Alex Kuznetsov (born February 5, 1987) is a retired American professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

. He is a former hitting partner of

Maria Sharapova Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...

Personal life

Kuznetsov was born in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. His family moved to the United States when he was 3 years old, settling just outside

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He resides in Tampa, Florida, where he trains at Saddlebrook Resort Club. He trains with

John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...

and

Tim Smyczek Timothy Smyczek ( ; ; born December 30, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He made three quarterfinals on the main tour as well as the semi-finals of Newport in 2018. Additionally he won seven Challenger titles. He achieved ...

. He is married and enjoys playing golf in his spare time. Kuznetsov is not related to Russian tennis players

Svetlana Kuznetsova Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...

or Andrey Kuznetsov.

Tennis career

Juniors

Kuznetsov was coached by Jason Katzer during his youth. As a junior Kuznetsov compiled a singles win–loss record of 67–27 (50-21 in doubles), reaching a combined junior world ranking of No. 4 in July 2004. Junior Slam results – Singles: Australian Open: -
French Open: F ( 2004)
Wimbledon: 2R ( 2004)
US Open: 3R (

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

) Nike offered Alex a 1 million dollar sponsorship contract as soon as he turned pro which he accepted. He was involved in a serious car accident soon after. Projected to take a full year to recover from breaking his femur due to his car accident, he returned to tennis just 6 months later after having a titanium rod inserted into his right thigh.

2006

In July 2006 Alex played in the Comerica Challenger in Aptos, defeating

Go Soeda is a former professional Japanese tennis player. He started playing tennis at the age of four and turned professional in April 2003. He has won 18 singles titles on the ATP Challenger Tour, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of w ...

for the 2006 singles title. At the 2006 US Open, he lost to 14th seed

Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...

. 2006 also saw Kuznetsov appear in the video game

Top Spin 2 ''Top Spin 2'' is a 2006 tennis video game developed by Indie Built, MENT, and Aspyr and originally published by 2K Sports and Superscape. It is the sequel to ''Top Spin'' and is followed by ''Top Spin 3''. Development The game was showcased at ...

as an up-and-coming star.

2007

Kuznetsov reached the second round of the 2007 Australian Open, defeating

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

Peter Luczak Peter Luczak ( pl, Łuczak, ; born 31 August 1979) is a retired professional tennis player for Australia. His career-high ATP singles ranking was World No. 64, achieved in October 2009. At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, Luczak won ...

before losing to fellow American James Blake, 6–4, 6–1, 6–2. Kuznetsov gave Blake an early scare by breaking Blake's first two service games. In April 2007, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 158. In the 2007 US Open he played doubles with American

Jesse Levine Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Can ...

. They won their first round match over

Dominik Hrbatý Dominik Hrbatý (; born 4 January 1978) is a Slovakian former professional tennis player. Hrbatý reached the semifinals of the 1999 French Open, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in October 2005. Hrbatý is one of onl ...

of Slovakia and

Harel Levy Harel Levy ( he, הראל לוי; born 5 August 1978) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player, and the current captain of Israel's Davis Cup team. He reached the final of the 2000 Toronto Masters and achieved a career-high singles rank ...

of Israel, 6–1, 6–4, and their second round match, upsetting 7th-seeded Frenchmen

Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...

and

Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...

7–6(5), 6–4, before losing in the third round to 9th-seeded Czechs Lukáš Dlouhý and

Pavel Vízner Pavel Vízner (born 15 July 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. Vízner has reached the French Open final twice, having had turned professional in 1990 and achieved a career high doubles ranking of World ...

, 6–4, 7–5. In December, Kuznetsov, Levine, and

Wayne Odesnik Wayne Odesnik (born November 21, 1985) is a South African-born American retired professional left-handed tennis player, with a two-handed backhand. His highest singles ranking was No. 77 in 2009. Among his biggest upsets were a 2007 win over Iv ...

were invited by the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

to play off in a round-robin for the wild-card berth in the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

. Levine won the wild card.

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through 2015 Australian Open.''

Doubles

''Current till US Open.''

References

External links

* *
The official website of Alex Kuznetsov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuznetsov, Alex 1987 births Living people American male tennis players Ukrainian emigrants to the United States People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Tennis people from Pennsylvania