Dmitry Tursunov

• Date of birth: Dec 12, 1982
• Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
• Residence: Roseville, California
• Height: 6'1'' (185 cm)
• Weight:  180 lbs (81 kg)
• Plays: Right-handed
• Turned Pro: 2000

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Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov  (born December 12, 1982 in Moscow, Russia) is a professional male tennis player from Russia. Tursunov, like his countrymen Marat Safin and Igor Andreev, left Russia at an early age. In Tursunov's case, he was 12 years old when he moved overseas to further his prospects of becoming a professional player. Unlike Safin and Andreev who went to Valencia, Spain, Tursunov went to live in the U.S. and has lived there ever since.

Tursunov is an aggressive baseliner with excellent groundstrokes from both sides and prefers to play on faster surfaces; he jokes about his lack of ability and success on clay courts.

Tennis career

Tursunov turned professional in 2000, but has suffered many major injuries in his career to date. The first of these was a broken leg in January of the same year, which forced him to miss four months of the season. He came back and won 3 ATP Futures events and also made 2 finals.

In 2001 Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison, then the Dallas Challenger defeating Justin Bower. After these 2 lower level tournament successes Tursunov qualified for his first ATP event in Memphis and made the quarter finals defeating Kevin Kim, Greg Rusedski, George Bastl before losing to the eventual champion Mark Philippoussis.

Tursunov's form suffered after his impact in Memphis because of what doctors believed was a bulging disk in his back. He returned after two months away and then suffered a stress fracture in his leg. As the back pain continued, Tursunov went to see a local doctor in Sacramento and the extent of his injury problems were misdiagnosed as he was suffering from not one, but two fractures in his L-2 vertebrae. Tursunov was forced to miss 9 months and did not come back to tennis until June, 2002 and that year he won another title on the U.S. Futures circuit.

After making two finals on the Challenger circuit in Aptos and the Bronx, Tursunov qualified for his first Grand Slam event at the 2003 U.S. Open defeating former world number one Gustavo Kuerten and John van Lottum both in 5 sets before losing in the third round to Xavier Malisse. Continuing on after the U.S. Open, he again showed his fondness for the hardcourts and won 2 consecutive Challenger titles in Mandeville over Jan Hernych and in San Antonio over Sebasiten de Chaunac. At the end of 2003, for the first time in his career he finished the year ranked in the top 100.

Tursunov started the season of 2004 with another title in the Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla and for the first time in his career he was able to play in all of the 4 Grand Slam events. His best performance was a 3rd round appearance at Wimbledon defeating his friend and compatriot Marat Safin in the first round and then played a marathon 5th set winning 15-13 over Sargis Sargsian before falling to Carlos Moyà in the next round.

After the 2004 U.S. Open loss to Fabrice Santoro, Tursunov was forced out of tennis again for 7 months with a broken vertebrae suffered in a boating accident and did not play until the 2005 Indian Wells tournament. At Wimbledon 2005 Tursunov achieved his best ever performance in a Grand Slam event by making the fourth round and he had to play in a Wimbledon club shirt, as two of his shirts were stolen from the locker room before the Henman match. He defeated the local hope Tim Henman in 5 sets in the second round before losing to Sebastien Grosjean in as many sets. It was the first time Tursunov had ever lost a 5 set match, previously compiling a 5-0 record in 5 set matches.

As Tursunov's form started to improve and he came into calculation for selection in the Russian Davis Cup team, the problems he was having obtaining U.S. citizenship became apparent. Tursunov had for years attempted to become a U.S. citizen, but the process has stalled and Tursunov travels with a Russian passport, but an American visa. In his own words "It's frustrating, but what can you do?" In spite of this Tursunov was selected for Russia in the Davis Cup semi final against Croatia and won his dead rubber match against Ivo Karlovi?. Tursunov made the semi finals of the Moscow tournament losing to eventual champion Igor Andreev and then won a challenger in Kolding and finished the year ranked inside the top 100 again.

2006 has been a successful year for Tursunov as he has achieved his highest ever ranking so far, won his first ATP title beating Tomáš Berdych in Mumbai and made his first ATP final in Los Angeles losing to Tommy Haas in three sets. He has also been successful on the Challenger circuit winning the Sunrise, Florida title over Alberto Martin and has played in both ties for Russia in the Davis Cup, defeating French Richard Gasquet in the fourth rubber of the quarter-final to send the Russians into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

At the French Open, Tursunov lost to David Nalbandian after having a two sets to love lead. He defeated Ivan Ljubicic in the third round of Wimbledon coming back from two sets to love, before losing in the next round, 9-7 in the fifth set to Jarkko Nieminen. After losing a game to give Nieminen a 8-7 lead he hit a ball at the chair umpire. He was given a point penalty and later fined £4,000 ($7,500) for "unsportsmanlike conduct". He called the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy, an "idiot" in the news conference he had after the match.

