Daniel Cukierman (; born 9 July 1995) is an Israeli tennis player. He has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 115 achieved on 30 June 2025. He also has a career-high singles ranking of No. 339 achieved on 29 May 2023.
During his junior year at the University of Southern California, Cukierman was ranked No. 1 in the US in singles among men’s college tennis players in the 2019–20 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Men’s Individual National Rankings.
Early life Cukierman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Galia and businessman Edouard Cukierman (chairman of Cukierman & Co. Investment House).Viva Sarah Press (January 9, 2020). "Off Court Advantage: Turning Athletes Into Star Investors" He has two brothers, Michael and Ariel. He attended Ironi Daled High School in Tel Aviv."Daniel Cukierman - 2017-18 Men's Tennis Roster," University of Southern California Official Athletic Site.
He was in the Israel Defense Forces for three years. After Cukierman was released from the IDF, Cukierman had a mandatory eight-month break from competition."Freshmen to Watch: Daniel Cukierman; The USC Freshmen on staying motivated, perspective, and getting it done on and off the court," March 28, 2018.
College career In 2017 Cukierman started his studies at the University of Southern California (USC), where he is playing for the USC Trojans tennis team. Cukierman said: "My feeling is to go to college, and after college, I can go pro and try my chances. And if it doesn’t work, I have my degree, so I’ll have other options. I feel like it’s better to start studying when you’re 22 (because I was in the Army) than when you’re 32." He began as an international relations major, and switched to real estate development.
In his freshman year in 2017–18 he was ranked No. 62 in the US in singles, and won All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. Cukierman went 16–5 in singles and 15–4 in doubles with Tanner Smith, and at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoor Championships he was named to the All-Tournament Team at No. 3 doubles.
At the close of his sophomore year in 2018–19 Cukierman was ranked No. 21 in the US in singles, having reached No. 4 in singles and No. 21 in doubles rankings on February 6, 2019. He was named to All-Pac-12 First Team, and received Pac-12 All-Academic Honorable Mention. He went 34–11 in singles. In doubles, he was 26–11, playing again primarily with Tanner Smith. In October 2018, he won the Southern California Intercollegiate Singles title. He also won the Oracle ITA National Fall Singles Championship.
While team captain during his junior year, from November 13, 2019, until the close of competition in 2020, Cukierman was ranked No. 1 in the US in singles among men’s college tennis players in the 2019–20 ITA Division I Men’s Individual National Rankings. He was the first USC player to be ranked #1 in the nation since Steve Johnson in 2012. He was 26–2 in singles in 2019–20. He won the singles title and the doubles title (with Riley Smith) at the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks, California, and also won the Oracle Pro Series ITA Masters championships in singles and doubles (also with Smith). He and Smith ranked No. 5 in the US in doubles when competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. He was the Pac-12 Player of the Week on January 21 and February 18, 2020, and the UTR/ITA Player of the Week on February 18. He was named to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship All-Tournament team at No. 2 singles, and at No. 1 doubles with Smith. He was also named a 2020 ITA All-American.
Professional career When he was 18 years of age, Cukierman started training with Israeli Amos Mansdorf, and won an Israel championship. While in high school, he won the Israeli doubles title.
Cukierman reached the singles finals at the 2016 Greece F9 Futures, and the 2016 Israel F14 Futures and F13 Futures, and reached the doubles final at the 2016 Israel F15 Futures. In December 2017, he won the Israel National Championship in doubles. In December 2019, he won the Israel National Championship in singles.
In January 2020, partnering with Riley Smith, Cukierman won the M25 Los Angeles doubles championship.
National representation Davis Cup Cukierman plays for the Israel Davis Cup team in the Davis Cup. He was first nominated to the team for the 2017 Davis Cup, and played in a match against Portuguese tennis player Frederico Ferreira Silva. In March 2020 he won both singles (defeating Cem Ilkel, ranked #195 in the world, 7–6(4), 6–2 and doubles (with Australian Open doubles champion Jonathan Erlich; defeating Yanki Erel and Ilkel, 6–3, 6–1) matches against Turkey at the Davis Cup Group 1 qualifiers in Antalya, Turkey.
