his parents, lsquo;Maybe we should try training for the little one as wellrsquo;. We have been working ever since.rdquo;/p
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Blockx is not the first professional athlete in his family. His father Oleg was a track athlete, excelling in hurdle races while Blockxrsquo;s mother Natalia was a professional swimmer. /p
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The #NextGenATP teen has never played any sport besides tennis. As a child, he was too busy dominating tennis tournaments, even above his age group./p
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ldquo;You have big dreams, but when I realised I was good at the sport was when I was playing with guys older than me, two or three years older than me. Because against my age and a year older, I barely lost a game every time we played until the age of 14,rdquo; said Blockx, who is 24th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah./p
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ldquo;First, I played the Belgian tournaments. I was winning almost everything and then my coach said, lsquo;Okay, now we are going to play a higher age group'. I started winning everything so we started playing international to see how that goes. In under 12s, I played 45 matches and won 42 I think. So then we were like, lsquo;Okay, therersquo;s real potential'. At the age of 12, I realised I want to go all in and it might actually work out.rdquo;/p
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Currently No. 264 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Blockx has gained more attention since the start of 2023, when he became Belgiumrsquo;s third junior Slam champion and first at Melbourne Park. a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jacques-brichant/bn76/overview'Jacques Brichant/a (1947) and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/kimmer-coppejans/cg33/overview'Kimmer Coppejans/a (2012) triumphed at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a./p
pimg src="/-/media/images/news/2024/09/18/22/19/blockx-australian-open-2023-junior-champion.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-blockx/b0pg/overview'Alexander Blockx/a wins the 2023 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a junior title." /br /
emsupa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-blockx/b0pg/overview'Alexander Blockx/a wins the 2023 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a junior title. Credit: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Imagesbr /
/sup/emldquo;It was amazing. Also because of the way I won it, 11/9 third-set tie-breaker [in the final],rdquo; Blockx said. ldquo;The whole week I played some good players: [Joao] Fonseca, against Learner [Tien] in the final.rdquo;/p
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Blockx this year has made three semi-final appearances on the ATP Challenger Tour, with two of those runs coming prior to a two-month injury layoff in the middle of the season. Blockx was playing his second match in what was supposed to be a five-week Asian swing in April when he tore a ligament in his right ankle, sidelining him until mid-July./p
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Now back at full health, Blockx showed flashes of his best level last week when he made his Davis Cup debut, which he labelled as, ldquo;one of the best experiences of my life so far on a tennis courtrdquo;. Blockx represented his home country against Italy and pushed former World No. 6 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matteo-berrettini/bk40/overview'Matteo Berrettini/a to three sets./p
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One key element in Blockxrsquo;s breakthrough, according to Cassiers, has been his chargersquo;s genuine love for the sport. /p
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ldquo;He has a passion for tennis that is really unbelievable,rdquo; Cassiers said. ldquo;It's becoming more of an obsession at the moment. Hersquo;s really, really into the game. I see many players during the last years, and Irsquo;ve never seen a player this passionate and obsessed with the game and [with] the will to improve./p
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ldquo;Off the court, hersquo;s following websites, Challenger TV, YouTube and all these things. You can ask him very hard questions, lsquo;In 2020, who played the quarter-finals of Madrid?rsquo; Or whatever, he is going to be able to give you an answer with the scores. Off the court, hersquo;s still busy with tennis things.rdquo;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p