Dmitry Tursunov

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Dmitry Tursunov
Country Flag of Russia Russia
Residence Roseville, California, U.S.
Date of birth December 12, 1982 (1982-12-12) (age 25)
Place of birth Moscow, Soviet Union Flag of the Soviet Union
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 82 kg (180 lb/12.9 st)
Turned pro 2000
Plays Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money $2,305,940
Singles
Career record: 120 - 100
Career titles: 4
Highest ranking: No. 20 (October 2, 2006)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 3rd (2007)
French Open 3rd (2006, 2008)
Wimbledon 4th (2005, 2006)
US Open 3rd (2003)
Doubles
Career record: 44 - 53
Career titles: 2
Highest ranking: No. 38 (February 25, 2008)

Infobox last updated on: May 12, 2008.

Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (Russian: Дми́трий И́горевич Турсу́нов (listen (help·info)) (born December 12, 1982 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian professional male tennis player. He was 12 years old when he moved overseas to further his prospects of becoming a professional player. Tursunov went to live in the U.S. and has lived there ever since.

Tursunov is an offensive baseliner with excellent groundstrokes from both sides and prefers to play on faster surfaces; he jokes about his lack of ability and success on clay courts. He is sponsored by Fila and Wilson.

Tursunov helped the Russian Davis Cup team win the 2006 Davis Cup, and reach the finals of the 2007 Davis Cup.

Contents

[edit] Tennis career

Tursunov turned professional in 2000, but has suffered many major injuries in his career to date. The first of these was a broken leg in January of the same year, which forced him to miss four months of the season. He came back and won 3 ATP Futures events and also made 2 finals.

In 2001 Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison, then the Dallas Challenger defeating Justin Bower. After these 2 lower level tournament successes Tursunov qualified for his first ATP event in Memphis and made the quarter finals defeating Kevin Kim, Greg Rusedski, George Bastl before losing to the eventual champion Mark Philippoussis.

Tursunov's 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. As the back pain continued, Tursunov went to see a local doctor in Sacramento and the extent of his injury problems were misdiagnosed as he was suffering from not one, but two fractures in his L-2 vertebra. Tursunov was forced to miss 9 months and did not come back to tennis until June, 2002 and that year he won another title on the U.S. Futures circuit.

After making two finals on the Challenger circuit in Aptos and the Bronx, Tursunov qualified for his first Grand Slam event at the U.S. Open defeating former world number one Gustavo Kuerten and John van Lottum both in 5 sets before losing in the third round to Xavier Malisse. Continuing on after the U.S. Open, he again showed his fondness for the hardcourts and won 2 consecutive Challenger titles in Mandeville over Jan Hernych and in San Antonio over Sebastien de Chaunac. At the end of 2003, for the first time in his career he finished the year ranked in the top 100.

Tursunov started the season of 2004 with another title in the Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla and for the first time in his career he was able to play in all of the 4 Grand Slam events. His best performance was a 3rd round appearance at Wimbledon defeating his friend and compatriot Marat Safin in the first round and then played a marathon 5th set winning 15-13 over Sargis Sargsian before falling to Carlos Moya in the next round.

After the U.S. Open loss to Fabrice Santoro, Tursunov was forced out of tennis again for 7 months with a broken vertebra suffered in a boating accident and did not play until the 2005 Indian Wells Masters tournament. At Wimbledon 2005 Tursunov achieved his best ever performance in a Grand Slam event by making the fourth round and he had to play in a Wimbledon club shirt, as two of his shirts were stolen from the locker room before the Henman match. He defeated the local hope Tim Henman in 5 sets in the second round before losing to Sebastien Grosjean in as many sets. It was the first time Tursunov had ever lost a 5 set match, previously compiling a 5–0 record in 5 set matches.

As Tursunov's form started to improve and he came into calculation for selection in the Russia Davis Cup team, the problems he was having obtaining U.S. citizenship became apparent. Tursunov had for years attempted to become a U.S. citizen, but the process has stalled and Tursunov travels with a Russian passport, but an American visa. In his own words "It's frustrating, but what can you do?"[1] In spite of this Tursunov was selected for Russia in the Davis Cup semi final against Croatia and won his dead rubber match against Ivo Karlovic. Tursunov made the semi finals of the Moscow tournament losing to eventual champion Igor Andreev and then won a challenger in Kolding and finished the year ranked inside the top 100 again.

