Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɪrstə(ɱ) ˈflɪpkə(n)s]; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian former professional tennis player[1] and current coach.

[8] At the age of 17, after winning Wimbledon and the US Open as a junior, she dropped out of school to continue her career as a professional tennis player.

[11] In 2002, Flipkens and Elke Clijsters won the US Open girls' doubles title, beating Shadisha Robsinon and Tory Zawacki in the final with 6–1, 6–3.

The following year, Flipkens made her debut at the WTA Tour, at the Diamonds Games in Antwerp, but finished her participation at the beginning of the tournament.

After a first-round loss at the Gaz de France Stars in September, Flipkens stated that she struggled with a congenital back injury during the second half of 2004.

At the French Open, she recorded her first Grand Slam match win, defeating qualifier Virginie Pichet, but lost in the next round to Flavia Pennetta.

Flipkens played at the Australian Open, where she recorded her first win there, defeating Rossana de los Ríos, before she was knocked out the tournament by top seed Jelena Janković.

[27] Flipkens struggled at the beginning of 2011, starting with a first-round loss at the Australian Open and did not win one singles match on the WTA Tour in main draws until May.

[30] She returned to the WTA Tour at the Rosmalen Championships, where she beat Samantha Stosur in the first round and later reached semifinals, before she lost to Nadia Petrova.

[34] In September 2012, she won the Tournoi de Québec that also was her first WTA title,[35] after wins over top-seeded Dominika Cibulková, Mona Barthel and Lucie Hradecká, among others.

[40] Flipkens started her 2013 season really well, reaching quarterfinal at the ASB Classic, where she lost from her compatriot Yanina Wickmayer.

Next week, at the Hobart International, she defeated Francesca Schiavone in the first round and continued with wins over Bojana Jovanovski and Monica Niculescu, before falling to Mona Barthel in the semifinals.

[46] A week later, at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, Flipkens advanced to the final but was ultimately beaten by Simona Halep.

She exceeded expectations by advancing to the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career, beating Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round and former champion Petra Kvitová with in the quarterfinals.

However, she was beaten in straight sets in the first round by two-time champion Venus Williams, who took revenge for her loss against Flipkens two weeks earlier in Toronto.

Flipkens withdrew from the second round in doubles, with Dominika Cibulková, after she had fainted on court during training and doctors at the site had sent her to the hospital where she would spend the night on intensive care since heart problems were feared.

As a wildcard in the tournament of Connecticut Open in New Haven, she made it into the quarterfinal after an epic match against Andrea Petkovic but was eventually beaten by Samantha Stosur.

At the end of the season, she took part in the first edition of the International Premier Tennis League, where she played for the Manila Mavericks and was teammate with – amongst others – Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In this two-and-a-half-week during event, Flipkens mainly excelled as a mixed-doubles player, alongside multiple champion Daniel Nestor.

At the following tournament, the Monterrey Open, she advanced to the final beating Francesca Schiavone, Alison Van Uytvanck, Johanna Konta and Anett Kontaveit.

[71] During the clay-court season Flipkens was plagued by a wrist injury, and only managed to win a single match, against Donna Vekić at the İstanbul Cup.

In singles, she stunned the gold medalist from Sydney 2000, and three times doubles champion, Venus Williams, in the first round, defeating her in an epic match with 4–6, 6–3, 7–6.

[82] By the end of the year, she marked her first doubles title at the Korea Open; partnering with Swedish player Johanna Larsson, she defeated Akiko Omae and Peangtarn Plipuech in the final.

Flipkens was also nominated at the WTA Awards in the category of Shot of the Year for a spectacular behind-the-back winner she scored against Kristýna Plíšková in Seoul.

After a disappointing second-round loss at the Australian Open, she made the final of the Nuremberg Cup, partnered with Johanna Larsson, losing a tense match against Melichar and Smith.

Things get even better during the grass-court season, when Flipkens won her second career-doubles title, winning the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships alongside Cibulková.

[96] In September 2006, she replaced the injured Kim Clijsters as the second member of the Belgian Fed Cup team in the final against Italy, alongside Justine Henin-Hardenne.

[97] During the 2015 Fed Cup, she and her teammates failed to bring Belgium back to the World Group II after the team lost their final tie against Croatia.

[98] In 2016, Flipkens was part of the Belgian Fed Cup team against Serbia as the two nations were competing for a spot in World Group II.

She lost the first one against Aleksandra Krunić, but beat the 18-year-old Ivana Jorović in the decider, and with this victory ensured Belgium of a place back into World Group II after three consecutive years in the Europe-Africa Zone I.