Belgian tennis has been particularly strong in the women's game over the past few years. The exploits of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters have promoted the small European nation into a tennis name to be reckoned with.

But what about the Belgian men? Xavier Malisse made the semi-finals at Wimbledon a few years ago only to have his career blighted with injury. The Rochus brothers, Christophe and Olivier, have consistently been playing on the tour for a number of years and even giant Dick Norman has caused his fair share of upsets without setting alight the ATP tour.

But here is a new name in the form of Steve Darcis. At 23, Darcis has been a revelation since winning a tournament in Amershoot, Netherlands in July 2007. As a qualifier, the young Belgian tore his way through the tournament, winning three qualifying matches before defeating a host of talented players including Russian duo Igor Andreev and Mikail Youzhny and French stars Marc Giquel and Gilles Simon in the process, showing his liking for the European hardcourts.

'The Belgian has risen over 400 places in the past year and sits just inside the world's top 50 ranked players at 46'


Darcis had by far his best year in 2007, having been a professional for more than three years. He is something of a late developer, but developing he is. In 2007 Darcis backed up his Amershoot victory by having a consistent year on the challenger and futures circuits, reaching the latter stages in tournaments including Dusseldorf, Aachen and Barnstable before winning in Helsinki in his last tournament of the year.

Darcis had a slow start to 2008, where he only won one match in three tournaments Down Under and lost heavily to Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 in the Australian Open.  After a couple more unsuccessful tournaments in Europe the Belgian headed for America in search of success on the US outdoor hardcourt season.

His first tournament in the States was another disappointment losing to Scott Levine, a player only ranked 173 in the world, but a talent nevertheless. Darcis then headed to Memphis, and successful was soon to follow. After a lucky escape in the first round against the experienced Vince Spadea, Steve defeated Jurgen Melzer of Austria, annihilated Benjamin Becker in the quarter-finals 6-0 6-1 and then took out veteran Swede Jonas Bookman in a three-set semi-final.

In the final the Belgian came up against the in form Robin Soldering, a finalist in Rotterdam one week earlier. Soldering had yet to be broken on serve all week but in the first set this powerful weapon failed on numerous occasions and Darcis was able to punish the Swede's second serve, taking the first set 6-3.

The second set was much closer as both players traded ace after ace before a tight tie-breaker was won by Darcis to claim his second career ATP tour title and show he is much more than a clay court player.

The Belgian has risen over 400 places in the past year and sits just inside the world's top 50 ranked players at 46. With only a handful of points to defend in the first half of 2008, Darcis looks set to continue his rise up the rankings and a top 30 ranking beckons by the end of year.

Who knows how much further he can go. Can Belgium create a male tennis star to stand along side their tennis queen? It's a tall order but at least the country's men are starting to show their potential.