Blaž Rola (born 5 October 1990) is a Slovenian
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 c ...
player.
His highest career ranking is No. 78 in singles and No. 186 in doubles. In his career, he has won nine singles and six doubles
ITF Futures tournaments, five ATP Challenger in singles and eight in doubles. He represents Slovenia on the
Slovenia Davis Cup team. In the 2013
Mediterranean Games
The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...
in
Mersin
Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitl ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, he won gold in singles and doubles.
Personal life
Rola was born in
Ptuj, the oldest Slovenian town, to father Marijan Rola and mother Majda Rola. He was four years old when he started playing tennis and when he was six he joined the Tennis Club Terme Ptuj where he spent the most of his youth. He went to High school in Ptuj. In 2010 he moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
where he studied at and competed in tennis for
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
until 2013. In January 2019 he and his fiancée Vanesa welcomed daughter Izabela. The same year he married his long term girlfriend, Slovenian blogger Vanesa Rola.
College career
He competed for
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
from 2010 to 2013, winning the NCAA doubles championship in 2012 and the NCAA singles championship in 2013.
Professional career
2008–2013
In 2008 he began his professional career when he performed his first tournaments in
ITF Futures and
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP ...
series.
In 2010 he represented Slovenia for the first time in Davis Cup and moved to study and play tennis in United States.
At 2013 Mediterranean Games he won 2 gold medals and made big progress when he reached Top 200 on ATP rankings for the first time in his career. In this period he won 9 Futures singles and 6 doubles titles and 1 title in doubles in Challenger series.
2014: Grand Slam and top 100 debut
Through qualifications he reached the main draw of
Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the
2014 Australian Open
The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of eve ...
. He lost in second round against
Martin Kližan. With this result he became the fifth Slovene male player to reach the main draw of any Grand Slam.
In May he reached Top 100 in the ATP rankings and played in the qualifications for the
2014 French Open
The 2014 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 118th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 25 May to 8 June. It consisted of e ...
where her lost in the third round to
James Ward.
In June he played his first ATP 250 series tournament on grass. At the
2014 Aegon Championships,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and the
2014 Aegon International
The 2014 Aegon International was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 40th edition of the event for the women and the 6th edition for the men. It was classified as a WTA Premier tournament on ...
,
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...
he lost in the first round on both occasions. He played in the main draw of
2014 Wimbledon Championships
The 2014 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 128th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
for the first time in his career and lost 1–6, 1–6, 0–6 in the second round against
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...
.
2015: Career-high ranking
He reached a career-high ranking in singles of No. 78 on 5 January 2015.
2021: Fifth Challenger title
At the
2021 Zadar Open he won his seventh Challenger doubles title partnering his good friend
Blaž Kavčič
Blaž Kavčič (born 5 March 1987) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player.
He was the highest ranked Slovenian male player ever, achieving a career-high of World No. 68 in August 2012, until Aljaž Bedene began to play for Slovenia ...
.
At the
2021 Split Open he defeated Kavčič to win his fifth Challenger singles title.
Challenger and Futures finals
Singles: 27 (14–13)
Doubles: 22 (14–8)
Singles performance timeline
:''* ''
Record against other players
Rola's match record against those who have been
ranked in the top 10. Players who have been No. 1 are in boldface
*
Nicolas Almagro
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–17 ...
0–1
*
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 ...
0–1
*
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...
0–1
*
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player.
His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009.
His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
0–1
:''* .''
Davis Cup
*
indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rola, Blaz
1990 births
Living people
Ohio State Buckeyes men's tennis players
Slovenian expatriates in the United States
Slovenian male tennis players
People from Ptuj
Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Slovenia
Competitors at the 2013 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis