Andrey Kuznetsov (tennis)

Early life

Andrey Kuznestov started playing tennis at age six, coached by his father Alexander. In 2001, his family moved to Balashikha, attending the sports club there. His father resumed coaching Andrey and his elder brother Alexey.

According to some mass media reports, Andrey allegedly had problems with his back since his childhood, so he attended manual therapies. But Andrey's coach and father declined it, stating he had problems with his hip and the therapy could be described as tough fitness.

2006–09: Grand Slam Junior title

Kuznetsov played his first ITF junior tournament at the 2006 Black Gold of Udmurtia, but received a walkover in the qualifying round. His first notable achievement was at the Governor Cup in St. Petersburg, reaching the semi-finals there. He reached his first final at the NBU Cup in Uzbekistan. Most of the tournaments were on a clay court, but in 2007 he played on carpet and hard. In this season he reached three finals in singles, winning once, and three doubles finals in doubles, winning twice. His best season was in 2008, when he won three singles titles and played well in doubles. Andrey's last junior tournament became the 2009 Wimbledon, winning his first Grand Slam title. For the first time in 43 years a Russian won the Wimbledon since Soviet Vladimir Korotkov achieved that feat in 1965 and 1966.

As a junior Kuznetsov posted an 80–24 win/loss record in singles, reaching a combined ranking of No. 3 in the world in July 2009.

2010–15: Top 100 and inconsistencies

He made his first main draw Grand Slam appearance at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships where he lost in five sets to seeded Romanian Victor Hănescu. He defeated the 11th seed of the 2013 Australian Open, Juan Mónaco in straight sets in the first round to reach the second round of a grand slam for the first time.

At Wimbledon in 2014, Kuznetsov recorded his first win over a player ranked inside the world's top ten by defeating seventh seed David Ferrer in five sets. The win also took Kuznetsov to the third round of a grand slam for the first time. Later that year, in the US Open, he defeated Fernando Verdasco in the second round, but lost to Andy Murray in the third round.

At the 2015 Australian Open, he got into the second round, but lost to Novak Djokovic.

2016: Russia's number one

Andrey debuted in 2016 at the Qatar Open, losing in the quarterfinals to Rafael Nadal in three tight sets. At the 2016 Australian Open, he got his best ever result in a grand slam, beating Dudi Sela to make it to the fourth round. In the following tournaments he successfully got beyond the first rounds. Reaching the second round of the Miami Open, Kuznetsov became Russia's new number one male tennis player, replacing Teymuraz Gabashvili, who lost in Miami in the first round. Kuznetsov in the second round confidently defeated 4th-seeded Stan Wawrinka, the second time he won against a top-10 player. He then proceeded to beat Adrian Mannarino in the third round 2–6, 7–5, 6–0. In the fourth round he lost to Nick Kyrgios 6–7, 3–6.

Kuznetsov debuted at the Olympic Games. In the first round he was forced to retire before the start of the third set of the match against Roberto Bautista Agut because of injury.

2017: First 3 ATP single semifinals and first doubles final

After a first round loss to fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Doha, Kuznetsov made his maiden ATP semifinal appearance in Sydney where he fell to fellow first time semifinalist Dan Evans in another three setter. In the first round of the Australian Open, he pushed fifth seed Kei Nishikori to five sets. In the first round of the Davis Cup World Group, he teamed up with Konstantin Kravchuk in Russia's doubles rubber against Serbia but they lost in four sets to Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjić. A week later, he lost to Troicki and Zimonjić again, this time in the doubles final of the Garanti Koza Sofia Open. He ended a three match losing streak at the Miami Open where he reached the second round.

Kuznetsov began his clay season in Monte Carlo where he qualified for the main draw following wins over established players Julien Benneteau and Mikhail Youzhny. He then lost to the ninth seed Tomas Berdych after taking the first set. He reached his second quarterfinal of the year at the inaugural Hungarian Open where he upset the third seed Fabio Fognini en route. After a three set first round loss to Tsonga at the Mutua Madrid Open, Kuznetsov advanced to his second ATP semifinal in singles at the Geneva Open where he fell to world No. 3 and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. At the French Open, he took a set off world No. 1 Andy Murray in the first round. In the SkiStar Swedish Open he made it to his third career semifinal, also his third semifinal this year. He first beat German tennis player Jan-Lennard Struff in only 2 sets. He then defeated no.1 seed, Pablo Carreño Busta, after Carreño Busta retired in the third set. He then beat 7th seed Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals in straight sets to eventually lose to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the semifinals.