For the second time in 2006 Tursunov sealed victory for Russia in the Davis Cup this time in the semi finals where he defeated Andy Roddick of the U.S. 6-3 6-4 5-7 3-6 17-15 in a match that lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes and with this victory earned Russia the spot in the Davis Cup final against Argentina, which took place in December. Tursunov took part in a crucial doubles tie with Marat Safin, which they won to give Russia a 2-1 lead. Marat Safin later sealed the 2006 Davis Cup win for Russia with his victory over Jose Acasuso.

On January 6, 2007 Tursunov won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia while representing Russia alongside Nadia Petrova. In the finals Tursunov defeated Tommy Robredo in straight sets, after teamate Nadia Petrova's victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues. Following this match was a proset mixed doubles between Russians Dmitry Tursunov and Nadia Petrova and Spanish Tommy Robredo and Anabel Medina Garrigues. This match was a clear show of the playful nature of Tursunov and the other players. The match was relaxed, since the outcome of the mixed doubles proset match did not matter. At one stage Anabel Medina Garrigues switched with Tursunov so that Tursunov and Robredo were on one side, while Medina Garrigues and Petrova were on the other. The umpire, playing along assigned points to Spain regardless.

June 2007: In Wimbledon, Tursunov was beaten in four sets and consequently knocked out by Tommy Haas of Germany, 1-6 6-4 7-6 6-4. Ironically, Haas was unable to go on and play his next game against Roger Federer due to an abdominal injury.

In Indianapolis, Tursunov won his 2nd career title, defeating surprise finalist Frank Dancevic 6-4 7-5, losing only 10 points on serve and never facing a break point.

Tursunov was named in the four man team that played the United States in the Davis Cup final, in Portland, Oregon, on the 30th November - 2 December 2007. Tursunov lost the first rubber of the 2007 Davis Cup final against Roddick, who won by a scoreline of 6–4, 6–4, 6–2. Tursunov was on the verge of defeating James Blake, but Blake won 1–6, 6–3, 7–5 in the 4th dead rubber, the USA having won the tie in the previous doubles match.

Dmitry played his first tournament of 2008 at the Medibank International in Sydney, Australia. In the first round he defeated Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6–3, 6–3. In the second round, Dmitry defeated top seed and number eight in the world Richard Gasquet of France 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. In the 1/4 finals he defeated Sebastien Grosjean of France 6–3, 6–4 and in the semis, Dmitry defeated crafty Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6–3, 6–4. In the final, Dmitry defeated big serving giant Australian Chris Guccione 7–6, 7–6. This was Dmitry's fourth career title.

At the Australian Open, Dmitry beat Xavier Malisse in the first round in 5 sets, after being down two sets to love - the final score being 6–7 5–7 6–2 6–1 6–3. However, he then lost his second round match against Sam Querrey in four sets - 7–6 4–6 6–4 6–2.

Dmitry lost in the first round of the Rotterdam Open to Rafael Nadal 4–6 4–6, but combined with Tomáš Berdych to win the doubles title, defeating Mikhail Youzhny and Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final 7–5 3–6 10-7. This is Dmitry's 2nd doubles career title.

At Roland Garros, Dmitry won his first two round matches against Daniel Brands and Guillermo Garcia Lopez, and then lost to Jeremy Chardy in straight sets, Chardy having previously defeated David Nalbandian. However, Tursunov paired up with Igor Kunitsyn in the mens' doubles event. They reached the semi finals, losing to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4 4-6 4-6. This performance lifted Tursunov to a career high doubles ranking of 36.

On the 17th June at the Slazenger Open in Nottingham, Tursunov walked off the court when losing by a set and a break in a first round doubles match after disagreeing with a line call. The next morning, the ATP announced he had been thrown out of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament because of his actions. This included the singles tournament, handing second round opponent Thomas Johansson a walk over into the quarter finals.

At Wimbledon, Tursunov beat Nicolas Mahut in five sets, 6-4 6-7 7-6 3-6 7-5, Chris Eaton 7-6 6-2 6-4, and lost to Janko Tipsarevi? 6-7 6-7 3-6 in the 3rd round. At the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, Tursunov upset the number 1 seed James Blake with the score of 4-6 6-3 6-4 to make it to the finals. He was unable to defend his title, losing to Gilles Simon 4-6 4-6 in the championship match. Tursunov lost in 3rd round to James Blake at the Rogers Masters and to eventual champion Andy Murray in 3rd round at the Cincinnati Masters. Tursunov represented Russia for the first time at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He lost first round to Roger Federer.

At US Open, Tursunov reached the 3rd round by beating Eduardo Schwank and Victor Hanescu. He was beaten by his compatriot Nikolay Davydenko.

Tursunov celebrated his 5th ATP title win at the Open de Moselle in Metz beating Paul-Henri Mathieu.

source:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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