Roman Rishatovich Safiullin (born 7 August 1997) is a Russian professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. Safiullin has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 36 achieved on 8 January 2024, and in doubles of world No. 151 achieved on 19 August 2024.

Personal life

Safiullin was born in

Podolsk Podolsk ( rus, Подольск, p=pɐˈdolʲsk) is an industrial city, center of Podolsk Urban Okrug, Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Pakhra River (a tributary of the Moskva River). Population: History The first mentions of the vill ...

, Russia, to a

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

father Rishat Safiullin and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

mother.

Juniors

On the junior tour, Safiullin has a career high combined ranking of No. 2 achieved on 26 May 2014. He is a junior

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

champion, having won the

2015 Australian Open The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Stan Wawrinka was the de ...

over Hong Seong-chan. His biggest junior title, after his Australian Open title, is the Grade A Trofeo Bonfiglio where he beat

Andrey Rublev Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in September 2021 ...

in the final.

Career

2020: First Challenger titles in singles and doubles , top 200 debut

Safiullin claimed his first Challenger tour titles in singles and doubles with Pavel Kotov in

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

, France in February 2020.

2021: Grand Slam debut

He made his Grand Slam debut at the

2021 Australian Open The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It w ...

after qualifying and reached the second round by defeating

Ilya Ivashka Ilya Uladzimiravich Ivashka (; ; born 24 February 1994) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Ivashka has a career-high singles ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) of No. 40, achieved on 20 June 2022. He also has a car ...

. He also qualified for the

2021 French Open The 2021 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major level tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 30 May to 13 June 2021, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles pla ...

reaching also the second round with a win over

Carlos Taberner Carlos Taberner Segarra (; born 8 August 1997) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 85 achieved on 23 May 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 337 achieved on ...

. As a result, he reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 156 on 14 June 2021.

2022: ATP Cup & semifinals, first ATP semifinal & top 10 win, top 100

On his debut, he reached the semifinals at the 2022 ATP Cup after winning 2 singles and 3 doubles matches with teammate

Daniil Medvedev Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev ( rus, Даниил Сергеевич Медведев, p=dənʲɪˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ...

. As a result, he moved 21 positions up in the rankings to a new career-high in the top 150 in singles of World No. 146 on 10 January 2022. At the

2022 Australian Open The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...

, he qualified as lucky loser after the withdrawal of

Casper Ruud Casper Ruud (; born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in September 2022, making him t ...

where he lost to

Alex Molčan Alex Molčan (born 1 December 1997) is a Slovak professional tennis player. Molčan has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 38 achieved on 23 May 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 268 achieved on 14 June 2021 ...

. Safiullin qualified for

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

after beating

Ernests Gulbis Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 10, making him the only male Latvian tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, a feat achieved in June 20 ...

and

Julian Lenz Julian Lenz (born 17 February 1993 in Giessen) is a German tennis player. He has an ATP career high singles ranking of world No. 227, achieved in January 2020. In doubles, he reached his career-high ranking of No. 162 in June 2021. Career Lenz ...

. After qualifying, he beat 7th seed

Alexei Popyrin Alexei Popyrin (born 5 August 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 21 achieved on 9 June 2025. He also has a career-high ATP doubles rankin ...

and fellow qualifier

Tomáš Macháč Tomáš Macháč (; born 13 October 2000) is a Czech professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 20 on 3 March 2025 and doubles ranking of No. 46 on 30 September 20 ...

to reach his first ATP Tour-level quarterfinal. There, he claimed his first top-10 win by beating top seed

Stefanos Tsitsipas Stefanos Tsitsipas (, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved in August 2021 – mak ...

in straight sets, for the best win in his career, to reach his first semifinal on the ATP Tour. He lost to

Félix Auger-Aliassime Felix Auger-Aliassime (; born August 8, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of No. 6, which he achieved on November 7, 2022, making him the second-highest-ranked Canadian man in ATP rankings histor ...

in straight sets with two tiebreaks. In July, he won his second Challenger title in Nur Sultan. As a result, he reached a new career-high ranking in the top 120 at world No. 119. He then won a third Challenger title in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, propelling him 25 positions up to a top 100 debut at world No. 97 on 15 August 2022. In September, Safiullin reached the second semifinal of the season in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, where he lost in straight sets to top seed

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

. As a result, he reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 92 on 3 October 2022.

