Began playing at age five...Mother, Eri, is a piano teacher; father, Kiyoshi, is an engineer...Has one older sister, Reina, who graduated from college and works in Tokyo...Moved from Shimane, Japan, to US at age 14, to train at the Bollettieri Acadamey in Florida and didn't speak a word of English when he arrived..Came to academy as a member of Masaaki Morita Tennis Fund group, which consists of a select few Japanese players sponsored by Mr. Morita, CEO of Sony...A former roommate of Zachary Gilbert, son of ex-ATP Top 10 pro Brad Gilbert...Captured Roland Garros junior doubles title in 2006 and ranked as high as No. 7 in singles that year...Favorite surfaces are hard and clay courts and considers best shot his forehand...Named 2008 ATP Newcomer of Year...Has a 2-1 Davis Cup singles record in two ties...Trains at academy under guidance of Nick Bollettieri and travels with coach Glenn Weiner, a former ATP World Tour pro.

2008 IN REVIEW

The American won a personal-best seven matches at ATP-level highlighted by first QF and clinched a Challenger title to finish with a year-end best ranking…Qualified into Auckland (l. to Ferrero) and followed with first Grand Slam match win in Australian Open debut (d. Vassallo Arguello, l. to Nieminen)…Made ATP Masters Series debut at Indian Wells (l. to Wawrinka)…In May, won clay court Challenger title at Bradenton, defeating Kendrick in a third-set tie-break...As qualifier, made Wimbledon debut and notched first Grand Slam win by defeating Young (l. to Melzer)…Then beat Polansky in Toronto for first AMS win (l. to Nadal)…Qualified into New Haven and reached first ATP QF (l. to Fish)…Afterwards, broke into Top 100 at No. 96 on August 25…In doubles, clinched Izmir Challenger title (w/Nishikori)...Earned a career-high $223,360.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2005 -- Played in three Futures events and advanced to QF in Waco, Texas and Rock Forest, Quebec...2006 -- Opened season with QF at U.S. Futures #3 stop and in March, reached SF at Rock Forest, Quebec Futures #2...In July, qualified into his first ATP tournament in Newport and lost to British left-hander Alex Bogdanovic in straight sets and followed with QF at Aptos Challenger...2007--The American compiled his best results in final three months of season with a 20-5 record in Challenger level play with two titles...Overall, finished with a 20-10 match record and in Top 200 at No. 192...Played in his first career ATP tournament in Delray Beach and won two of three round robin matches, defeating Kubot and K. Kim (in between lost to Becker)...Did not win a match in his next seven tournaments, including a straight-sets loss to No. 4 Davydenko in 1st RD at US Open in his Grand Slam debut...Made turnaround at Tulsa Challenger where he reached his first SF (l. to Young)...Then advanced to QF at Rimouski and Louisville Challengers...In final three tournaments in November, qualified and captured title at Nashville Challenger (d. Kuznetsov) followed by crown in Champaign (d. Young) without dropping a set...Then closed season with SF in Knoxville (l. to Kim), ending his 13-match winning streak...Jumped from No. 354 to No. 192 during stretch...In December, won a three-player playoff (among Americans) in Boca Raton, Fla. to earn a wild card into '08 Australian Open.

PERSONAL

Born in Canada and moved to the U.S. at age 13...Played as No. 1 player at University of Florida for one season, compiling a 21-0 record, before turning pro in summer 2007... Spent two years at Nick Bollettieri Academy...Reached a career-high No. 14 in world junior rankings in 2005...Best junior result was title at Wimbledon in 2005 (w/Michael Shabaz)...In July 2007, spent 10 weeks training in Dubai with Roger Federer...Coached by Pablo Mayorga of Bollettieri Academy.

PERSONAL

Began playing tennis at age four with his father, Syd, a former ATP pro who won eight doubles titles and advanced to the Australian Open doubles final in 1974 (w/Giltinan)...Also reached singles final in Surbiton in June 1974...Born and raised in Newport Beach, Calif. and has held dual citizenship since age 18...Mother, Debra, is American...Has two brothers, Cameron (26) and Christian (15), who plays junior tennis...Played high school tennis Corona del Mar where Taylor Dent also competed earlier on...Made Davis Cup debut for Australia in World Group playoff tie in September 2008 and won doubles match (w/Guccione) in five sets and won singles dead rubber (d. Capdeville) in 3-2 loss...Prefers hard courts...Ended 2005 as top ranked junior in Australia and No. 11 in world junior rankings..Enjoys surfing and computer games...Coached by father, Syd.

1999 -- Won doubles title at Phoenix Futures (w/Ayala).

2000 -- Reached first career Futures final (l. to Fleishman). Reached three Futures doubles finals, claiming one title.

2001 -- Won one title in two U.S. Futures finals. Reached SF at three Challengers. Claimed two titles while playing four Challenger doubles finals (all w/ Hawk). Earned US Open doubles wild card w/Hawk.  

