Former ATP No. 38, Andrew Ilie, renowned for his incredible shot-making abilities, intensity as a competitor, and in general bringing exuberance wherever he played, has joined the HKTA coaching team as a Consultant/Coach effective April 10, 2007. Initially, he will be working with the NTS players, as well as other coaches under the Elite Committee to improve and upgrade our current programmes. Andrew Ilie has had an illustrious career having beaten amongst other big names, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Marat Safin.
[Andrew Ilie – Fact File]
Although Andrew Ilie was born in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, the soon-to-be Australian showman actually played all his junior tennis Down Under. As a matter of fact, he came through the Victorian junior tennis ranks playing alongside mostly Mark Philippoussis, not to mention having owned Flip's number for quite some time in those Halcyon days.
He had his breakthrough year in 1994 when he reached the boys' singles final of the Australian Open Junior Championships. Ilie then won the G1 Canadian Open Jr Championships, followed by a quarterfinal appearance at US Open Juniors. He finished the season as the world's No.8-ranked junior. He then turned professional that very same year.
Nevertheless, Ilie had already won his first pro circuit title when he triumphed at the Australia 3 Satellite in 1993, having defeated James Greenhalgh of New Zealand in the final, 6-3, 6-3.
At Roland Garros 1995, his first ever clay court event, he endured three rounds of qualifying before registering back-to-back five-set victories over Christiano Caratti and No. 15 seed Richard Krajicek before losing to Younes El Aynaoui. That same year, he won his first Challenger title in Lillehammer (d. Ruud) and added another in Perth (d. Geserer).
He captured the first ATP Tour title of his career when he won the 1998 Coral Springs as a qualifier, defeating top-seeded Jason Stoltenberg in the first round and then No. 8 David Sanguinetti in the final. He finished that year inside the Top-100 for the first time, a jump of over 400 places from the previous year.
The following season, Ilie reached the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time (lost to Nicolas Lapentti) and then reaching the semis in Dubai the following week, beating Alex Corretja, Petr Korda, and Gustavo Kuerten in the first three rounds. Later that summer, he was to reach the third round at Roland Garros, and the second round of Wimbledon.
In Y2K, Ilie won his second career ATP Tour title in Atlanta when as the eighth seed, he defeated No. 2 Michael Chang in the semis, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, before accounting for seventh-seeded Jason Stoltenberg in the final, 6-3, 7-5.
In 2001, he reached the last sixteen again at Melbourne Park, this time beating Peter Wessels in the first round, Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second over five sets, Mikhail Youzhny in the third, and then won the opening set in the ensuing round against eventual champion, Andre Agassi, before falling in four sets, 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.
Even the man from Vegas was left shaking his head in disbelieve after getting out-dueled from the baseline by the Australian showman. That first set was simply defined by exquisite shot-making and non-stop action from side to side.
Ilie finished 2001 with his final three events all being played in Asia. During that year's Salem Open in Hong Kong, he defeated Gouichi Motomura in the first round, Michael Chang in the second, and Magnus Larsson in the quarters before getting appended by eventual winner, Marcelos Rios, in the semis, 6-4, 6-2. For the fourth year running, he finished the season ranked in the world's Top-100.
Ilie played his first and only Davis Cup tie for Australia in an away match against the Argentines in 2002 but fell to Gaston Gaudio in straight sets in the presence an extremely hostile home crowd in Buenos Aires. Scott Draper (brother of John Hui's former touring coach, Mark Draper) was the other starting singles player, as he too fell, albeit in five sets, on opening day. Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs also went down in five sets in the doubles, as Argentina eventually ran away with this contest, 5-0.
Soon after, however, a persistent hip problem started to be a nuisance again, which forced him to take time off the tour, with a protected ATP Ranking and all, in an attempt to right the state of affairs. The healing process was gradually coming around and he began playing Futures and Challengers events in a bid to rejoin the upper echelons of pro tennis. But the daily physical grind on tour is a formidable adversary in its own right, when the injury again reared its ugly head to become big enough a hindrance both physically and mentally to force Ilie to retire from competitive tennis several years ago.
As the ATP Tour lost one of its most flamboyant and talented tennis professionals, it is now the HKTA, and tennis in Hong Kong in general, who will benefit the most. For former world No. 38 Andrew Ilie has now joined the HKTA coaching team as a Consultant/Coach effective April 10, 2007.
He will initially be working with the NTS players, as well as other coaches under the Elite Committee to improve and upgrade our current programmes. Andrew has had an illustrious career having beaten amongst other big names, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Marat Safin. He also won 2 ATP singles title and has twice reached the Round of 16 at the Australian Open.
Equally happy and skillful on any surface, Andrew's vast experience will be a great asset to our young players especially when preparing for International events. Since he left the tour, he has been traveling with several promising juniors and is very excited about coming to work with some of our top junior players under the HKTA.
Check back for more updates on Andrew Ilie and other tennis programmes he will have a hand in under the Hong Kong Tennis Association.