Alex Kuznetsov (born February 5, 1987) is a retired professional tennis player. He is a former hitting partner of Maria Sharapova.
Personal life Kuznetsov was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine). His family moved to the United States when he was three years old, settling just outside Philadelphia.
Tennis career
Juniors Kuznetsov was coached by Jason Katzer during his youth. As a junior, Kuznetsov compiled a singles win–loss record of 67–27 (50-21 in doubles), reaching a combined junior world ranking of number 4 in July 2004.
Junior Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: - French Open: F (2004) Wimbledon: 2R (2004) US Open: 3R (2005)
Nike offered Kuznetsov a one-million dollar sponsorship contract as soon as he turned pro, which he accepted.
2006 In July 2006, Kuznetsov played in the Comerica Challenger in Aptos, defeating Go Soeda for the 2006 singles title. At the 2006 US Open, he lost to fourteenth seed Tommy Haas.
That same year, Kuznetsov appeared in the video game Top Spin 2 as an up-and-coming star.
2007
Kuznetsov reached the second round of the 2007 Australian Open, defeating Australian Peter Luczak before losing to fellow American James Blake, 6–4, 6–1, 6–2. Kuznetsov gave Blake an early scare by breaking Blake's first two service games.
In April 2007, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World number 158.
In the 2007 US Open he played doubles with American Jesse Levine. They won their first round match over Dominik Hrbatý of Slovakia and Harel Levy of Israel, 6–1, 6–4, and their second round match, upsetting seventh-seeded Frenchmen Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–6(5), 6–4, before losing in the third round to ninth-seeded Czechs Lukáš Dlouhý and Pavel Vízner, 6–4, 7–5.
In December, Kuznetsov, Levine, and Wayne Odesnik were invited by the USTA to play off in a round-robin for the wild-card berth in the Australian Open."Isner on outside looking in at Australian Open ... for now" ESPN, 12/11/07, accessed 12/13/07 Levine won the wild card.
Performance timelines
Singles Current through 2015 Australian Open. Tournament2006200720082009201020112012201320142015Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenA2RQ2AQ1Q31RQ1Q3Q31–2French OpenAQ2Q1AAQ1Q21RQ1A0–1WimbledonAQ2Q1AQ2Q2Q11R1R0–2US Open1R1RQ3Q1Q1Q1Q1Q3Q12–3Win–loss0–11–20–00–00–00–00–12–30–10–03–8Career statisticsTitles–Finals0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–0Year-end ranking223180344198250169224142182
Doubles Current till US Open. Tournament2004200520062007200820092013W–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian Open0-0French Open0–0Wimbledon1R0–1US Open1R2R1R3R1R1R1R3-7Win–loss0–11–10–12–20–10–10–13–8Career statisticsTitles–Finals0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–0
Notes
References
External links
The official website of Alex Kuznetsov