Kuznetsov is an aggressive baseliner. He likes to hit it very hard and especially cross-court. While his forehand used to be somewhat of a weakness, it has now developed into a competent shot which he can use as a weapon. On the other hand, his main weakness is his second serve.

Patrick Mouratoglou in 2011 noted his flat shots, nice serve and volley play and a great forehand, but also felt his shot placement and movement should be improved.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	12 February 2017	Sofia Open, Sofia, Bulgaria	Hard (i)	Mikhail Elgin	Viktor Troicki Nenad Zimonjic	4–6, 4–6

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2009	Wimbledon	Grass	Jordan Cox	4–6, 6–2, 6–2

Universiade medal matches

Mixed Doubles: 1 (1 gold medal)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Gold	2013	Kazan Universiade	Hard	Elena Vesnina	Shota Tagawa Hiroko Kuwata	6–4, 3–6, [12–10]

Futures and Challenger finals

Singles: 21 (14 titles, 7 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	28 March 2009	6th of October City, Egypt	Clay	Reda El Amrani	6–1, 1–6, 1–6
Winner	2.	13 June 2009	Mestre, Italy	Clay	Matteo Viola	3–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	3.	15 August 2009	Moscow, Russia	Clay	Jonathan Eysseric	6–4, 6–4
Winner	4.	10 October 2009	Astana, Kazakhstan	Hard (i)	Andrey Kumantsov	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
Winner	5.	27 March 2010	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Hard (i)	Alexander Peya	6–3, 7–6(7–1)
Runner-up	6.	4 July 2010	Kassel, Germany	Clay	Farrukh Dustov	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	7.	25 July 2010	Poznań, Poland	Clay	Denis Gremelmayr	1–6, 2–6
Winner	8.	10 September 2011	Oviedo, Spain	Clay	Taro Daniel	7–5, 6–1
Runner-up	9.	2 October 2011	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Dušan Lajović	4–6, 6–0, 5–7
Winner	10.	29 January 2012	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Laurent Recouderc	6–4, 6–3
Winner	11.	4 February 2012	Cairo, Egypt	Clay	Pavol Červenák	6–3, 6–3
Winner	12.	29 April 2012	Naples, Italy	Clay	Jonathan Dasnières de Veigy	7–6(8–6), 7–6(8–6)
Winner	13.	16 September 2012	Todi, Italy	Clay	Paolo Lorenzi	6–3, 2–0 ret.
Winner	14.	23 September 2012	Trnava, Slovakia	Clay	Adrian Ungur	6–3, 6–3
Winner	15.	30 September 2012	Lermontov, Russia	Clay	Farrukh Dustov	6–7(7–9), 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	16.	24 November 2013	Tyumen, Russia	Hard (i)	Andrey Golubev	4–6, 3–6
Winner	17.	4 May 2014	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Clay	Miloslav Mečíř Jr.	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
Runner-up	18.	17 August 2014	Meerbusch, Germany	Clay	Jozef Kovalík	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	19.	26 July 2015	Scheveningen, Netherlands	Clay	Nikoloz Basilashvili	7–6(7–3), 6–7(4–7), 3–6
Winner	20.	30 August 2015	Manerbio, Italy	Clay	Daniel Muñoz de la Nava	6–4, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	21.	6 September 2015	Como, Italy	Clay	Daniel Brands	6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 18 (8 titles, 10 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	000000002009-04-05-00005 April 2009	Suiz, Egypt	Clay	Róbert Varga	Radu Albot Teodor-Dacian Crăciun	6–2, 6–4
Winner	2.	000000002009-05-09-00009 May 2009	Teplice, Czech Republic	Clay	Mateusz Kowalczyk	Michal Tabara Roman Vogeli	4–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–8]
Runner-up	3.	000000002009-12-05-00005 December 2009	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	Hard	Evgeny Kirillov	Marcel Granollers Gerard Granollers Pujol	3–6, 2–6
Winner	4.	000000002010-04-17-000017 April 2010	Vercelli, Italy	Clay	Ilya Belyaev	Juan-Martín Aranguren Alejandro Fabbri	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Runner-up	5.	000000002010-07-04-00004 July 2010	Kassel, Germany	Clay	Denis Matsukevitch	Ivo Klec Alexander Satschko	1–6, 7–6(7–3), [10–12]
Runner-up	6.	000000002011-07-30-000030 July 2011	Dortmund, Germany	Clay	Teymuraz Gabashvili	Dominik Meffert Bjorn Phau	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	000000002011-08-13-000013 August 2011	Samarkand, Uzbekistan	Clay	Radu Albot	Mikhail Elgin Alexander Kudryavtsev	6–7(4–7), 6–2, [7–10]
Runner-up	8.	000000002011-08-19-000019 August 2011	Moscow, Russia	Clay	Deniss Pavlovs	Mikhail Fufygin Sergei Krotiouk	4–6, 7–6(16–14), [8–10]
Runner-up	9.	000000002012-01-13-000013 January 2012	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Stanislav Vovk	Andis Juška Deniss Pavlovs	6–7(1–7), 3–6
Runner-up	10.	000000002012-03-02-00002 March 2012	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Evgeny Donskoy	Walter Trusendi Matteo Viola	6–1, 6–7(5–7), [3–10]
Runner-up	11.	000000002012-06-16-000016 June 2012	Nottingham, Great Britain	Grass	Evgeny Donskoy	Olivier Charroin Martin Fischer	4–6, 6–7(6–8)
Runner-up	12.	000000002012-07-29-000029 July 2012	Oberstaufen, Germany	Clay	Jose Statham	Andrei Dăescu Florin Mergea	6–7(4–7), 6–7(1–7)
Winner	13.	000000002012-11-17-000017 November 2012	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Javier Martí	Emilio Benfele Álvarez Adelchi Virgili	6–3, 6–3
Winner	14.	000000002014-05-03-00003 May 2014	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Clay	Adrián Menéndez-Maceiras	Alessandro Motti Matteo Viola	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Winner	15.	000000002014-08-09-00009 August 2014	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Toni Androić	Roberto Maytín Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela	7–5, 7–5
Winner	16.	000000002015-01-11-000011 January 2015	Happy Valley, Australia	Hard	Aleksandr Nedovyesov	Alex Bolt Andrew Whittington	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	17.	000000002015-07-27-000027 July 2015	Scheveningen, Netherlands	Clay	Aslan Karatsev	Ariel Behar Eduardo Dischinger	0–0, ret.
Winner	18.	000000002015-09-19-000019 September 2015	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Aleksandr Nedovyesov	Aleksandre Metreveli Anton Zaitsev	6–2, 5–7, [10–8]