2002 -- Claimed title at Tulsa Challenger (d. Melo). Claimed one Futures title (d. Fleishman). Played doubles at ATP stop in Houston and reached QF (w/Vahaly). Qualified into Wimbledon doubles (w/Wassen). Won doubles title at San Antonio Challenger (w/ Ayalaand reached two other Challenger finals.

2003 -- Made ATP singles debut at Auckland (l. to Novak). Reached first ATP SF at Delray Beach with wins over Koubek, Lisnard and Voltchov (l. to Gambill). Made Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon (l. to Lopez). Made ATP Masters Series debut in Cincinnati (l. to Gaudio). In US Open debut, fell to Vinciguerra in five sets. Reached Tokyo 3rd RD (d. Arthurs, Vahaly, l. to Schuettler). Finalist at Austin Challenger (l. to Goldstein). Reached first ATP doubles final in San Jose (w/ Goldstein). Picked up one Challenger doubles title in five finals. 

2004 -- Reached second career ATP SF in San Jose with wins over Burgsmuller, Dent and Saulnier (l. to Roddick). Won Challenger title in Austin (d. Whitehouse) and reached final in Burbank (l. to Kim). Reached doubles SF at Washington D.C. (w/Vahaly). Reached a pair of Challenger doubles finals.

2005 -- Best result was Challenger SF in Tallahassee (l. to Vahaly). Missed four months due to a right wrist injury, which required surgery on July 29.

2006 -- Finished in Top 110 for first time (No. 109) highlighted by strong Challenger results. Compiled a 31-17 match record and won one title. Opened year by reaching 2nd RD at Delray Beach (d. Kim, l. to Spadea) and followed with runner-up at Dallas Challenger (l. to Kim). In April, reached SF at Mexico City Challenger (l. to de Voest). In May, claimed title at Forest Hills Challenger on clay (d. Mamiit). At Wimbledon, won his first career Grand Slam match over Lu to reach 2nd RD, then fired 32 aces and had a two-set lead over eventual finalist Nadal to force third set tie-break before falling 6-7 3-6 7-6 7-5 6-4. Then reached QF at Newport with wins over Spadea and Kunitsyn (l. to Murray). Suffered 1st RD defeat at US Open to Murray. Surged in late season with Challenger success. Reached consecutive SF at Tulsa (l. to Reynolds), Sacramento (l. to Ram), Calabasas (l. to Delic), Louisville (l. to Delic). In doubles, won first career ATP title at Newport (w/Melzer). Won doubles title at Calabasas Challenger and reached Busan Challenger final (w/Mamiit).

2007 -- Compiled a 36-12 Challenger record and won three titles. Broke into Top 100 for first time during year and reached a career-high No. 77 on May 14. In February, captured title at Dallas Challenger (d. Dorsch) and three months later, advanced to final in Naples (l. to Reynolds). Following a 1st RD loss at US Open (l. to Andreev), put together an impressive string of seven QF (or better) in eight tournaments (22-6 mark), winning titles at Calabasas (d. Young) and Knoxville (d. Kim). Also advanced to SF in Nashville (l. to Levine) and QF in four other stops. In doubles, won title at Sacramento Challenger (w/B. Wilson), reached final at Calabasas (w/Mamiit), SF in three ATP tournaments and QF at US Open (w/Querrey). Earned a career-high $252,685.

Began playing tennis at age five...Often was in trouble as a kid for hitting balls inside the house...Parents Andrew and Ann are both in real estate...They immigrated from Seoul in the 1960s...His sister Jennifer is an accountant...His father served as the California State Athletic Commissioner...Father played tennis recreationally, and would often shag balls while father played...Played one season at UCLA from 1996-97 and was an All-American in singles and doubles...Won 1996 USTA Boys' 18s (d. B. Bryan), but lost in doubles final (w/Russell, l. to Bryan-Bryan)...Finalist in 1995 USTA Boys' 18s Clay Courts and Easter Bowl...Won 1994 USTA Boys Indoors (d. Getz) in five sets after losing first two sets...Favorite surface is hard...Considers his forehand and backhand down the line as best shots.

Complete list of main draw accepted players (Excludes wild-cards yet to be announced) 

Main Draw 

 

Kim, Kevin 

Baker, Jamie 

Kuznetsov, Alex 

Ball, Carsten 

Lapentti, Giovanni 

Cook, Lester 

Levine, Jesse 

Dabul, Brian 

McClune, Michael 

DeHeart, Ryler 

Pospisil, Vasek 

Dent, Taylor 

Smyczek, Tim 

Estrella, Victor 

Sweeting, Ryan 

Gard, Catalin 

Ward, James 

Guccione, Chris 

Witten, Jesse 

Jones, Greg 

Young, Donald 

Kendrick, Robert