Andrey Golubev ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Го́лубев; born July 22, 1987) is a Kazakh professional
tennis
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 ...
player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 33, achieved on 4 October 2010 and his doubles ranking is world No. 21, achieved on 16 May 2022. He is currently the No. 1 Kazakh doubles player. He won the
2010 International German Open, an ATP 500 event, to claim Kazakhstan's first-ever ATP title. In 2021, he reached the
French Open men's doubles final with fellow Kazakhstani
Alexander Bublik
Alexander Stanislavovich "Sasha" Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 30 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in ...
. Before 2008, he played for his country of birth, Russia.
Tennis career
Golubev has amassed a career record of 94–52 in the main draw of senior
ITF Futures events (4 titles) and 90–63 in
ATP Challenger events (3 titles).
Early career: 2003-2004
Golubev's first senior
ITF experience came primarily on the
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
tour in 2003. The first ranking point(s) earned by Golubev were from a four-week satellite tour in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, and he gained another from a satellite event in Italy. In 2004, he turned his focus to attempting to qualify for
futures
Futures may mean:
Finance
*Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract
*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded
* ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine
Music
* ''Futures'' (album), a ...
and
challenger events. His first appearance in the main draw of one of these events was from a
wild card in the
Arpa Ceramic Cup in
Reggio Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...
, Italy, where he lost to world #219
Salvador Navarro
Salvador Navarro Gutiérrez (born 8 January 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Spain.
Career
Navarro qualified for his only Grand Slam in 1997, at the French Open. He won his opening round match against countryman Marcos Aurelio G ...
, but did manage to win a set.
This performance earned him enough ranking points to qualify for a futures event in
Helsingør
Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...
, Denmark, where he had a strong run to the semifinals. He would get to at least the quarterfinals of three other events, all in Italy, including making his first final in
L'Aquila
L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...
, losing to
Mathieu Montcourt
Mathieu Montcourt (4 March 1985 – 6 July 2009) was a professional French tennis player. At the 2006, 2007, and 2009 French Opens, he lost in the second round, to Lleyton Hewitt, Jarkko Nieminen, and Radek Štěpánek respectively.
Career ...
. By the end of 2004, he was ranked as the 561st player in the world, with 25
ATP Entry Ranking points.
2005
Golubev continued to enter futures events in 2005, with his best performances a semifinal and a quarterfinal, until mid-May, when he won events on back-to-back weeks, the first in
Grottaglie
Grottaglie (; scn, label=Salentino, li Vurtàgghie; la, Criptalium) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Taranto, Apulia, in southern Italy.
Geography
Grottaglie is located in the Salento peninsula, dividing the Adriatic sea from Ionian ...
, the other in
Teramo
Teramo (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Tèreme ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo.
The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines ( Gran Sasso d'Itali ...
. The Grottaglie event was the first time that Golubev had ever been seeded in the main draw of a futures event, and as the #7 seed he survived losing the first set in the semifinals before beating #1 seed
Malek Jaziri
Malek Jaziri ( ar, مالك الجزيري, Mālik al-Jazīrī; born January 20, 1984) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. Jaziri reached his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour of World 42 in January 2019. He reached the final of 2 ...
of
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
in the finals. Because of this win, he earned a special exemption for the Teramo event, where he continued his good form by beating #5 seed Alessandro Accardo in the final, having already taken out the tournament's #1 seed in the semis.
The schedule of rankings changes meant that both these events were added to the points count on the week of June 6, 2005, lifting Golubev up into the top 500 for the first time in his career.
In late July, Golubev earned his first direct acceptance into a challenger event, a clay court tournament in
Valladolid
Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...
, Spain. He was the lowest ranked player to receive direct acceptance, and managed to win his first match against a Spanish wildcard ranked outside the top 1000 in the world, before losing to an Australian qualifier.
