Taro Daniel

Taro Daniel

Country (sports)	Japan
Residence	Valencia, Spain
Born	(1993-01-27) 27 January 1993 New York, New York, U.S.
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach(es)	José Francisco Altur
Prize money	$ 350,234
Singles
Career record	4–15 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 93 (23 November 2015)
Current ranking	No. 97 (1 February 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	1R (2016)
French Open	1R (2015)
Wimbledon	Q1 (2014, 2015)
US Open	1R (2014)
Doubles
Career record	0–1 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 566 (23 September 2013)
Current ranking	No. 964 (1 February 2016)
Last updated on: 1 February 2016.

Taro Daniel (ダニエル 太郎, Danieru Tarō, born 27 January 1993) is an American-born Japanese professional tennis player. He trains in Valencia, Spain with coach José Francisco Altur and prefers clay courts. He has won three ATP Challenger Tour singles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world no.93 on 23 November 2015.^[1]

Personal life

His father, Paul Daniel, is an American, and his mother, Yasue, Japanese. He grew up in various places in the world. He spent most of his elementary school days in Saitama, Japan. He went to the Nagoya International School. He and his family moved to Spain when he was fourteen. He speaks English, Japanese, and Spanish. He has one sister, Kana.^[1]

Tennis career

Early Age

Taro started playing tennis when he was 7, He practiced at the Shinrin Longwood Tennis Club in Nagoya City during his years in Japan. He got third place for under 12 in the All Japan Junior Tennis Tournament.

2011 - 13

Daniel had won a couple of ITF Futures events in Spain and Portugal. In ATP Challenger Tour, He made the semifinal at the Yokohama in November 2012, and reached his first Challenger final at the Yeongwol in November 2013, where he lost to fourth seed Bradley Klahn in the final. In 2011-2013, Daniel had raise his ATP ranking from world no. 978 to 241.

2014

Daniel reached the third qualifying round of the 2014 Australian Open, losing to Thomaz Bellucci. Qualifying for his first ATP tournament, he made the quarterfinals of the Chile Open, after gaining revenge over Bellucci and defeating eighth seed Federico Delbonis. His run was ended by third seed Nicolas Almagro.

At the 2014 Davis Cup World Group Quarterfinal against Czech Republic, Daniel was nominated first time for Japan Davis Cup team.^[2] He played the singles rubber, but lost to Lukáš Rosol with five-setter and Jiří Veselý. Daniel qualified for the 2014 US Open to make his Grand Slam main draw debut, losing to fifth seed Milos Raonic in the first round.^[3] The next week, he reached the final at the Seville Challenger, where he was defeated by top seed Pablo Carreño.

2015: Top 100

After competing in the ATP events of Montpellier and Casablanca, Daniel defeated Filippo Volandri to claim his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Vercelli. He qualified for the 2015 Frech Open, losing to 32nd seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round. In July, Daniel won the Fürth Challenger, defeating top seeds Blaž Rola and Albert Montañés.^[4]

At 2015 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs against Colombia, Daniel won the first Davis Cup match of his career, beating Alejandro Falla in the last tie. His victory completed 1-2 come-from-behind victory against Colombia to remain in the World Group for 2016.^[5] In October, He qualified for the Valencia Open, and reached second round before losing to sixth seed Guillermo García-López. He completed 2015 season with his third challenger title in Yokohama, winning over his countryman Go Soeda in the final. He entered top 100 of the ATP ranking for the first time at world no.93.^[6]

2016

Daniel entered directly to main draw of the 2016 Australian Open, falling in the first rounds to Lukáš Rosol with five sets. In February, He reached the second round of the Open Sud de France before losing to eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets.

Challenger finals

Singles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	5 November 2013	Yeongwol, South Korea	Hard	Bradley Klahn	6–7(5–7), 2–6
Runner-up	2.	8 September 2014	Seville, Spain	Clay	Pablo Carreño Busta	4–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	20 April 2015	Vercelly, Italy	Clay	Filippo Volandri	6–3, 1–6, 6–4
Winner	2.	1 June 2015	Fürth, Germany	Clay	Albert Montañés	6–3, 6–0
Runner-up	3.	15 November 2015	Kobe, Japan	Hard (i)	John Millman	1–6, 3-6
Winner	3.	22 November 2015	Yokohama, Japan	Hard	Go Soeda	4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	22 September 2013	Kenitra, Morocco	Clay	Alexander Rumyantsev	Gerard Granollers Jordi Samper-Montana	4–6, 4–6

Singles performance timeline

References

External links

• Taro Daniel at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Taro Daniel at the International Tennis Federation
• Taro Daniel at the Davis Cup

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Japanese male singles tennis players as of 28 December 2015 1. Kei Nishikori (8 ) 2. Taro Daniel (96 ) 3. Yoshihito Nishioka (117 ) 4. Tatsuma Ito (119 ) 5. Yūichi Sugita (126 ) 6. Go Soeda (132 ) 7. Hiroki Moriya (199 1) 8. Yasutaka Uchiyama (251 ) 9. Takuto Niki (353 1) 10. Hiroyasu Ehara (376 2)