Performance timeline
Doubles Tournament2025SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenA0 / 00–0French OpenA0 / 00–0WimbledonA0 / 00–0US OpenA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00 / 00–0ATP Masters 1000Indian Wells MastersA0 / 00–0Miami OpenA0 / 00–0Monte Carlo MastersA0 / 00–0Madrid OpenA0 / 00-0Italian OpenA0 / 00–0Canadian OpenA0 / 00–0Cincinnati MastersA0 / 00–0Shanghai MastersA0 / 00–0Paris MastersR20 / 10–1Win–loss0–10 / 10–1
ATP Challenger and ITF Tour finals
Singles: 10 (3–7) Legend (singles)ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)Futures/ITF World Tennis Tour (3–7)Finals by surfaceHard (3–5)Clay (0–2)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Israel F13, Kiryat GatFuturesHard Austin Smith1–6, 2–6Loss0–2Israel F14, MeitarFuturesHard Roman Safiullin0–6, 4–6Loss0–3Greece F9, HeraklionFuturesHard Carlos Gómez-Herrera2–6, 2–6Loss0–4M25, Roehampton, United KingdomWorld Tennis TourHard Eric Quigley6–4, 3–6, 2–6Loss0–5M25, Belgrade, SerbiaWorld Tennis TourClay Nick Hardt6–3, 3–6, 3–6Win1–5M15, Akko, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Ben Patael7–5, 6–2Win2–5M25, Netanya, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Kyle Seelig6–1, 6–2Win3–5M25, Afula, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Filip Peliwo7–6(7–4), 6–3Loss3–6M25, Heraklion, GreeceWorld Tennis TourHard Térence Atmane3–6, 6–2, 4–6Loss3–7M25, Gurb, SpainWorld Tennis TourClay David Jordà Sanchis3–6, 1–6
Doubles: 37 (21-17) Legend (singles)ATP Challenger Tour (5–10)Futures/ITF World Tennis Tour (16–7)Finals by surfaceHard (15–11)Clay (6–6)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1-0Israel F5, AshkelonFuturesHard Edan Leshem Sam Barry Evgeny Karlovskiy7-5, 7-5Loss1-1Israel F6, AkkoFuturesHard Dekel Bar Sam Barry Toby Martin3-6, 5-7Loss1-2Israel F7, Tel AvivFuturesHard Edan Leshem Nicolas Meister Hunter Reese5-7, 5-7Win2-2Israel F6, Ramat HasharonFuturesHard Scott Clayton Shahar Elbaz Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi6-4, 6-3Win3-2Israel F8, Tel AvivFuturesHard Edan Leshem Dan Added Albano Olivetti6-4, 6-2Win4-2 M25, Porto, PortugalWorld Tennis TourHard Martin Beran Francisco Dias Goncalo Falcao7–6(8-6), 7-5Win5-2 M25, Los Angeles, United States Of America World Tennis TourHard Riley Smith Sandro Ehrat Brandon Holt7–6(7-4), 7–6(7-5)Loss5-3 M25, Belgrade, SerbiaWorld Tennis TourClay Andrew Fenty Giovanni Oradini Strahinja Rakic3-6, 6-4, [7-10]Win6-3 M25, Johannesburg, South AfricaWorld Tennis TourHard Alastair Gray Mateus Alves Igor Marcondes7–6(7-5), 6-3Loss6-4 M25, Afula, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Dan Added Lior Goldenberg Sahar Simon6-7(7-9), 6-2, [7-10]Win7-4 M15, Antalya, TurkeyWorld Tennis TourClay Tadas Babelis Berk Ilkel S Mert Ozdemir6-3, 6-7(4-7), [10-4]Loss7-5 M25, Bakersfield, United States Of AmericaWorld Tennis TourHard Ruan Roelofse Nam Ji-sung Song Min-kyu2-6, 0-6Win8-5 M25, Ulcinj, RomaniaWorld Tennis TourClay Cezar Cretu Mili Poljičak Stefan