In August, he won three straight qualifying matches to make the field for a challenger in
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
, where he would again make the second round. However, unable to consistently achieve strong results in the challengers, Golubev resumed playing futures events in September, making the finals in a November event in
Sint-Genesius-Rode
Sint-Genesius-Rode (; french: Rhode-Saint-Genèse, ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in Flemish Region, Flanders, one of three regions of Belgium, in the province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the town of Sint ...
, Belgium. The ranking points from this event would be enough to move Golubev into the top 400 for the first time on November 21, 2005, and he finished the year ranked 393rd.
Later in June, he earned a second wild card in
Reggio Emilia
Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...
, but lost his first round match.
Golubev also moved into the top 1000 in doubles in 2005, after making the semifinals of a futures event with Marco Gualdi. He would also move up by making the quarterfinals at three straight challengers, with three different partners. In September, at a futures event in
Porto Torres
Porto Torres ( sdc, Posthudorra, sc, Portu Turre) is a comune and a city of the Province of Sassari in north-west of Sardinia, Italy. Founded during the 1st century BC as ''Colonia Iulia Turris Libisonis'', it was the first Roman colony of the ...
, Italy, he teamed with
Adriano Biasella
Adriano Biasella (born 1 September 1980) is a retired Italian tennis player.
Biasella has a career high ATP singles ranking of 389 achieved on 19 November 2007. He also has a career high doubles ranking of 342 achieved on 23 July 2007.
He won ...
and won the tournament, losing only a single set. He finished the year ranked #552 in doubles.
2006
Despite finishing the 2005 season with a career-high ranking, Golubev struggled to start the 2006 season, not making it beyond the quarterfinals of a futures event until mid-May and dropping back below the 400th ranking place in mid-March. He returned to the top 400 after making the finals in
Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a th ...
, rising to a new career-high ranking, but in this tournament he benefited from drawing a wild card in his first match, and getting both a withdrawal and a retirement from other opponents.
He returned to the challenger circuit for the start of June, qualifying for an event in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, where he lost in the first round, but his ranking suffered a major blow when his two wins from the previous season dropped off, sending him down to #448.
Despite this setback, Golubev had a major breakthrough in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, where, as a wild card, he won back-to-back challenger matches for the first time, progressing to the quarterfinals before losing to Sydney Olympic bronze medalist
Arnaud Di Pasquale.
His next three attempts at qualifying for challengers, though, all failed, so he again returned to the futures circuit, but with more success than his early season appearances, making finals at both
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
and
Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma.
Ove ...
, and returning him to the top 400. He briefly dropped back below this line, but came back up after a good challenger performance in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, where he won five straight matches, four in three sets, to qualify and make the quarterfinals.
Golubev again focused on futures play to end the season, and had some significant success. He defeated
Adrian Mannarino
Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 22, attained on 19 March 2018. He won his first ATP Tour singles title at the 2019 Rosmalen Open on grass. He is c ...
in the final of an event in
Rodez
Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the ...
to set a new career-high ranking of #336, then made back to back finals in November, losing in
Redbridge, England, and winning over
Jeroen Masson
Jeroen Masson (born 2 January 1981) is a Belgian former professional tennis player.
Although born in Belgium, Masson was raised in South Africa and comes from a family of bakers. In order to embark on a career in professional tennis he returned t ...
in
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...
, further boosting his ranking to #303, and ending the year ranked #305 in the world.
Golubev's ranking also improved in doubles, though not by as wide a margin. After making two tournament finals in June, he moved into the top 500, and nearly ended up in the top 400 before inactivity at the end of the season cost him points and dropped him back below #500. He finished the year ranked 510th in doubles.
2007
Golubev's first tournament of 2007 was a first for him, as he attempted to qualify for his first
ATP International Series
The ATP International Series (known from 1990 to 1997 as the ATP World Series) was a series of professional tennis tournaments held internationally as part of the ATP Tour from 2000 to 2008.
The series was renamed ATP Tour 250 in 2009. Internat ...
event, the
Qatar ExxonMobil Open in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
. He lost his first match in straight sets, but continued his attempts to qualify for large events when he entered qualifying for 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 ...
