Alex Kuznetsov (born February 5, 1987) is a retired American professional tennis player. He is a former hitting partner of

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2 ...

Personal life

Kuznetsov was born in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

. His family moved to the United States when he was 3 years old, settling just outside

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He resides in Tampa, Florida, where he trains at Saddlebrook Resort Club. He trains with

John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...

and

Tim Smyczek Timothy Smyczek ( ; ; born December 30, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He made three quarterfinals on the main tour as well as the semi-finals of Newport in 2018. Additionally he won seven Challenger titles. He achieved ...

. He is married and enjoys playing golf in his spare time. Kuznetsov is not related to Russian tennis players Svetlana Kuznetsova or Andrey Kuznetsov.

Tennis career

Juniors

Kuznetsov was coached by Jason Katzer during his youth. As a junior Kuznetsov compiled a singles win–loss record of 67–27 (50-21 in doubles), reaching a combined junior world ranking of No. 4 in July 2004. Junior Slam results – Singles: Australian Open: -
French Open: F (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

)
Wimbledon: 2R (

)
US Open: 3R (

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

) Nike offered Alex a 1 million dollar sponsorship contract as soon as he turned pro which he accepted. He was involved in a serious car accident soon after. Projected to take a full year to recover from breaking his femur due to his car accident, he returned to tennis just 6 months later after having a titanium rod inserted into his right thigh.

2006

In July 2006 Alex played in the Comerica Challenger in Aptos, defeating Go Soeda for the 2006 singles title. At the 2006 US Open, he lost to 14th seed

Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in M ...

. 2006 also saw Kuznetsov appear in the video game Top Spin 2 as an up-and-coming star.

2007

Kuznetsov reached the second round of the

2007 Australian Open The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007. The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competit ...

, defeating Australian Peter Luczak before losing to fellow American James Blake, 6–4, 6–1, 6–2. Kuznetsov gave Blake an early scare by breaking Blake's first two service games. In April 2007, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 158. In the 2007 US Open he played doubles with American Jesse Levine. They won their first round match over Dominik Hrbatý of Slovakia and Harel Levy of Israel, 6–1, 6–4, and their second round match, upsetting 7th-seeded Frenchmen Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–6(5), 6–4, before losing in the third round to 9th-seeded Czechs

Lukáš Dlouhý Lukáš Dlouhý (born 9 April 1983) is a retired professional Czech tennis player on the ATP Tour. A doubles specialist, Dlouhý reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5 in June 2009. Career Dlouhý has been part of two long-term doubles ...

and Pavel Vízner, 6–4, 7–5. In December, Kuznetsov, Levine, and Wayne Odesnik were invited by the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

to play off in a round-robin for the wild-card berth in the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

. Levine won the wild card.

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through 2015 Australian Open.''

Doubles

''Current till US Open.''

References

External links

* *
The official website of Alex Kuznetsov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuznetsov, Alex 1987 births Living people American male tennis players Ukrainian emigrants to the United States People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Tennis people from Pennsylvania