Dmitri Tursunov

Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. At age 12 he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 20, achieved in October 2006.

Tursunov jokes about his lack of ability and success on clay courts. He was sponsored by Fila and Wilson. He helped the Russian Davis Cup team win the 2006 Davis Cup and reach the finals of the 2007 Davis Cup.

Tennis career

Tursunov began playing tennis in Moscow at the age of five when his father made him play a few hours a day. He came to the United States to train with Vitaly Gorin.

I practiced a few hours a day. My dad realized fairly early that I had a lot of potential. A lot of people criticize him for basically choosing that career for me. He understood that I didn’t have many options to make money and since he really liked tennis, he decided that I was to be a tennis player. It just happened that I was naturally good at it.

Early years

Tursunov played his first match in June 1998 against Chris Groer in a Futures event in Los Angeles and won, but lost in the following round. In 1999, the Russian played in the Futures events in Philippines and United States and was able to reach two semifinals and a quarterfinal. In 2000, he broke a leg in January, which forced him to miss four months of the season. When he came back, he continued playing in Futures events in the United States. He reached his first Futures final in Haines City, Florida, but lost to Australian Jaymon Crabb. He then won his first Futures title the following week, defeating another Australian Peter Luczak. He reached another final in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, losing to Scott Barron and won two more Futures events in Malibu, California over José de Armas and in Scottsdale, Arizona over Stefan Wauters.

In 2001, Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison, then the Dallas Challenger defeating Justin Bower. After these two lower-level tournament successes, Tursunov qualified for his first ATP event in 2001 Kroger St. Jude International and made the quarterfinals, earning his first top-100 win over then world No. 51, Greg Rusedski along the way, before losing to eventual champion Mark Philippoussis. He continued playing on the Challenger circuit, reaching three quarterfinals, but his form suffered after his impact in Memphis because of what doctors believed was a bulging disk in his back. He returned after two months away, and then suffered a stress fracture in his leg. Tursunov was forced to miss six months and did not come back to tennis until June 2002, That year, he won another title on the United States Futures circuit and reached a Challenger semifinal and two quarterfinals.

2003–2005

After making two finals on the ATP Challenger Tour in Aptos losing to Jeff Salzenstein and in the Bronx, New York to Ivo Karlović, Tursunov qualified for his first Grand Slam event at the US Open defeating former world number one and then world No. 14, Gustavo Kuerten, in five sets, earning his first top-20 win before losing in the third round to Xavier Malisse. Continuing on after the US Open, he won two consecutive Challenger titles: in Mandeville, Louisiana over Jan Hernych, and in San Antonio, Texas over Sébastien de Chaunac, and then the semifinals of his next two Challenger tournaments. At the end of 2003, he finished the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time in his career.

Tursunov started the season of 2004 losing in the first rounds of Chennai Open and Australian Open, but won Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Cellular South Cup losing to Mardy Fish. He then played in his first Masters event but lost in the first rounds of Pacific Life Open and NASDAQ-100 Open. He then reached the quarterfinals of U.S. Clay Court Championships losing to eventual champion Tommy Haas. He then lost in the first round in his next three ATP Tour in the Torneo Godó, French Open, and Stella Artois Championships. However, he rebounded in the Wimbledon Championships upsetting 19th seed and compatriot Marat Safin in the first round and eventually fell to ninth seed Carlos Moyá in the third round. At the TD Waterhouse Cup, he was able to reach his first ATP Tour semifinals retiring against Lleyton Hewitt. After the US Open loss to Fabrice Santoro in the second round, Tursunov was forced out of tennis again for seven months with a broken vertebra suffered in a boating accident.

He came back at the 2005 Indian Wells Masters tournament losing to Agustín Calleri. In his next tournaments he reached the second rounds of French Open and Stella Artois Championships, and the first round of Nottingham Open. At Wimbledon, Tursunov achieved his best ever performance in a Grand Slam tournament by making the fourth round. In his second-round match against then world No. 9, Tim Henman, he had to play in a Wimbledon club shirt as two of his shirts were stolen from the locker room before the match. He eventually defeated the local hope in five sets, earning his first top-ten win of his career. He eventually lost in the fourth round to Sébastien Grosjean.

He then reached the second rounds of RCA Championships and Los Angeles Open, the first rounds of Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Pilot Pen Tennis and reached also the second round of his next four tournaments including the US Open. At the Kremlin Cup, he was able to reach the semifinals losing to compatriot Igor Andreev. He then won the Challenger event in Kolding, Denmark defeating Steve Darcis. In his last tournament of the year he reached the third round of BNP Paribas Masters losing to Nikolay Davydenko.