. In Melbourne, he won his first qualifying match against
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
, but lost the second and failed to advance. Still, the ranking points that this attempt garnered moved Golubev into the top 300 for the first time in his career.
Through the early months of the year, Golubev continued to attempt to qualify for both ATP and challenger events, with no success. He made the final round of qualifying on several occasions, including losing to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
at the
Open 13
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February. The number 13 is the INSEE co ...
in
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
.
He was able to gain direct acceptance to a challenger event in Rome in May, his first appearance in a main draw since September 2006, making the quarterfinals. His first challenger semifinal appearance came in
Sassuolo
Sassuolo (; egl, label= Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna.
Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known f ...
a month later, as he won six straight matches to move into the top 250 for the first time.
This made it easier to earn direct acceptance to challengers, and also helped him enter
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
qualifying. In his first major event on grass, Golubev defeated #1 seed
Olivier Patience
Olivier Patience (born 25 March 1980) is a former French professional tennis player. His career high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking was world no. 87, on 19 July 2004. During 2006, Patience won three ATP Challenger Ser ...
, but fell short in the final round, losing his first five-set match to
Wang Yeu-Tzuoo
Wang Yeu-tzuoo (), who also goes by Jimmy Wang, (born February 8, 1985) is a professional tennis player from Taiwan. Until the emergence of Lu Yen-hsun, Wang was the highest ranked player from Taiwan. The right-hander stands 5 feet 10 inche ...
, and failing to qualify.
Wang would serve as Golubev's nemesis again, later in July at
Recanati
Recanati () is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, ...
, where Golubev beat
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
and
Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP W ...
to make his first challenger-level final, where he again lost to Wang, this time managing to take a set from him. This performance lifted him into the top 200 for the first time in his career.
He would continue to play challengers for the remainder of the season, with his best result coming in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
, where he made the semifinals. In late October, Golubev again attempted to qualify for an ATP tour event, this time the
Davidoff Swiss Indoors
The Swiss Indoors is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.
History
The historical precursor event to this tournament was called the Swiss International Covered Courts ...
in
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
. This time, he was successful, not dropping a set in qualifying, and so made his first career ATP International Series main draw. He would actually improve on this, winning his first ATP match over American
Amer Delic
Amer may refer to:
Places
* Amer (river), a river in the Dutch province of North Brabant
* Amer, Girona, a municipality in the province of Girona in Catalonia, Spain
* Amber, India (also known as Amer, India), former city of Rajasthan state
** Am ...
, and winning a set from #8 seed
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu (; born 12 January 1982) is a French former professional tennis player. He won four singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best singles performance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament was reaching the semifinals of the ...
before losing the next two to go out. He would finish his season ranked #177.
Golubev played fairly few doubles matches in 2007, but did record his first career challenger victory at
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
with
Francesco Piccari
Francesco Piccari (born 7 September 1979) is a former professional tennis player from Italy.
Biography Career
Piccari began competing professionally when aged 18 but didn't quite master until he was 19.
He competed in several Grand Slam qualify ...
, and again teamed with Piccari to make the semi-finals in Cordenons. He reached a new career high doubles ranking of #350 after these results, and finished the year at #389.
2008–2009: Grand Slam debut, first ATP final
Golubev began the season by qualifying for his second ATP event, the
Next Generation Adelaide International
The Australian Hard Court Championships was a former professional tennis tournament established in 1938 and held until 2008. The event was played on clay courts until 1977 when it switched to hard courts. The tournament was a combined event for m ...
, but lost to a man he had beaten in Australia the year before,
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
, in the first round. In Australian Open qualifying, Golubev again fell short at the second round, but this time he quickly moved on to a challenger event in
Heilbronn, Germany, where he reeled off eight straight wins, including beating #1 seed
Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer (; born 5 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player.
