Izak van der Merwe (born 26 January 1984) is a retired South African

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. Van der Merwe had a career high ATP singles ranking of 113 achieved on 1 August 2011. Van der Merwe represented South Africa at the Davis Cup. He says he tried to base his play on the former Wimbledon champion,

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

. >

Tennis career highlights

2005–2007: Career beginnings

Van der Merwe turned pro in 2005 and ended the year with a single ranking of 721. During this time Van der Merwe mainly played in the ITF Futures tour. In October 2005, Van der Merwe won his first ITF Futures single title in Zimbabwe F1. In 2006 Van der Merwe reached 5 ITF Futures tour single finals, winning 1. In 2007 Van der Merwe won 3 ITF Futures tour titles.

2008: 1st Grand Slam entry

In June 2008, van der Merwe qualified into the 2008 Wimbledon main draw, beating World No. 177

Miguel Ángel López Jaén Miguel Ángel López Jaén (; born 29 November 1982 in Elche, Spain) is a professional tennis player from Spain. Junior career López Jaén had a brief career at the top level of Juniors play, reaching a high of No. 76 in April 2000 before t ...

, World No. 126

Kristian Pless Kristian Peter Pless (born 9 February 1981) is a former professional male tennis player from Denmark. Tennis career Juniors Pless had an excellent junior career, winning the 1999 Australian Open Boys' Singles (defeated Mikhail Youzhny), and r ...

, and World No. 246

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. He would then go on to lose to

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7–5, 6–2, 6–2. In August 2008 Van der Merwe also reached his first Challenger tour final at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, where he lost to

Brian Dabul Brian Dabul (; born 24 February 1984) is an Argentine retired tennis player. He was ranked the No. 1 junior in the world in January 2002. His highest ranking in men's singles was No. 82 (9 March 2009), and his highest ranking in doubles was No. ...

2010: 1st ATP Challenger title

In August 2010 Van der Merwe won his maiden ATP Challenger title at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, when he defeated world number 88

Ricardo Mello Ricardo Mello (born 21 December 1980) is a Brazilian retired tennis player. His preference is for clay courts. He has had the occasional win in hard court tournaments. His best singles rank was No. 50 in 2005. He won one singles tournament (Delra ...

2011: Second and Third ATP Challenger titles

In February Van der Merwe reached his first main draw Semi-Finals on the ATP World Tour, when he reached the Semi-Finals of the

SA Tennis Open The SA Tennis Open was a professional men's tennis tournament in South Africa that ran for three years from 2009 to 2011. The tournament was played on outdoor hard courts, each February at Montecasino in Johannesburg. It started as a Grand Prix t ...

(ATP 250 Event) in Johannesburg, South Africa. He went on to lose to world number 110

Somdev Devvarman Somdev Kishore Devvarman (born 13 February 1985) is a former professional Indian tennis player. He hit the headlines for being the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA, winning back-to-back finals i ...

. In April Van der Merwe won his second ATP Challenger title at the

Soweto Open The Soweto Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was part of the ATP Challenger Tour, Challenger Tour and the ITF Women's Circuit as a $50,000+H event. It was held at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Centre in the Sowet ...

in Johannesburg, South Africa, when he defeated countryman and world number 184

Rik De Voest Rik de Voest (born 5 June 1980) is a former professional South African tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 110 in August 2006. Rik resides in Vancouver, Canada where he pursues a career in real estate. De V ...

. In November Van der Merwe won his third ATP Challenger title at the Charlottesville Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, when he defeated world number 283

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 ...

2012

In July he reached the Quarter-Finals of the

Hall of Fame Tennis Championships The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. The ...

(ATP 250 event) in Newport, RI, U.S.A. .

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 17 (8 titles-9 runner-ups)

Singles performance timeline

''Current till 2013 US Open.''

References

External links

* *
van der Merwe World Ranking History
{{DEFAULTSORT:VAN Der Merwe, Izak Tennis players from Johannesburg South African male tennis players 1984 births Living people Old Dominion University alumni White South African people