2023-2024: Major quarterfinal, ATP final & top 5 win, top 40, Masters fourth round

He reached a new career-high ranking of No. 82 on 6 February 2023 after he clinched his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year at the 2023 Koblenz Open. He won four three-set matches before defeating

Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; , ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 Wimbledon Champi ...

in the final. He made his Masters 1000 debut at the 2023 BNP Paribas Open but lost to

. He qualified for his second Masters at the 2023 Miami Open but also lost in the first round to

Grégoire Barrère Grégoire Barrère (; born 16 February 1994) is a French former professional tennis player. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of No. 49, which was achieved on 3 July 2023. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 161 achieved ...

. On clay, he qualified for his third Masters at the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open and on his debut at this tournament, reached the third round for the first time in his career at a Masters level defeating

Nicolás Jarry Nicolás Jarry Fillol (; born 10 October 1995) is a Chilean professional tennis player. He achieved his highest Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world 16 in May 2024 and is the current No. 3 player from Chile. His hi ...

and upsetting 14th seed Tommy Paul. He qualified for his next Masters 1000 at the Italian Open and also on his debut reached the third round, defeating two Americans,

Marcos Giron Marcos Andres Giron ( ; born July 24, 1993; ) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 37 achieved on August 5, 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 194 achieved on August 1, 2022. Giron won the s ...

and upsetting 22nd seed

Sebastian Korda Sebastian Korda ( ; born July 5, 2000) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 15 achieved on August 12, 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 46 reached o ...

before losing to Australian

. At the

2023 Wimbledon Championships The 2023 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), major tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Tournament The tournament was played on grass courts, wi ...

he defeated 20th seed

Roberto Bautista Agut Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...

Corentin Moutet Corentin Moutet (; born 19 April 1999) is a French professional tennis player. Moutet has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 51, attained on 7 November 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 425, attained on ...

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and 26th seed

Denis Shapovalov Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov (born ) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, which he first achieved on September 21, 2020. Sh ...

to reach the quarterfinals of a Major for the first time. He became just the 12th man to reach the quarterfinals on his Wimbledon main draw debut. As a result, he moved into the top 50 rising close to 50 positions up in the rankings. In the quarterfinal match, eighth seed

Jannik Sinner Jannik Sinner (born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the ATP, the first Italian to reach the top ranking. Sinner has won 19 singles titles on the ATP Tour ...

proved too strong. At the 2023 Chengdu Open he reached the semifinals defeating

Brandon Nakashima Brandon Nakashima (born August 3, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 29 in singles by the ATP, which he achieved on 5 May 2025. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 240 on 10 Jun ...

, fourth seed Dan Evans and Jordan Thompson by retirement. He defeated second seed

Lorenzo Musetti Lorenzo Musetti (; born 3 March 2002) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP rankings, ATP singles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 9 June 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 142, achieved on 1 April 2024. Musetti has ...

to reach his first final at ATP tour level. He lost to top seed

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in three sets. At the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters he reached the third round upsetting this time ninth seed Alexander Zverev, his second career top-10 win. At the next Masters in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he qualified on his debut at this tournament, he upset world No. 2

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in the second round in straight sets for the biggest win in his career. He improved to 3-6 against the Top 10 with this win. As a result he reached the top 40 in the rankings on 6 November 2023. At the

2024 Rolex Shanghai Masters The 2024 Rolex Shanghai Masters is a tennis tournament to be played on outdoor hard courts. It is the 13th edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP Masters 1000 event on the 2024 ATP Tour. It takes place at Qizhong Forest S ...

, Safiullin went one step further and reached the fourth round for the first time at the 1000-level, with upsets over 23rd seed

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and 13th seed

Frances Tiafoe Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. He reached his career high at world No. 10 in singles on June 19, 2023, becoming the first Sierra Leonean American man to be ranked in the top 10 by the ...

Performance timeline

Current as of '' 2025 French Open''.

ATP Tour finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 6 (6 titles)

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 25 (19 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Doubles: 10 (3 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Record against other players

Wins over top 10 players

*He has a record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10. :*'

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Awards

* The Russian Cup in the nominations: ** Team of the Year — Boys Under-16: 2013. **Junior of the Year: 2015.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Safiullin, Roman 1997 births Living people Russian male tennis players Olympic tennis players as Individual Neutral Athletes Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Russia Summer World University Games medalists in tennis Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Sportspeople from Podolsk Tennis players from Moscow Oblast Tatar people of Russia Tatar sportspeople 21st-century Russian sportsmen