Mayer reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in June 2011. Also in 2011, Mayer won his first ATP title after four previous defeats in ATP fin ...
and
Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner (born 24 March 1984) is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and bursts of speed around the court. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in ...
in the final, winning his first career challenger event, and putting him to a new career-high ranking of 135. Despite being inactive, shifts from other players moved Golubev to his current career-high of No. 132 on February 11.
Golubev again attempted to qualify for the
2008 Open 13 in Marseille, but fell just one set short, losing to
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
. He then went on a long losing streak, failing to win a singles match between mid-February and mid-April. This included a failure in his first attempt to qualify for an
ATP Masters Series
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
event, losing in the first qualifying round at
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
.
He won a match in qualifying for the
Open Sabadell Atlántico in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
to end a seven-game losing streak, but did not win consecutive matches until a quarterfinal in a challenger in
Sanremo
Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
. He attempted to qualify for both Wimbledon, and, for the first time, the
2008 French Open, but failed in both attempts, losing in the second round of Wimbledon qualifying.
Golubev reached another new milestone at the
2008 Canada Masters in Toronto, beating
Phillip King and
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian ...
to qualify for his first career ATP Masters series event main draw. He lost his first round match, though, to veteran
Thomas Johansson
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish retired professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on 10 May 2002. His career highlights ...
of Sweden.
Golubev continued his attempts to qualify for ATP level events, succeeding at the
2008 Countrywide Classic
245px, Los Angeles Tennis Center's Straus Stadium court
The 2008 Countrywide Classic was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 82nd edition of the Los Angeles Open, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 A ...
in Los Angeles, but losing in the first round to
Florent Serra
Florent Lucien Serra (born 28 February 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. A right-hander, he won two ATP titles during his career and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 36 in June 2006.
Career Early life and ...
. and falling one match short in Washington, D.C., at the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The Washington Open (known as the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 5 ...
.
Golubev entered qualifying for the
US Open for the first time in 2008, losing in the final round to Switzerland's
Stéphane Bohli. However, when
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
pulled out of the tournament, Golubev was chosen as the
lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...
to replace him, and made his
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
debut against an American wildcard,
Brendan Evans
Brendan Evans (born April 8, 1986 in Pontiac, Michigan) was an American professional tennis player. He is currently a retired professional tennis player.
Tennis career
Juniors
On the junior circuit, Evans reached as high as No. 2 in the combine ...
. Golubev defeated Evans in three sets, but then lost to seventh seed
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
in the second round.
Golubev has had another year of only light doubles play, with his best result a semifinal with Francesco Piccari in
Córdoba.
He reached the final of the
2008 St. Petersburg Open. His first win came against
Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian tennis player. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles ...
, where he prevailed 6–1, 6–4. He then surprised home hero
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
in the second round, beating the Russian 6–4, 6–2 to progress to the quarterfinals. His next opponent was
Mischa Zverev, whom he beat 6–7, 6–4, 7–6. He then went on to beat
Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
6–3, 6–0 in the semifinals, but lost to
Andy Murray 1–6, 1–6 in the final.
Golubev reached the second round of the
2009 French Open in singles, his best showing at a Grand Slam thus far.
2010: Best singles season, Historic first ATP title for Kazakhstan and top 40 career-high singles ranking
Golubev began the year by reaching his first
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 ...
2nd round by upsetting
Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career highlights include reaching a Grand S ...
3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 3–6 but losing to
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
in the following round 6–2, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3. He then reached the final of the
2010 Intersport Heilbronn Open
The 2010 Intersport Heilbronn Open (known as the 2010 Intersport Heilbronn Open presented by Wilson for sponsorship reasons) was a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was part of the 2010 ATP Challenger Tour. It took ...
challenger losing to
Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer (born 1 July 1980) is a German retired professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 in May 2010.
Career
2010
He reached the quarterfinal at the Aircel Chennai Open in January, losing t ...
3–6, 6–7. he then suffered first round losts in the
2010 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament and
2010 PBZ Zagreb Indoors
The 2010 PBZ Zagreb Indoors was an ATP men's tennis tournament played on hard courts indoors. It was the 5th edition of the Zagreb Indoors, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place in Zagreb, Croatia ...
