Challenger

How Collignon's father, a brain surgeon, has inspired him

Raphael Collignon’s father, Frederic, stays calm while performing delicate brain surgeries, but put a tennis racquet in his hand, and the nerves take over.

Collignon, 23, can’t help but laugh at the irony, his father thrives under surgical pressure but unravels in a casual tennis match while ‘Raph’ competes professionally, with prize money and PIF ATP Ranking points on the line.

“Sometimes I have difficulties with the stress during the matches and I ask him, ‘Dad, you are [working] in the head sometimes, and if you do a bad move, you can kill the person. How do you feel when you are in an operation?’

“He told me, ‘It’s almost 25, 30 years since I've been doing that. I’m a machine’. But when he plays tennis matches, he’s like [shaking],” Collignon told ATPTour.com, lifting his hands to mimic the nervous tremor. “It’s so funny because when I saw him play, he’s like stressing, not hitting the ball, doing slice and then the next day he is in the head and he has no fear.”

Joking aside, Collignon admires his father’s dedication to the high-stakes profession. Witnessing his father's work ethic firsthand has driven the Belgian to overcome challenges in his on-court journey.

“He is an inspiration for me because since I was a kid, I saw him work so much. I try to be like him in tennis, work hard, be humble and do the best I can on court. It’s a very complicated job as a neurosurgeon,” Collignon said.

“I think I’m a great fighter on the court and I think that is because I always saw my dad working so hard since I was a kid.”

Born in Rochester, Minnesota, ‘Raph’ was just a year old when his family relocated to Belgium after spending a brief stint — “one or two years” — in the northern United States while Frederic worked at the Mayo Clinic.

Collignon started tennis at age four and again, his father played an important role. ‘Raph’ practised against the wall while Frederic played at the local club.

“My dad saw me one time hitting against the wall and he said, ‘Oh, he never played and he can hit two, three balls!’” Collignon said. “So he told me, ‘Yeah, I thought you were very good. For a young kid, you can hit’.”

Around age seven, Collignon began training with the Belgian Tennis Federation, under whose supervision he still remains and specifically, his coach Steve Darcis, former World No. 38. Darcis retired from his playing career in 2020 and began working with Collignon that same year.

“He took me when I had zero ATP points, finishing juniors. Four and a half years later, we are Top 100, so it’s a great journey for us,” Collignon said. “He’s always trying to take out the best for me.”

A prime example of Collignon getting the most out of his game was in late February, when he cracked the Top 100 after winning the Pau Challenger. But just before that run, Collignon was still searching for his first win of the season (0-4).

Now at his best form again, Collignon has won nine of his past 10 matches. He finished runner-up to Borna Coric in Lugano just a week after lifting the Pau trophy.

“I think I had to have the one win and then I was relieved a bit, and my game was going well after,” said Collignon, who is now at a career-high No. 92 in the PIF ATP Rankings — a vast improvement on where he was just 11 months ago, as low as World No. 583.

^{Raphael Collignon is crowned champion at the Pau Challenger. Credit: Alexis Atteret}

Collignon acknowledges that high expectations may have contributed to the challenging start to 2025. He was poised to build upon his momentum from the year prior, when he won two Challenger titles and was a finalist at an additional two. Collignon competed in a whopping 94 matches across all levels in 2024.

Competing week in and week out last year was a welcome sight for Collignon after being sidelined for six months in the second half of 2023. During his first Grand Slam qualifying experience, at Roland Garros, Collignon felt pain in his left arm. He tried to recover as much as possible for his Wimbledon qualifying debut, but the pain was persistent.

Despite left arm pain, Collignon won a qualifying match at the grass-court major, relying solely on slice for his backhand. At the time, Collignon’s countryman Zizou Bergs was using the same tactic, due to a torn ligament in his left wrist.

When Collignon returned home from Wimbledon, he underwent exams that revealed he had an ulnar stress fracture, located in the forearm on the pinky finger side.

“It was strange, because it’s not common as a righty to have a stress fracture in the left arm, super rare,” Collignon said. “I think maybe it appeared when I played my first Grand Slams, maybe a period of a lot of pressure and stress, and the mental part played a part in the injury.”

He was initially sidelined for three months, but continued practising every shot except backhands. Upon aiming to come back at full strength, Collignon suffered another stress structure, this time in his foot, forcing him out for another three months.

Now fully healthy, at the aforementioned career high, and with his sights set on even greater achievements, Collignon is ready to take his game to the next level.

Just leave the operating room to dad, and let ‘Raph’ take care of the on-court business.

“I think I can improve for sure. When you are a kid, you want to be Top 100, but now I want more,” Collignon said. “It’s very exciting for the rest of the season to try to play better tournaments.”