Popovic6-4, 6-1Win9-5 M25, Prague, Czech Republic World Tennis TourClay Andrew Harris Filip Duda Peter Heller6-0, 6-3Win10-5 M15, Akko, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Edan Leshem Giles Hussey Daniel Little6-3, 6-4Loss10-6 Malaga, Spain ChallengerHard Emilio Gomez Altug Celikbilek Dmitry Popko7–6(7-4), 4-6, [6-10]Win11-6 M25, Glasgow, United KingdomWorld Tennis TourHard Giles Hussey Anton Matusevich Joshua Paris6-7(3-7), 6-4, [10-8]Win12-6 M25, Afula, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Joshua Paris Vladyslav Orlov Eric Vanshelboim6-3, 6-3Win13-6 M25, Jerusalem, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Joshua Paris Filip Peliwo Mattias Southcombe6-3, 6-4Loss13-7 M25, Heraklion, GreeceWorld Tennis TourHard Volodymyr Uzhylovskyi Neil Oberleitner Tim Sandkaulen2-6, 6-7(5-7)Win14-7 M25, Sunderland, United KingdomWorld Tennis TourHard Edan Leshem Anton Matusevich Joshua Paris2-6, 6-1, [10-3]Win15-7 M25, Gurb, SpainWorld Tennis TourClay Mariano Kestelboim Dimitris Sakellaridis Stefanos Sakellaridis6-3, 6-3Win16-7 M25, Netanya, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Edan Leshem Trey Hilderbrand Noah Schachter6-3, 6-3Loss16-8 M25, Netanya, IsraelWorld Tennis TourHard Edan Leshem Trey Hilderbrand Noah SchachterW/OWin17-8 Mallorca, Spain ChallengerHard Joshua Paris Sriram Balaji Ramkumar Ramanathan6-4, 6-4Win18-8 Florianópolis, Brazil ChallengerClay Carlos Sanchez Jover Lorenzo Joaquín Rodríguez Franco Roncadelli6-0, 3-6, [10-4]Loss18-9 Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland ChallengerHard Johannes Ingildsen Charles Broom David Stevenson3-6, 6-7(5-7)Win19-9 Porto, Portugal ChallengerClay Piotr Matuszewski Romain Arneodo Théo Arribagé6-4, 6-0Loss19-10 Braga, Portugal ChallengerClay Marco Bortolotti Théo Arribagé Francisco Cabral3-6, 4-6Loss19-11 Nonthaburi, Thailand ChallengerHard Joshua Paris Ray Ho Neil Oberleitner4-6, 6-7(5-7)Loss19-12 Tenerife, Spain ChallengerHard Joshua Paris Alexander Merino Christoph Negritu 6-2, 3-6, [8-10]Win20-12 Glasgow, United Kingdom ChallengerHard Joshua Paris Vasil Kirkov Marcus Willis 5-7, 6-4, [12-10]Loss20-13 Todi, Italy ChallengerClay Johannes Ingildsen Filippo Romano Jacopo Vasamì 4-6, 3-6Loss20-14 Como, Italy ChallengerClay Johannes Ingildsen Victor Vlad Cornea Santiago Rodríguez Taverna 3-6, 2-6Loss20-15 Valencia, Spain ChallengerClay Inigo Cervantes Marcelo Demoliner Orlando Luz 3-6, 6-3, [5-10]Win21-15 Nonthaburi, Thailand ChallengerHard Joel Schwärzler Hsieh Cheng-peng Huang Tsung-hao 6-3, 6-1Loss21-16 Cap Cana, Dominican Republic ChallengerHard Trey Hilderbrand Romain Arneodo Marcelo Demoliner 6–7(2–7), 6–3, [6–10]Loss21-17 Bunschoten, Netherlands ChallengerClay Victor Cornea Joran Vliegen Andrew Paulson 6–7(5–7), 2-6
References
External links
"Sports SCene Season 9, Episode 3: Daniel Cukierman In-Studio," Annenberg Media, February 20, 2019 "USTA SoCal Exclusive: Meet USC Trojans Tanner Smith and Daniel Cukierman," USTA Southern California, May 20, 2019