Kevin Anderson (tennis)
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| Country |  South Africa |
|
| Residence | Champaign, Illinois, United States | |
| Date of birth | May 18, 1986 | |
| Place of birth | Johannesburg, South Africa | |
| Height | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) | |
| Weight | 93.2 kg (205 lb) | |
| Turned pro | 2007 | |
| Plays | Right-handed; | |
| Career prize money | US$151,096 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 8 - 5 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 95 (June 9, 2008) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 1r (2008) | |
| French Open | - | |
| Wimbledon | - | |
| US Open | - | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 0 - 0 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 370 (May 12, 2008) | |
Kevin Anderson (born May 18, 1986 in Johannesburg) is a male South African tennis player.
He became the top-ranked South African player on March 10, 2008 after making the final at the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. He reached a career-high ranking of #95 on June 9, 2008 after upsetting world #3 Novak Djokovic to reach the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida.
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[edit] Collegiate Career
Anderson played three seasons of college tennis in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles. During his sophomore year (2005-06), he won the national doubles championshipwith his partner, Ryan Rowe.
The following season (2006-07), he led the Illini team to a national runner-up finish before again reaching the national championship match in doubles with Ryan Rowe and reaching the semifinals in singles.
During the summer of 2007, Anderson decided to forgo his senior season at Illinois to pursue his professional tennis career full-time.
[edit] Professional Career
[edit] 2003
At age 17, Anderson entered his first professional tournament, a Satellite in South Africa, winning 4 main draw matches in the 4 week tournament to earn a world ranking of #1178 from his only tournament of the year. He also finished the year with a doubles ranking of #902.
[edit] 2004
In November, Anderson entered his 3rd pro tournament and won the Botswana F1 to push his ranking to #769. He followed that up the next two weeks in South Africa, reaching the Final in F1 and the Semifinal in F2 to finish the year ranked #665 in singles from just 3 tournaments.
[edit] 2005
At age 19, Anderson continued to play at the Futures level, exclusively in the United States, reaching the Semifinal of USA F21 in August. In November, he played his first Challenger in Champaign, qualifying and beating #192 Jan-Michael Gambill in the first round. He finished the year ranked #766.
[edit] 2006
Anderson played his first pro tournaments of the year in June, again in the United States, reaching the Finals of USA F13 and F21. He returned to Champaign again in November, beating #107 Kevin Kim to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal. He finished the year ranked #517.
In doubles, he won a pair of USA Futures back to back in June and finished the year ranked #530.
[edit] 2007
Anderson again waited until June to play his first tournaments. He repeated as a finalist in USA F12 and then won USA F13 before qualifying 2 weeks later in the Winnetka Challenger and reaching the final to push his ranking to #310. He recorded his first win over a top-100 opponent in the qualifying for the ATP tournament in New Haven, beating #88 Chris Guccione, before losing in the main draw to #41 Arnaud Clement.
Anderson's most interesting result in 2007 was in September in the Challenger in New Orleans. He needed to qualify to make the main draw in both singles and doubles, and won all 13 matches that week to take the singles and doubles titles, beating 4 top-200 singles players and the top 3 seeded doubles teams. [1]
His Challenger success in New Orleans helped him to career-high rankings at the end of 2007 of #221 in singles and #398 in doubles.
[edit] 2008
Anderson began 2008 with a bit of success, reaching the quarters of the Challenger in New Caledonia before qualifying in his first Grand Slam attempt in Australia. He lost in the main draw first round to #84 Alejandro Falla in 5 sets, but his efforts got his ranking to a career high of #190. At the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas, as a qualifier, he managed to defeat sixth seed Michael Llodra in straight sets, 6–2, 7–6. In the second round he beat giant John Isner 7–6, 7–5. He beat Evgeny Korolev in his first ever ATP quarterfinal 6–2, 6–0. In the Semifinals he won in straight sets against Robby Ginepri to reach his first ever ATP tour final. In the final, he fell to Sam Querrey in 3 sets. In the 2nd round of the Miami Masters he beat Novak Djokovic 7-6(1) 3-6 6-4 for his first ever win against a top 10 player.
[edit] ATP Tour finals (1)
[edit] Singles runners-up (1)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | March 9, 2008 |  Las Vegas, USA |
Hard | Sam Querrey |
6–4, 3–6, 4–6 |
