Background and career
Gilles Simon (French pronunciation: [ʒil si.mɔ̃]; born 27 December 1984) is a French former tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and won fourteen singles titles on the ATP Tour, and attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 6, on 5 January 2009.
Gilles Simon was born in Nice but grew up in Fontenay-sous-Bois, outside Paris. His nickname is "Gilou". His mother is a doctor. His father works for an insurance company. Gilles has a brother. Supported by his parents, he started playing tennis at the age of six. Owing to a growth delay that runs in the family, he was shorter than most children of his age during his early teenage years. This is the reason he cites Michael Chang as a major influence, as his comparatively small frame proved that size was not the only factor in playing tennis. Simon and his wife have two sons, born in 2010 and 2013.
Simon began his professional tennis career in the summer of 2002, competing at multiple Futures tournaments in France before playing in tournaments outside the country of his birth. His first Futures title came in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2003, and he reached the quarterfinals of three other tournaments. He then captured his second title in Jamaica in September. During 2004, he saw three wins in France and another in Algeria. Simon made his ATP Tour debut in Metz, France in October 2004 as a 19-year-old. In January 2005, he won his first ATP Challenger hardcourt tournament in Nouméa, New Caledonia, and defended it the following year. Ranked as world No. 113, Simon made his Grand Slam debut at the 2005 French Open, losing in the first round to Olivier Patience in four sets.
Simon competed at the Australian Open, where he beat Nicolás Massú and Tomáš Berdych, before being defeated by No. 13 Thomas Johansson in the third round. After this result, he broke into the top 100 for the first time, climbing to No. 89. The Frenchman reached his first ATP Tour final in Valencia with wins over Andreas Seppi in the quarterfinal and Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal, but lost to Nicolás Almagro. He also made it to the semifinals in Casablanca, as well as the round of 16 in both the ATP Masters Series tournaments in Monte Carlo and Hamburg. At the end of the year Simon was ranked 45th in the world.
At the beginning of the year, Simon won his first ATP title at the Open 13 in, Marseille, France. En route to the final, Simon beat Lleyton Hewitt, Jonas Björkman, and Robin Söderling. In the final, Simon defeated Marcus Baghdatis. In September, he won his second title of the year and of his career at the Romania Open in Bucharest. He defeated Victor Hănescu in the final. He broke into the top 30 for the first time on 5 November, and finished the year as No. 29 in the world. By the end of the year, his career record against top-10 players was 4–5.
Simon reached the quarterfinals in Marseille, defeating world No. 3, Novak Djokovic, in the second round. He reached the semifinals in Rotterdam the next week. In May, he entered Casablanca as a qualifier due to his late entry to the tournament, even though his ranking was high enough to be seeded. Simon went on to win the tournament, defeating Julien Benneteau in the final. After his third-round loss to fellow French Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon, Simon left Europe for the United States to familiarize himself with the hardcourts before the US Open Series. He won the Indianapolis Tennis Championships and hit a career-best No. 25.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