. He then came back to the challengers of the
2010 GEMAX Open, where he retired in the quarterfinals against
Ilija Bozoljac
Ilija Bozoljac ( sr-Cyrl, Илија Бозољац, ; born 2 August 1985) is a former Serbian professional tennis player and coach.
On 29 January 2007, Bozoljac reached his best singles ranking of world No. 101. On 22 February 2016, he peaked at ...
, 4–6, 3–5 ret. Representing
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
against
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, he was able to win both of his matches in straight sets. At the challengers of the
2010 BMW Tennis Championship, he fell in the second round to
Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer (born 1 July 1980) is a German retired professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 in May 2010.
Career
2010
He reached the quarterfinal at the Aircel Chennai Open in January, losing t ...
.
He was able to qualify in the
2010 BNP Paribas Open, but lost to
Daniel Gimeno-Traver
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
6–3, 6–4 in the first round. At the
2010 Tennis Napoli Cup challengers, he fell to
Rui Machado
Rui Machado (born April 10, 1984, in Faro) is a Portuguese retired professional tennis player who is regarded as one of the best Portuguese players of all time. In October 2011, he achieved a career-high singles world ranking at 59, at the time ...
, 6–3 6–3 in the semifinals. He then reached the second round of the
2010 Grand Prix Hassan II
The 2010 Grand Prix Hassan II was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 26th edition of the Grand Prix Hassan II, and an ATP Tour World 250 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour. It was the 26th edition of the tournament ...
and as a qualifier in the
2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, falling to
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
and
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
, respectively. Golubev fell in the qualifications of the
2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The 2010 Italian Open (also known as the 2010 Rome Masters and sponsored title 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia) was a tennis tournament, being played on outdoor clay courts at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. It was the 67th edition of the event ...
. In a Davis Cup tie against China, he again won both his matches to give Kazakhstan a play-off spot.
He then suffered first-round loses in the
2010 French Open,
2010 Aegon Championships,
Aegon International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour ...
, and
2010 Wimbledon Championships. However, he reach the semifinals of the challenger
2010 UniCredit Czech Open, losing to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
, 6–3, 6–2. At the
2010 Swedish Open
The 2010 Swedish Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour and 2010 WTA Tour. It took place in Båstad, Sweden, from July 5 through July 11, 2010 for Women's and f ...
, he lost in the second round to
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2.
Golubev played world No. 6 and defending champion
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
in the
2010 International German Open to earn a spot in the quarterfinals, and then defeated
Denis Istomin
Denis Olegovich Istomin (born 7 September 1986) is an Uzbek professional tennis player. He has won two singles titles (at the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham and 2017 Chengdu Open) and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in Aug ...
, 6–4, 6–1 to earn a semifinal berth. He then defeated
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Geral ...
in the final, 6–3, 7–5, earning his first ATP World Tour title and becoming the first man from Kazakhstan to win an ATP World Tour title.
Golubev followed this up by reaching the final of the
2010 Proton Malaysian Open, losing to US Open semifinalist
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
, having won the first set. As a result, he reached a career-high in singles of World No. 33 on 4 October 2010. He finished the year in the top 40 at World No. 36.
2011-2012
Golubev reached two second rounds in two consecutive years at the
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and at the
2012 Indian Wells Masters as a qualifier, his best showing at this Masters 1000.
Golubev lost to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
in the first round of the
2011 US Open in straight sets, but he led early in each of the sets 3–1 in the first, 3–0 in the second, and 3–1 in the third, and was able to hold to force the second set into a tiebreak. The final score was 4–6, 6–7, 5–7.
Golubev reached the second round of the
2012 Australian Open his best showing at this Grand Slam equaling his showing at the
2010 Australian Open.
2014: French Open semifinal and first ATP final in doubles, top 100 year-end singles
2020: Six ATP Challenger titles in doubles
2021: Historic French Open final, third ATP final, Olympics & top 25 debut in doubles
Partnering with fellow Kazakh
Alexander Bublik
Alexander Stanislavovich "Sasha" Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 30 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in ...
