Sergio Roitman

Sergio Roitman
Country  Argentina
Residence Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born May 16, 1979
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro 1996
Retired 2009
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $1,206,782
Singles
Career record 25–59
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 62 (October 8, 2007)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 1R (2007, 2008)
French Open 1R (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
Wimbledon 1R (2007, 2008, 2009)
Doubles
Career record 41–62
Career titles 2
Highest ranking No. 45 (September 8, 2008)
Last updated on: October 23, 2013.

Sergio Andres Roitman (born May 16, 1979) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, nicknamed Escopeta (Shotgun in Spanish)[1] is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina.

He achieved a career-high rankings of World No. 62 in singles in October 2007 and World No. 45 in doubles in September 2008.

He has no main tour singles titles, but has won several Challenger and Futures singles titles in his career. In addition Roitman has won two ATP doubles titles - at Amsterdam in 2000 and Umag in 2001.

Personal life

At the age of 17 Roitman was at a Hermética concert and was shot in the stomach with a rubber bullet. Roitman studied classical piano between the ages of 6 and 12, but chose tennis instead.[2] He speaks Spanish, Portuguese, English and Italian.[3]

Tennis career

Roitman began playing tennis at age 10 and turned professional in 1996.[4]

Between 1998 and 2000 Roitman won seven futures singles titles all of these were in South America on clay. On 2000-07-23 he won the ATP doubles title with fellow countryman Andres Schneiter in Amsterdam at his debut at that level.

In 2001, once again with Schneiter he won his second ATP doubles title in Umag. Roitman won four challenger singles titles between 2002 and 2005, in the process defeating Rafael Nadal at Cherbourg in 2003. At the 2003 Roland Garros Roitman played defending champion Albert Costa in the first round and was leading 2 sets to 0 and 4–1 (with a break point for 5–1), but ended up losing in 5 sets.[3]

2006 saw Roitman finish in the Top 100 of ATP Rankings for the first time in his career, he compiled a 41–19 match record, and won two titles in Challenger action. In November he won the title at Challengers in Aracaju and Guayaquil

2007 was the most successful season for Roitman, where he reached his highest ranking and finished in the top 75 for the second straight year, highlighted by a career-best 11 ATP match wins and three Challenger titles. In June he captured the Prostějov Challenger title. In September he picked up another Challenger title in Szczecin, Poland. He closed the season with the title at the Buenos Aires Challenger.[5] He had wins over world # 41 José Acasuso of Argentina, 7–6 (4), 6–1, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In April he defeated world # 76 Jan Hernych, 7–5, 7–6 (7), in Valencia, Spain, and world # 29 Jürgen Melzer of Austria on clay, 3–6, 6–1, 6–4 in Monte Carlo. In June he beat world # 28 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 6–2, Ret, in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands on grass. In July he defeated world # 65 Nicolás Massú of Chile 7–5, 6–2, and twice defeated world # 18 (and 20) Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 5–7, 6–3, 6–4, and 6–1, 6–2, on clay.

In the 2009 Buenos Aires tournament Roitman lost 6–0, 6–0 to Juan Mónaco. In June 2009, he retired from his first round match due to a recurring injury to the acromion in his right shoulder.[6]

On September 25, 2009, he announced that the Copa Petrobas challenger in Buenos Aires would be his last professional tournament, citing injuries as the main reason for his retirement.[7]

Challengers and futures (17)

Challengers (10)
Futures (7)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. July 20, 1998 Brazil Londrina Clay Brazil Paulo Taicher 6–3, 6–4
2. November 9, 1998 Paraguay Asunción Clay Peru Alejandro Aramburu 6–1, 6–3
3. November 16, 1998 Paraguay Asunción Clay Spain Ivan Rodrigo 6–2, 2–6, 6–3
4. September 13, 1999 Peru Lima Clay Greece Solon Peppas 6–3, 7–5
5. April 17, 2000 Chile Santiago Clay Colombia Mauricio Hadad 6–4, 6–3
6. May 1, 2000 Chile Santiago Clay Chile Adrián García 6–3, 6–3
7. May 8, 2000 Argentina Mendoza Clay Argentina José Acasuso 1–6, 7–6(2), 6–2
8. July 29, 2002 Russia St. Petersburg Clay Russia Andrei Stoliarov 7–6(3), 6–2
9. February 24, 2003 France Cherbourg Hard (i) Spain Rafael Nadal 6–3, 5–7, 6–4
10. June 6, 2005 Spain Barcelona Clay Russia Teymuraz Gabashvili 6–2, 6–3
11. August 29, 2005 Germany Freudenstadt Clay Italy Flavio Cipolla 7–5, 6–4
12. October 30, 2006 Brazil Aracaju Clay Serbia Boris Pašanski 6–1, 6–3
13. November 13, 2006 Ecuador Guayaquil Clay Argentina Mariano Zabaleta 6–3, 4–6, 6–1
14. June 4, 2007 Czech Republic Prostějov Clay Germany Florian Mayer 7–6(1), 6–4
15. September 17, 2007 Poland Szczecin Clay Czech Republic Ivo Minář 6–2, 7–5
16. November 12, 2007 Argentina Buenos Aires Clay Brazil Marcos Daniel 6–1, 6–4
17. November 3, 2008 Ecuador Guayaquil Clay Argentina Brian Dabul 3–6, 6–3, 6–2

Jewish heritage

Roitman, along with Dudi Sela, Jesse Levine and Shahar Pe'er was one of a number of Jewish tennis players recently ranked in the top 100.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. (Spanish) "Sergio Roitman Blog from Casablanca". ATP. June 7, 2009.
  2. por Equipo ATP, 17.03.2010. "Source". Atpworldtour.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Sergio Roitman Player Profile". ATP. June 7, 2009.
  4. "Source". Atpworldtour.com. May 16, 1979. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  5. "Argentina's Roitman wins tennis's Challenger Cup". xinhuanet.com. November 19, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  6. por Equipo ATP (September 26, 2009). "ATP Spanish – Roitman Retiro". Es.atpworldtour.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
  7. Israeli star trains at Maccabi courts (January 10, 2008)
  8. Wechsler, Robert, Day by Day in Jewish Sports History, pp. 168, 311, 324, KTAV Publishing House, 2007, ISBN 0881259691, 9780881259698

External links

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