Amer Delić (; born June 30, 1982) is a
Bosnian American
Bosnian Americans are Americans whose ancestry can be traced to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The vast majority of Bosnian Americans immigrated to the United States during and after the Bosnian War which lasted from 1992–95. Nevertheless, many Bosni ...
former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He is a former captain and member of the
Bosnia and Herzegovina Davis Cup team.
Delić was born in
Tuzla
Tuzla (, , ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inha ...
, then in
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, now in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1996, his family emigrated to
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
, where he attended
Samuel W. Wolfson High School, a public high school with the largest Bosnian population in Florida.
Representing the United States as a tour player until 2009, he then began representing his country of birth,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, and was a member of its Davis Cup team.
Career
Delić played High School Tennis at Wolfson High in Jacksonville, Florida. It was here that he won a State Championship.
Delić played collegiate tennis at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...
. At
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
he won both the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
Division I
singles and team championships in 2003.
In
Grand Slams, Delić's best singles performance was to reach the third round at the
2009 Australian Open
The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Aus ...
. In doubles Delić reached the third round of the
US Open twice: with
Jeff Morrison
Jeffrey Alan Morrison (born February 4, 1979) is a retired American professional tennis player.
Morrison was the last American male left in the singles draw at Wimbledon in 2002, going on to defeat future World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero en rout ...
in
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
, having upset the team of
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...
and
Nenad Zimonjić
Nenad Zimonjić ( sr-Cyrl, Ненад Зимоњић, ; born 4 June 1976) is a Serbian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles.
He is an eight-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Ch ...
in the first round, and with
Justin Gimelstob
Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.
He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the ag ...
in
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
.
In March 2007, Delić reached the fourth round of the
Miami Masters, upset World No. 4
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( ; born 2 June 1981) is a Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tournam ...
en route in straight sets.
2009
Delić started off the year in Brisbane, where he won three qualifying matches, but was defeated in the first round by
Mario Ančić
Mario Ančić (; born 30 March 1984) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who currently works as a private equity vice president in New York City. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles on the ATP Tour. Ančić's career- ...
6–7
(2), 7–6
(4), 6–7
(6). In Sydney he was defeated in the first round by
Denis Gremelmayr
Denis Gremelmayr (born 16 August 1981) is an inactive German male tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 59, achieved in May 2008.
Glemelmayr was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He reached the semifinals of Estoril, ...
4–6, 6–7
(4). At the Australian Open, Amer finally started to win. He came through three qualifying matches, but lost in the qualifying stage. When he was awarded into a lucky loser spot after
Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri (; born 5 September 1981) is an Italian tennis coach and former professional player.
Volandri reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007.
He turned professional in 1997 and earned almost $4 million in priz ...
banned from a drug substantial use. In the first round of the main draw he defeated
Taylor Dent
Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles.
Career
Early career and back injury
Dent won ATP titl ...
6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. In the second round he defeated
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 2 ...
1–6, 3–6, 6–3, 7–6
(3) 9–7. In the third round he was stopped by
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
2–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7
(4). After the match spectators were caught throwing chairs at each other due to the conflict between Bosnians and Serbs. Due to a knee injury, Delić's last 2009 appearance on the ATP tour was a first round loss against
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 th ...
at the
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in July.
2010: Comeback and Davis Cup play for Bosnia and Herzegovina
At the
US Open, Delić tried a comeback but lost in the first qualification round against
Michael Yani. In September, he joined the
Bosnia and Herzegovina Davis Cup team for a tie in the
Europe/Africa Group II against Portugal. He lost both his singles match against
Frederico Gil
João Frederico Limpo Franco Gil (born 24 March 1985), known as Fred Gil (), was a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional tennis player, who competed in the ITF Men's Circuit. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ...
in five sets and his doubles match on the side of Aldin Šetkić to Gil and
Leonardo Tavares in four sets. Overall, after a 2:3 loss, his team stayed in Group II.
2011
In March, Delić participated in the Bosnia and Herzegovina team's
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
tie in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II against Morocco. He won one of his two singles matches and the doubles match (on the side of Ismar Gorčić), thereby securing his team's victory. In the next tie against Estonia played in July, Delić won all his three matches decidedly helping his team to advance to the next stage against Denmark. There, he again won his two singles matches but not the doubles match so the team stayed in Group II. On the ATP Tour, Delić won his first title since 2008 at the
BH Telecom Indoors at Sarajevo, a challenger tournament.
2012
In
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
play, Delić again was instrumental in securing his team's win over Turkey in February by winning both his singles matches and the doubles match.
2015
Having been named
Bosnia's Davis Cup captain in 2013, Amer made his comeback to professional tennis against
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
in the
2015 Davis Cup after Bosnia was short a player, ultimately helping Bosnia win a doubles match. In addition to serving as their captain, Delić also served as Bosnia's reserve Davis Cup player in case of emergency.
2020
In October 2020, Delić announced a return to semi-professional tennis, partnering golfer
Sergio García in a doubles tournament to be held in
Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
. The pair lost their opening match at the Men's UTR Pro Tennis Open DropShot event.
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 17 (8–9)
Doubles: 6 (3–3)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
References
External links
*
*
*
Illinois profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delic, Amer
1982 births
Living people
American male tennis players
Bosnia and Herzegovina emigrants to the United States
Bosnia and Herzegovina male tennis players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's tennis players
Sportspeople from Tuzla
Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Florida
Tennis players from Florida
Big Ten Athlete of the Year winners