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Dmitry Tursunov Profile |
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Birth Date: December 12, 1982
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Birth Place: Moscow, Russia
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Birth Name: Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov
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Height: 6'1"
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Biography |
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, like fellow Russian Maria
Sharapova.
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.
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 Karlović. 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 Ljubičić 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 José
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 straight
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. |
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