Conor Niland

Conor Niland
Country  Ireland
Residence Limerick, Ireland
Born 19 September 1981 (1981-09-19) (age 30)
Birmingham, Great Britain
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro 2005
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money $237,053
Singles
Career record 9–11
Career titles 0 ATP
Highest ranking No. 129 (6 December 2010)
Current ranking No. 206 (19 September 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open Q3 (2010)
French Open Q2 (2010)
Wimbledon 1R (2011)
US Open 1R (2011)
Doubles
Career record 0–0
Career titles 0 ATP
Highest ranking 770 (23 August 2010)
Last updated on: July 5, 2011.

Conor Niland (born 19 September 1981) is an Irish professional tennis player. He was born in Birmingham, England, and grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He attended St. Nessan's National School in Mungret, Co. Limerick. He currently is the highest ranked Irish tennis player[1] and has been playing for the Ireland Davis Cup team since 2000.[2]

Contents

Career

Niland has spent most of his career on the Futures and Challenger circuits, although he has played a handful of ATP World Tour tournaments. He is the top ranked Irish player. As of 6 March 2010, he has played 25 Davis Cup matches for Ireland with a record of 15 wins & 10 losses (12–9 in singles & 3–1 in doubles). After 4 previous defeats, he won his first ever Grand Slam qualifying match on 26 August 2009 when defeating Australia's Joseph Sirianni 6–0 6–4 in the first qualifying round of the US Open, but in the end he failed to qualify for the main draw.[3]

In January 2010, he lost in the last qualifying round of the Qatar Open in Doha, and in the first major of the year he defeated Henri Kontinen (6–4,6–4) and Jesse Witten (2–6,6–1,6–4) in the first 2 qualifying rounds for the Australian Open to leave him one game away from the main draw.[4] However, he lost to Ricardo Hocevar (6–1,4–6,3–6) in the final qualifying round. In Houston, Texas, at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, he qualified for his first ATP main draw but lost in the first round.[5] His improvement during the year continued when winning the Israel Open title, Rainer Schüttler among his highest-ranked victim.[6] The win pushed him into the top 200 for the first time in his career, lifting him to 165 in the world, and he reclaimed his place as Irish No.1 from Louk Sorensen. In November 2010, Niland won another ATP challenger event, this time the ATP Salzburg Indoors in Austria, lifting him to a career high ranking of 129.[7]

2011

After an encouraging start to 2011 saw Niland reach the quarter-finals of the Heilbronn Open in Germany, he struggled throughout the first half of the year with illness and injury and fell to a ranking of 184 by June. He came into great form for the grass court season, however, and picked up 4 straight wins to qualify for the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham and also defeat 96th-ranked Donald Young in the first round. After Tatsuma Ito ended that winning streak, Niland turned his attention to the Wimbledon qualifying rounds. He successfully negotiated all 3 rounds, defeating Josselin Ouanna, Greg Jones and finally Nikola Mektić, to qualify for his first ever Grand Slam event.[8][9] In doing so, he also became the first Irishman to reach the main draw at Wimbledon since Sean Sorensen in 1977 and 1980. He faced Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the first round where he lost in five sets, having led 4–1 with a double-break in the fifth set. Had he won, Niland would have faced six-time champion Roger Federer in the second round.[10][11]

Niland participated in the 2011 US Open. In the first round of the Singles Qualifying, Conor faced Pavol Červenák and won 6–1, 6–4.[12] In the second round, Niland defeated Tsung-Hua Yang 6–2, 6–3[13] In the third round, Niland beat Matwé Middelkoop 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 for a place in the Main Draw.[14] This was Niland's second time in a row to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam. In the first round, Niland retired against World No. 1, Novak Djokovic, whilst trailing 0–6, 1–5, due to food poisoning.[15][16]

Personal life

Although Niland was born in Birmingham, his parents moved the family back to Limerick when he was 2 years old. He stayed there until the age of 16, when he went to Millfield,[17] the public school in Somerset that is renowned for its sporting prowess. After three years there, Niland went to study English at University of California, Berkeley, before leaving to focus on playing tennis professionally in 2005.[18] His father, Ray, played at corner back for the Mayo senior Gaelic football team, while his sister Gina is a former Irish No.1 tennis player.[19]