2006–2007

2006 was a successful year for Tursunov as he achieved his highest ever ranking thus far, he began by reaching the quarterfinals of Qatar Open and Medibank International losing to eventual finalists Gaël Monfils and Igor Andreev respectively. He then reached the second round of Australian Open to Tommy Robredo. At the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships he lost in the quarterfinals to Tommy Haas. He then won a Challenger event in Sunrise, Florida defeating Alberto Martín. At the NASDAQ-100 Open he was able to reach the fourth round of a Master Series for the first time losing to world No. 1, Roger Federer.

He then went 1–6 in his next six events only earning a victory over Gastão Elias at the Estoril Open. At the French Open, Tursunov lost to David Nalbandian after having a 2–0 set lead in the third round. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Queen's Club Championships losing to local hero Tim Henman and the first round of Nottingham Open losing to another local hero Andy Murray. He defeated then world No. 4, Ivan Ljubičić, in the third round of Wimbledon coming back from two sets to love, before losing in the next round. After losing his serve in the fifth set to give Nieminen an 8–7 lead, he hit a ball at the chair umpire's chair. He was given a point penalty and later fined £4,000 ($7,500) for "unsportsmanlike conduct". He called the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy, an "idiot" in the news conference he had after the match.

He then reached his first ATP final at the LA Tennis Open losing to Tommy Haas and followed it up with a semifinal performance at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic losing to Andy Murray. He then fell in the third rounds of Rogers Cup and US Open, and the second rounds of Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and BRD Năstase Ţiriac Trophy. He then won his first career title at the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open defeating Tommy Robredo in the semifinals and Tomáš Berdych in the final. He then lost four consecutive matches in the third round of Japan Open Tennis Championships and the first rounds of Kremlin Cup, Madrid Masters and St. Petersburg Open. He then reached the third round of BNP Paribas Masters losing to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko. At the end of the year, he won a Challenger event in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine defeating Benjamin Becker in the final.

On 6 January 2007, Tursunov won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Western Australia, while representing Russia alongside Nadia Petrova. In the final, Tursunov defeated Tommy Robredo in straight sets, after teammate Petrova's victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues. Following this match was a pro set mixed doubles between Russians Tursunov and Nadia Petrova and Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Anabel Medina Garrigues. This match was a clear show of the playful nature of Tursunov and the other players. The match was relaxed since the outcome of the mixed-doubles pro set match did not matter. At one stage, Anabel Medina Garrigues switched with Tursunov so that Tursunov and Robredo were on one side, while Medina Garrigues and Petrova were on the other. The umpire assigned points to Spain regardless.

At the Australian Open, he reached the third round, losing to Tomáš Berdych. He lost in the first round of his next four ATP Tour tournaments. He then fell in the second rounds of Estoril Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia, and the first round of the Hamburg Masters. At the French Open he fell to Fernando Verdasco. During the grass-court season he reached the semifinals of Queen's Club Championships and Nottingham Open to big servers Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović. At Wimbledon, Tursunov was beaten in four sets in the third round by Tommy Haas. Ironically, Haas was unable to go on and play his next game against Roger Federer due to an abdominal injury.

In Indianapolis, Tursunov won his second career title, defeating surprise finalist Frank Dancevic. He then lost three consecutive matches at the Masters event of the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Masters, and the US Open. Tursunov then rebounded by winning his second title of the year at the Thailand Open, dominating Benjamin Becker. He then reached the third round of the Japan Open losing to Feliciano López. He then lost early in Kremlin Cup and Madrid Masters. At the St. Petersburg Open he fell in the quarterfinals to Andy Murray. At the BNP Paribas Masters, he lost to Mardy Fish. As the defending champion, Tursunov lost in the final of the Challenger in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine to Mischa Zverev.

2008–2009

Tursunov played his first tournament of 2008 at the Qatar Open falling to Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Medibank International in Sydney, Australia. He defeated Stan Wawrinka, top seed and No. 8 in the world Richard Gasquet, Sébastien Grosjean, and Fabrice Santoro. In the final, Tursunov defeated Australian Chris Guccione. This was his fourth career title. At the Australian Open, Tursunov beat Xavier Malisse in the first round. However, he then lost his second-round match against Sam Querrey in four sets.

Tursunov lost in the first round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament to Rafael Nadal, but combined with Tomáš Berdych to win the doubles title, defeating Mikhail Youzhny and Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final. This was his second doubles career title. In the Dubai Tennis Championships, he fell to Richard Gasquet. At the Pacific Life Open, he fell to Juan Ignacio Chela. At the Sony Ericsson Open, he defeated Richard Gasquet in their third encounter of the year in the second round, but lost in the fourth round to Tomáš Berdych. In Monte-Carlo, he lost to Igor Andreev. At the Barcelona Open

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