2006 was a successful year for Tursunov as he achieved his highest ever ranking thus far, won his first ATP title beating Tomas Berdych in Mumbai and made his first ATP final in Los Angeles losing to Tommy Haas in three sets. He was also successful on the Challenger circuit winning the Sunrise, Florida title over Alberto Martin and played in both ties for Russia in the Davis Cup, defeating Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the fourth rubber of the quarter-final; consequently sending the Russians into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

At the French Open, Tursunov lost to David Nalbandian after having a two sets to love lead. He defeated Ivan Ljubicic in the third round of Wimbledon coming back from two sets to love, before losing in the next round, 9–7 in the fifth set to Jarkko Nieminen. After losing a game to give Nieminen a 8–7 lead he hit a ball at the chair umpire. 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.[2]

For the second time in 2006 Tursunov sealed victory for Russia in the Davis Cup this time in the semi finals where he defeated Andy Roddick of the U.S. 6–3 6–4 5–7 3–6 17-15 in a match that lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes and with this victory earned Russia the spot in the Davis Cup final against Argentina, which took place in December. Tursunov took part in a crucial doubles tie with Marat Safin, which they won to give Russia a 2–1 lead. Marat Safin later sealed the 2006 Davis Cup win for Russia with his victory over José Acasuso.

Serving at Wimbledon 2007
Serving at Wimbledon 2007

On January 6, 2007 Tursunov won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia while representing Russia alongside Nadia Petrova. In the finals Tursunov defeated Tommy Robredo in straight sets, after teamate Nadia Petrova's victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues. Following this match was a proset mixed doubles between Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Nadia Petrova and Spanish 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 proset 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, playing along assigned points to Spain regardless.

June 2007: Tursunov was beaten in four sets and consequently knocked out by Tommy Haas of Germany, 1–6, 6–4, 7–6, 6–4. 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 2nd career title, defeating surprise finalist Frank Dancevic 6–4, 7–5, losing only 10 points on serve and never facing a break point. Tursunov then won his second title of the year at the Thailand Open, dominating Benjamin Becker, 6–2, 6–1.

Tursunov was named in the four man team that will play the United States in the Davis Cup final, taking place in Portland, Oregon, on the 30th November - 2nd December 2007. Tursunov lost the first rubber of the 2007 Davis Cup final against Roddick, who won by a scoreline of 6–4, 6–4, 6–2. Tursunov was on the verge of defeating James Blake, but Blake won 1–6, 6–3, 7–5. Dmitry played his first tournament of 2008 at the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia. In the first round he defeated Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6–3, 6–3. In the second round, Dmitry defeated top seed and number eight in the world Richard Gasquet of France 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. In the 1/4 finals he defeated Sebastien Grosjean of France 6–3, 6–4 and in the semis, Dmitry came up against a crafty Frenchman Fabrice Santoro defeating him 6–3, 6–4. Then in the final, Dmitry defeated big serving giant Australian Chris Guccione 7–6, 7–6. This was Dmitry's fourth career title.

At the Australian Open, Dmitry beat Xavier Malisse in the first round in 5 sets, after being down two sets to love - the final score being 6–7 5–7 6–2 6–1 6–3. However, he then lost his second round match against Sam Querrey in four sets - 7–6 4–6 6–4 6–2.

Dmitry lost in the first round of the Rotterdam Open to Rafael Nadal 4–6 4–6, but combined with Tomas Berdych to win the doubles title, defeating Mikhail Youzhny and Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final 7–5 3–6 10-7. This is Dmitry's 2nd doubles career title.

[edit] Career finals (11)

[edit] ATP Tour

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (4)
Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 25 September 2006 Mumbai, India Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Tomas Berdych 6–3, 4–6, 7–6
2. 29 July 2007 Indianapolis, USA Hard Flag of Canada Frank Dancevic 6–4, 7–5
3. 30 September 2007 Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) Flag of Germany Benjamin Becker 6–2, 6–1
4. 12 January 2008 Sydney, Australia Hard Flag of Australia Chris Guccione 7–6(3), 7–6(4)

[edit] Singles runner-ups (1)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 31 July 2006 Los Angeles, USA Hard (O) Flag of Germany Tommy Haas 6–4, 5–7, 3–6

