Zachary Svajda ( ; born November 29, 2002) is an American 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. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 102 on 26 August 2024, and he peaked at No. 664 in doubles on 8 August 2022.

Early life and background

A native of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Svajda took up tennis at the age of 2, initially coached by Matt Hanlin. He is of Czech descent. He has a younger brother

Trevor Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish langu ...

who is also a tennis player, who is currently studying at SMU. He earned his first ATP World Tour ranking point at the age of 15, defeating top-seeded João Lucas Reis da Silva of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

6–3, 6–4 at the 2018 Claremont Club Pro Classic as a local main-draw wild card.

Professional career

2019: ATP and Grand Slam debut

On August 11, 2019, Svajda defeated

Govind Nanda Govind Nanda (born February 17, 2001) is an American tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of No. 339 achieved on October 3, 2022, and a career-high doubles ranking of No. 497 achieved on August 8, 2022. Personal life Nanda is of ...

6–7^(3–7), 7–5, 6–3, 6–1 to win the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, 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 devel ...

Boys 18s National Championship. This victory earned the 16-year-old a wildcard into the main draw of the 2019 US Open, making him the youngest player to play in the men's US Open since Donald Young in 2005. There, despite succumbing to full-body cramps in a five-set first round loss to

Paolo Lorenzi Paolo Lorenzi (; born 15 December 1981) is an Italian former professional tennis player and former Italian number 1. He was coached by Claudio Galoppini. At the age of 34 years and seven months, Lorenzi became the oldest first-time champion in AT ...

, he drew attention as a future prospect in American professional tennis for his solid ground strokes and adept net play.

2021: First Major win at the US Open

After defeating Ben Shelton 6–1, 6–4, 6–1 to defend his Boys 18s National Championship title, Svajda was given another wildcard into the US Open. There, ranked world No. 716, he beat world No. 81

Marco Cecchinato Marco Cecchinato (; born 30 September 1992) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 16 reached on 25 February 2019. On 29 April 2018, he won his first ATP World Tour title at the 2018 Hunga ...

to progress to the second round before bowing out against 13th 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 ...

in four tight sets. The latter was an unexpectedly close match between two young players with a differential in ranking of over 700 spots.

2022: Maiden Challenger title

He won his maiden title at the 2022 Tiburon Challenger defeating compatriot Ben Shelton. As a result he climbed to a career-high No. 255 on 10 October 2022.

2023: Three Challenger titles, First ATP 500 win, Top 150 debut

He recorded his first ATP win outside a Major and first at an ATP 500 tournament at the 2023 Citi Open in Washington over

Max Purcell Max Purcell (born 3 April 1998) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 40 on 16 October 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 8 on 9 September 2024. In doubles, he won his first Gran ...

as a qualifier. In August, Svajda entered the main draw of the US Open also as a qualifier. He won the 2023 Cary Challenger II. Two weeks later, he also won the 2023 Tiburon Challenger, making him the first player to win the tournament twice.

2024: Top 105 debut

He entered the main draw at the 2024 Dallas Open as a direct entry. He also qualified for the 2024 Delray Beach Open and defeated eight seed

in the first round, for his second win over the Australian (first win was in previous season in

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

) and second ATP win outside of the Grand Slams. He received a qualifying wildcard for the 2024 Abierto Mexicano Telcel. In July, he qualified for the main draw of the 2024 Hall of Fame Open and for the

2024 Atlanta Open The 2024 Atlanta Open was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 36th edition of the tournament, classified as an ATP 250 tournament on the 2024 ATP Tour. It took place at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, United State ...

but lost in the first rounds. He also entered the main draw at the 2024 Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington as a lucky loser but lost to wildcard J. J. Wolf. In August, he received a wildcard for the main draw of the US Open. He again entered the main draw of the 2024 Winston-Salem Open as a lucky loser and defeated

Laslo Djere Laslo Djere; Serbian Latin: ''Laslo Đere''; (born 2 June 1995) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 10 June 2019, Djere reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 27. On 22 March 2021, he reached his career-high at world No. ...

in the first round and upset third seed Francisco Cerundolo in the second, getting his revenge for the first round loss at the 2023 US Open, a year earlier. As a result he reached No. 102 in the singles rankings on 26 August 2024.

ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 8 (7–1)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svajda, Zachary Living people 2002 births American male tennis players Sportspeople from La Jolla, San Diego Tennis players from San Diego American people of Czech descent 21st-century American sportsmen es:Zachary Svajda#top