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Els CallensProfessional tennis player
Date of Birth: 20.08.1970
Country:  Belgium |
Content:
Professional Tennis Career
Els Callens is a former Belgian professional tennis player who began her career in 1990. She entered the WTA top 100 rankings in June 1995 and reached a career-high singles ranking of 49 in 1996. Callens won eight ITF tournaments in the first five years of her professional career. In 1996, she reached her only WTA singles final and won her first doubles title (ASB Classic in Auckland with Julie Halard-Decugis).
Grand Slam Success
Callens achieved her best Grand Slam results in mixed doubles, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and US Open in 2002 with South African Robbie Koenig. In women's doubles, she reached the semifinals of the US Open in 2000 with Dominique van Roost, where they lost to eventual champions Venus and Serena Williams.
Olympic Bronze
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Callens and van Roost won the bronze medal in women's doubles, defeating Barabanschikova and Zvereva of Belarus in the bronze medal match. They had lost in the semifinals to Williams sisters.
Fed Cup Victory
In 2001, Callens was part of the victorious Belgian Fed Cup team that defeated Russia in the final. Although she and Laurence Courtois lost the doubles match to Elena Likhovtseva and Nadia Petrova, Belgium won the overall title 2-1.
Retirement and Commentary
Callens retired from professional tennis in 2005 after a second-round loss at the Gaz de France Stars tournament in Hasselt. She currently works as a sports commentator and pundit for Belgian radio and television. In 2011, she returned to competitive tennis briefly to play in ITF women's circuit tournaments in doubles.