[edit] Doubles

[edit] Doubles wins (2)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. October 15, 2007 Moscow, Russia Carpet (I) Flag of Russia Marat Safin Flag of the Czech Republic Tomas Cibulec
Flag of Croatia Lovro Zovko		 6–4, 6–2
2. February 24, 2008 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard (i) Flag of the Czech Republic Tomas Berdych Flag of Germany Philipp Kohlschreiber
Flag of Russia Mikhail Youzhny		 7–5, 3–6, 10-7

[edit] Doubles runner-ups (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. August 23, 2004 Washington, United States Hard (O) Flag of the United States Travis Parrott Flag of South Africa Chris Haggard
Flag of South Africa Robbie Koenig		 3(6)-7, 1–6
2. September 19, 2005 Beijing, China Hard (O) Flag of Russia Mikhail Youzhny Flag of the United States Justin Gimelstob
Flag of Australia Nathan Healey		 6–4, 3–6, 2–6
3. June 26, 2006 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Flag of Russia Igor Kunitsyn Flag of Israel Jonathan Erlich
Flag of Israel Andy Ram		 3–6, 2–6

[edit] Challengers

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (7)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 5 February 2001 Flag of the United States Dallas, USA Hard Flag of South Africa Justin Bower 6–2, 6–4
2. 15 September 2003 Flag of the United States Mandeville, USA Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Jan Hernych 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
3. 22 September 2003 Flag of the United States San Antonio, USA Hard Flag of France Sebastien De Chaunac 6–2, 6–7, 6–4
4. 26 January 2004 Flag of the United States Waikoloa, USA Hard Flag of Colombia Alejandro Falla 7–5, 7–6
5. 17 October 2005 Flag of Denmark Kolding, Denmark Carpet Flag of Belgium Steve Darcis 6–3, 6–4
6. 13 March 2006 Flag of the United States Sunrise, USA Hard Flag of Spain Alberto Martin 6–3, 6–1
7. 13 November 2006 Flag of Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine Hard (i) Flag of Germany Benjamin Becker 7–6, 6–4

[edit] Personal and quotes

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Dmitry Tursunov was brought over from Russia when he was 12-years old by his now long-time coach, mentor, and guardian Vitaly Gorin of the Gorin Tennis Academy. Vitaly and Dmitry worked hard to build the Tursunov game and take it to the next level. With his success with Tursunov, Gorin opened the Gorin Tennis Academy in California.

His off-court antics landed him an episode of No Strings on the Tennis Channel featuring the Gorin Tennis Academy.

Tursunov was the ATP blogger of the week for the Estoril Open in May 2006. The blog was warmly received by tennis fans for his writing style and observations of the tennis world including: breakfast time, the tournament itself, the local drivers, and fellow players personalities, especially Marat Safin.[3]

When asked about the Russian and the U.S. tennis federations: "I was frustrated with both federations. Whenever you need help, there is no help. Whenever you're doing well, people will offer you help," he confides. "It's like that in anything, not just tennis. In an ideal world, you would have a federation watching over you, pick players up early and lead them along."

On his game: "I do have a lot of weapons, but they misfire a lot."

On his Wimbledon performance and what it will mean for his exposure: "Well, I didn't make any money other than the prize money. That's always good. Hopefully I can buy a new stereo for my car. You know, other than that prize money, I don't think there's any sponsors knocking on my door."

"I think it's changed. Maybe a couple years ago it would have happened. Now I'm 22. By prodigy standards, I'm pretty old. Neither fish nor fowl. I'm not an up-and-comer and I'm not a veteran either. It's very difficult for me to understand why I wouldn't have a sponsor. Technically there are a lot of people who get free clothes, like Justine Henin's husband, he gets sponsored by Adidas even though he doesn't play tennis. I guess to them it means more in terms of exposure. I guess I'm not a big enough exposure for certain companies."

On what he gets for free: "I get my racquets for free, yes. I only have two actually, believe it or not."

On agents: "I don't think that agents can make money if there's no one to pay the money. But, yeah, I have an agent."

On beating British Tennis players: "It's actually a lot of fun to see people in tears, leaving the stadium and vowing never to come back to Wimbledon."

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ BBC SPORT | Tennis | Tursunov punished over outburst
  3. ^ ATPtennis.com, The official site for men's professional tennis!

[edit] External links