, Golubev reached the third round of the
2021 Australian Open his best showing in his career at this major, after a five-year non-participation at a Grand Slam level in doubles, defeating top pair R. Farrah/J.S. Cabal.
The pair Golubev/Bublik went two steps further and reached the semifinals of the
2021 French Open defeating No. 5 seeded
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
/
Filip Polášek
Filip Polášek (; born 21 July 1985) is a Slovak professional tennis player who specialises in doubles.
He was forced to retire in 2013 due to health issues, but returned in 2018 and began the most successful phase of his career. Polášek wo ...
(second round), No. 11 seeded
Wesley Koolhof
Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 in doubles on 7 November 2022.
He has won 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, mos ...
/
Jean-Julien Rojer
Jean-Julien Rojer (; ; born 25 August 1981) is a Dutch professional tennis player from Curaçao, who specialises in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in November 2015.
He is a four-time Grand Slam champion, hav ...
(third round) and
Hugo Nys
Hugo Nys (; born 16 February 1991) is a French-born Monegasque tennis player who is a doubles specialist on the ATP Tour. On 29 July 2019, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of No. 327 and he achieved his highest doubles ranking of No. ...
/
Tim Pütz
Tim Pütz (; born 19 November 1987) is a German professional tennis player who specialises in doubles.
He reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 on 29 August 2022, and has won seven doubles titles on the ATP Tour, most notably t ...
(quarterfinals) en route, Golubev's best showing at this Grand Slam since the doubles semifinal of the
2014 French Open partnering with
Samuel Groth
Samuel Groth OLY, MP (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player. Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party in the seat of Nepean. He is also th ...
. In the semifinal the Kazakh duo defeated the Spanish duo
Pablo Andujar
Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul.
People
* Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer
*Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer
*Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer
* Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist
*Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer
* Pablo Bren ...
/
Pedro Martinez
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
who were both making their Grand Slam semifinals doubles debut. They played in the final against the French home favorites
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
/
Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...
, but they lost 6−4, 6−7, 4−6. With this run, Golubev improved his ranking, entering the top 40 at No. 39 on 14 June, from his best doubles ranking of No. 65 reached on 23 March 2015.
At the
2021 Wimbledon Championships
The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to cla ...
he reached the third round for the first time at this major partnering
Robin Haase
Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player.
He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reac ...
. As a result, he reached a career high ranking of No. 35 in doubles on 19 July 2021. He reached the third round at the
2021 US Open (tennis) as well for the first time partnering
Andreas Mies.
At the
2021 St. Petersburg Open he reached his second ATP doubles final of the season and third in his career partnering
Hugo Nys
Hugo Nys (; born 16 February 1991) is a French-born Monegasque tennis player who is a doubles specialist on the ATP Tour. On 29 July 2019, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of No. 327 and he achieved his highest doubles ranking of No. ...
. As a result, he made his debut into the top 30 in the doubles rankings at World No. 28 on 1 November and top 25 debut on 8 November 2021.
Change in nationality
For the first years of his career, up to and including 2008 Wimbledon, Golubev competed as an athlete from Russia. However, before the
2008 Canada Masters, he changed his affiliation, appearing on the draw as an athlete from
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, and his ATP profile now reflects this.
Grand Slam tournament finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
ATP career finals
Singles: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)
Doubles: 3 (3 runners-up)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 23 (12–11)
Doubles: 32 (19–13)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
Wins over top 10 players
*He has a 4–17 (19.05%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golubev, Andrey
Kazakhstani male tennis players
Naturalised citizens of Kazakhstan
Naturalised tennis players
People from Volzhsky, Volgograd Oblast
1987 births
Living people
Russian emigrants to Kazakhstan
Russian male tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Asian Games gold medalists for Kazakhstan
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Olympic tennis players of Kazakhstan
Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Sportspeople from Volgograd Oblast