Current through the 2017 US Open.

Participations: (8–1)

• indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by the score, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.

Rubber outcome	No.	Rubber	Match type (partner if any)	Opponent nation	Opponent player(s)	Score
5–0; 25–27 October 2013; Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia; Europe/Africa Second round play-off; Hard(i) surface
Victory	1	III	Doubles (with Konstantin Kravchuk)	South Africa	Raven Klaasen / Tucker Vorster	2–6, 6–3, 7–6(7–4), 6–2
Victory	2	IV	Singles (Dead rubber)		Dennis O'Brien	6–2, 6–3
4–1; 12–14 September 2014; Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia; Europe/Africa Second round play-off; Hard(i) surface
Victory	3	I	Singles	Portugal	Gastão Elias	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
4–1; 6–8 March 2015; Sport Complex Gazprom Dobycha Yamburg, Novy Urengoy, Russia; Europe/Africa First round; Hard(i) surface
Victory	4	II	Singles	Denmark	Martin Pedersen	6–1, 6–4, 7–5
Victory	5	IV			Frederik Nielsen	7–5, 6–3, 6–2
5–0; 4–6 March 2016; Kazan Tennis Academy, Kazan, Russia; Europe/Africa First round; Hard(i) surface
Victory	6	I	Singles	Sweden	Isak Arvidsson	4–6, 6–1, 6–1, 6–4
3–1; 17–18 September 2016; National Tennis Center, Moscow, Russia; World Group play-offs; Hard surface
Victory	7	I	Singles	Kazakhstan	Aleksandr Nedovyesov	6–3, 6–4, 5–7, 7–5
Victory	8	IV			Mikhail Kukushkin	6–1, 6–2, 6–2
1–4; 3–5 February 2017; Čair Sports Center, Niš, Serbia; World Group; Hard(i) surface
Defeat	9	III	Doubles (with Konstantin Kravchuk)	Serbia	Viktor Troicki / Nenad Zimonjić	3–6, 6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–5), 4–6