The future of Belgian men's tennis is an 18-year-old butcher's
son who calls himself X-Man and hopes to become the sport's
Dennis Rodman. "I like the Worm," says Xavier Malisse, who has
dyed his hair electric plum, persimmon and avocado, among other
subtle shades. "It's cool how Rodman changes the color of his
hair and gets in players' minds."
Blond ambition A dyed-and-true Rodman fan, Malisse went platinum
in Indianapolis.
(David Walberg)
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In his ATP debut, in Philadelphia in February, Malisse got in the
mind of the world's No. 1 player. Though he was as green as
Belgian endive, X-Man came within two points of beating Sampras
before falling 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. "I guess I got overconfident," says
the world's No. 423.
Growing up in the town of Kortrijk, Malisse worked in his dad's
beenhouwerij, but he did not hone his stroke hacking brisket. "My
father never let me cut meat," he says. "He thought it was too
dangerous. I just prepared the salads."
Last summer, Malisse enrolled at Nick Bollettieri's academy in
Bradenton, Fla., where he hit one day with Marcelo Rios, who
offered this assessment: "I've never seen a forehand that big."
His hair can be equally startling. Malisse, who says he started
tinting it this year "just to do something crazy," played Davis
Cup doubles in a hue he calls super blond. (He and Johan Van
Herck lost to Courier and Todd Martin.) "Next year at Wimbledon,
my hair may be green and purple," he warns. "There are lots of
colors in the supermarket."
Issue date: July 27, 1998
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