Andrew Ilie (born 18 April 1976) is a former tennis player. Ilie fled Romania at age 10 with his family, spending a year at a refugee camp in Austria before emigrating to Australia.[1] He turned professional in 1994 and became a citizen of Australia. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.[2] He won two ATP Tour singles titles (Coral Springs in 1998 and Atlanta in 2000), as well as five Challenger Series tournaments. Ilie reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 38 on 29 May 2000.

Andrew Ilie
Country (sports) Australia
ResidenceMelbourne, Australia
Born (1976-04-18) 18 April 1976 (age 48)
Bucharest, SR Romania
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1994
Retired2003
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,327,838
Singles
Career record89–116
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 38 (29 May 2000)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open4R (1999, 2001)
French Open3R (1995, 1998, 1999)
Wimbledon2R (1999)
US Open2R (2001)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (2000)
Doubles
Career record3–13
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 296 (12 June 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (1995, 2000, 2001)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open1R (2000, 2001)
Last updated on: 19 October 2021.

Career

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Juniors

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He reached the finals of the Australian Open Jrs in 1994.[citation needed]

Pro Tour

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Ilie never progressed past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament, but was a fan-favorite, especially in Australia. Described in 2001 by tennis writer Jon Wertheim as "an emerging cult hero", Ilie developed an avid following whenever he played at the Australian Open in Melbourne.[3] He became well known for adventurous and occasionally outrageous shots, and by ripping his shirt in glee whenever he won a particularly important or hard-fought match.[4] The latter ritual began at the French Open in 1999, as Ilie celebrated his first-round victory in five sets over Jonas Bjorkman, and then repeated the gesture after his second-round victory, also in five sets, over Martin Rodriguez.[5]

The last years of Ilie's career were marred by persistent injuries, including chronic osteitis pubis, which hampered his play. Ilie retired in November 2004.[6] Following retirement, Ilie married and settled in Hong Kong.[4]

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1994 Australian Open Hard   Ben Ellwood 7–5, 3–6, 3–6


ATP career finals

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Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (2–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–1)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 May 1998 Coral Springs, United States World Series Clay   Davide Sanguinetti 7–5, 6–4
Win 2–0 Apr 2000 Atlanta, United States International Series Clay   Jason Stoltenberg 6–3, 7–5
Loss 2–1 May 2000 St. Polten, Austria International Series Clay   Andrei Pavel 5–7, 6–3, 2–6


ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 8 (6–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (5–2)
ITF Futures (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (4–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)


Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1995 Lillehammer, Norway Challenger Clay   Christian Ruud 6–3, 6–2
Win 2–0 Dec 1995 Perth, Australia Challenger Hard   Michael Geserer 7–6, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Jun 1998 Prostejov, Czech Republic Challenger Clay   Richard Fromberg 2–6, 2–6
Win 3–1 Jun 1998 Biella, Italy Challenger Clay   Jean-Baptiste Perlant 6–7, 6–4, 6–4
Win 4–1 Jul 1998 Ostend, Belgium Challenger Clay   Martin Rodriguez 6–2, 6–2
Loss 4–2 Jul 1999 Ulm, Germany Challenger Clay   Younes El Aynaoui 6–7, 3–6
Win 5–2 Apr 2000 Paget, Bermuda Challenger Clay   Michal Tabara 4–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win 6–2 Feb 2003 USA F4, Brownsville Futures Hard   Doug Bohaboy 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 6–4


Doubles: 2 (0–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (0–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1995 Lillehammer, Norway Challenger Clay   Todd Larkham   Thomas Johansson
  Lars-Anders Wahlgren
6–3, 3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Oct 1999 Tel Aviv, Israel Challenger Hard   Amir Hadad   Noam Behr
  Eyal Ran
3–6, 2–6

Performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 Q1 1R 1R Q1 3R 4R 3R 4R 1R 1R 0 / 8 10–8 56%
French Open A A 3R Q3 A 3R 3R 2R 1R 1R A 0 / 6 7–6 54%
Wimbledon A Q1 A 1R A A 2R 1R 1R A A 0 / 4 1–4 20%
US Open A Q1 A A A 1R 1R 1R 2R A Q1 0 / 4 1–4 20%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 2–2 0–2 0–0 4–3 6–4 3–4 4–4 0–2 0–1 0 / 22 19–22 46%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A Q1 A A A 1R 1R A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Miami A A A Q1 A A 2R Q1 2R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Monte Carlo A A A A A A 1R A 2R A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Hamburg A A A A A A 1R A 3R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Rome A A A A A A 1R A 1R A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Canada A A A A A 1R 2R 2R 1R A A 0 / 4 2–4 33%
Cincinnati A A A A A 1R 1R 1R A A A 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Paris A A A A A Q1 A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 2–6 1–3 4–6 0–0 0–0 0 / 17 7–17 29%

References

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  1. ^ Collins, Bud (24 August 1999), "Ilie has things covered in opener", The Boston Globe: E8
  2. ^ AIS at the Olympics Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Wertheim, L. Jon; Albert Kim; Mark Mravic (28 May 2001), "Passion Play", Sports Illustrated, 94 (22): 30–31
  4. ^ a b "Profiles: Andrew Ilie". Tennis Australia. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2010.
  5. ^ Collins, "Ilie has things covered in opener"
  6. ^ Schlink, Leo (6 November 2004), "Injuries force Ilie to call it quits", Melbourne Herald Sun: 72
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