Singles titles

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0)
ATP World Tour 500 (0)
ATP World Tour 250 (0)
ATP Challenger Tour (3)
ITF Futures (5)
Wins (8)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 7 August 2006 Wrexham, F12 Hard Riccardo Ghedin 6–4, 2–6, 6–3
2. 19 March 2007 Vrsar, F4 Clay Kornél Bardóczky 6–4, 6–4
3. 28 April 2008 Bournemouth, F7 Clay (I) Pierre Metenier 7–5, 6–0
4. 23 June 2008 Limerick F2 Carpet (I) Harsh Mankad 6–3, 6–4
5. 4 August 2008 New Delhi III Hard Tomáš Cakl 6–4, 6–4
6. 9 November 2009 Florida F28 Clay James Lemke 3–6, 6–4, 6–0
7. 8 May 2010 Ramat HaSharon Hard Thiago Alves 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 6–3
8. 21 November 2010 Salzburg Hard (i) Jerzy Janowicz 7–6(7–5), 6–7(2–7), 6–3
Runner-up (5)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 26 March 2007 Rovinj, F5 Clay Marko Tkalec 4–6, 5–7
2. 17 September 2007 London, F17 Hard Martin Fischer 4–6, 3–6
3. 31 March 2008 Exmouth, F6 Carpet (i) Joshua Goodall 4–6, 6–7(3–7)
4. 12 October 2009 Saint-Dizier, F18 Hard Antony Dupuis 3–6, 6–4, 4–6
5. 2 November 2009 Birmingham, F27 Clay James Lemke 6–4, 2–6, 5–7

Grand Slam Singles Performance Timeline

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011
Australian Open Q1 Q1 Q3 Q2
French Open A A Q2 Q1
Wimbledon Q1 Q1 Q1 1R
US Open A Q2 Q2 1R

References

  1. ^ "ATP rankings-Ireland". ATP. 22 August 2011. http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx?d=22.08.2011&c=IRL&r=0#. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
  2. ^ "Conor Niland Davis Cup Profile". ATP. 23 August 2011. http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=10026225. Retrieved 23 August 2011. 
  3. ^ "Niland tackles US Open". Limerick Leader. 23 August 2010. http://www.limerickleader.ie/sport/niland_tackles_us_open_1_2192774. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  4. ^ "Niland – just one win away from Australian Open". Limerick Leader. 15 January 2010. http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/niland_just_one_win_away_from_australian_open_1_2191133. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  5. ^ "Conor Niland through to US Clay Championships". RTE Sport. 6 April 2010. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2010/0406/nilandc.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  6. ^ "Conor Niland wins Israel Open". RTE Sport. 8 May 2010. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2010/0508/nilandc.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  7. ^ "Niland claims Salzburg crown". Irish Times. 21 November 2010. http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2010/1121/1224283825965.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  8. ^ "Niland qualifies for Wimbledon". RTE Sport. 18 June 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0618/nilandc_wimbledon.html. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
  9. ^ "Niland books place at Wimbledon". Irish Times. 18 June 2011. http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2011/0618/1224299186423.html. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
  10. ^ "Niland's effort comes up just short". Irish Times. 21 June 2011. http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2011/0621/1224299368252.html. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
  11. ^ "Niland edged out in five-set Wimbledon epic". RTE Sport. 21 June 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0621/wimbledon_nilandc.html. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
  12. ^ "Irish advance in US Open qualifiers". RTE Sport. 23 August 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0824/usopen.html. Retrieved 24 August 2011. 
  13. ^ "Niland closes in on US Open qualification". RTE Sport. 26 August 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0826/nilandc_usopen.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
  14. ^ "Niland and Sorenson reach US Open main draw". RTE Sport. 26 August 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0826/usopen.html. Retrieved 26 August 2011. 
  15. ^ "Niland to face Djokovic at US Open". RTE Sport. 27 August 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0827/nilandc_sorensenl_usopen.html. Retrieved 27 August 2011. 
  16. ^ "Niland forced to retire at US Open". RTE Sport. 30 August 2011. http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2011/0830/nilandc.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  17. ^ "Good schooling benefits Niland". Irish Independent. 28 December 1998. http://www.independent.ie/sport/good-schooling-benefits-niland-424996.html. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  18. ^ "Wimbledon 2011: Conor Niland hopes to have Irish talking about tennis". The Guardian. 19 June 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/19/wimbledon-2011-conor-niland-ireland. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  19. ^ "The road to SW19: what’s next for Conor Niland?". The Score.ie. 15 June 2011. http://thescore.thejournal.ie/the-road-to-sw19-whats-next-for-conor-niland-156379-Jun2011/. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 

External links

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Irish male singles tennis players as of November 7, 2011
1. Conor Niland (195 1) · 2. James McGee (365 2) · 3. Louk Sorensen (481 3) · 4. Sam Barry (729 5) · 5. Colin O'Brien (801 16)
6. Barry King (891 1) · 7. Daniel Glancy (1,320 126) · 8. Mark Bowtell (1,514 5) · 8. Ciaran Fitzgerald (1,514 5) · 10. James Cluskey (1,805 4)