Aljaž Bedene

Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a British tennis player who represented Slovenia until 2015. He is the current British No 4.
He has won five Futures and nine Challenger singles titles. In doubles he has won one Challenger title and two Futures titles. His highest ranking is No. 45 in singles (achieved on 16 November 2015), and No. 127 in doubles (achieved on 7 October 2015).
He represented Slovenia when he turned pro in 2008. On 31 March 2015, Bedene was granted UK citizenship and now represents Great Britain, but the International Tennis Federation has rejected his application to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup as he had previously played three dead rubbers for Slovenia. Bedene is considering whether to take further steps.

Bedene's father, Branko, is a dental industry worker and his mother is Darlen. Their house in Ljubljana overlooks hills, vineyards and forests of the Lower Carniola area. Alijaz and his younger twin brother, Andraz used to compete for Slovenia’s top tennis honours, virtually from the days they first picked up plastic rackets in the family living room and used Branko’s briefcase as a net. The two top seeds would meet regularly in competition finals. Their father struggled to tell them apart to such an extent he called them both Andraljaz. His nickname is Ali or Benke, and he speaks English, Slovenian and Croatian. Andraz Bedene is a former ATP tour player.

Then in 2008, Aljaz made the decision to pursue his tennis career in England because he felt it was stagnating under the artificial limitations he encountered in Slovenia. He ended a seven-year wait to become a British citizen on March 31, 2015, and immediately became British no. 2 behind Andy Murray.

Aljaz has lived in Welwyn Garden City since 2008 with his girlfriend, pop star Kimalie, formerly part of the Slovenian group “Foxy Teens”. The pair have become protégés of Hertfordshire tennis captain Jeff Wayne, the composer of “War of the Worlds”. Bedene is based at the Global Tennis Connections Academy in Gosling.

Instead of tennis, Bedene could have been a ski-jumper, and was jumping off the 60m run within weeks of taking up the sport.

Bedene supports Chelsea F.C., Real Madrid C.F. and basketball team Union Olimpija.

2011

Not counting the Davis Cup competition, he competed in his first ever ATP tournament at Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria. He reached the second round where he lost in three sets against Tommy Haas.

2012

Bedene made his first ever ATP quarterfinal appearance at the Erste Bank Open. In the quarterfinal he played against No. 2 seed Janko Tipsarević and lost after retiring in the second set.

2013

Bedene made his first ever ATP semifinal appearance at the Aircel Chennai Open defeating the No. 6 seed Robin Haase in the 2R and the No. 4 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the QF. In the semifinal he lost against No. 2 seed Janko Tipsarević despite winning the first set.

At the Australian Open he played in his first Grand Slam tournament. He won the first set, but eventually lost in four against Benjamin Becker in the 1st round.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells he played in the main draw of the ATP Masters 1000 series for the first time in his career. He lost in the 1st round against Fabio Fognini.

At the Miami Masters he reached the 2nd round of the Masters 1000 series for the first time in his career. He lost in three close sets against Andreas Seppi.

At the French Open he played his second Grand Slam tournament. He lost in the 1st round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, only winning 7 games. In Men's Doubles partnering Grega Žemlja they lost against Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi/Jean-Julien Rojer in the 2nd round.At Wimbledon he played his third Grand Slam tournament. Partnering Grega Žemlja in doubles they lost in four sets against Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana in the 1st round. This was the first Slovene Men's Doubles performance in Wimbledon.At the US Open he played in his fourth Grand Slam tournament. He lost in four sets in the 1st round against Dmitry Tursunov.

In November, Bedene who is based at the Global Tennis Connections Academy in Gosling, surprised everyone, not least his opponents, by helping his adopted team, Hertfordshire, win the County Cup.

2014

Bedene made the quarterfinals of the 2014 Aircel Chennai Open, where he was defeated by Stanislas Wawrinka, winning only three games in the match.

At the Australian Open, he lost in the 1st round against lucky loser Stephane Robert in straight sets. He defeated Robert at the Royal Guard Open, but lost to Fabio Fognini in 2nd round.

Following a 1st round loss in the Copa Claro, he had to play qualification in the Rio Open. He defeated José Pereira and Diego Schwartzman, setting up a rematch against Fabio Fognini. He lost in three sets, but after a very big fight. After a very fast loss at the Brasil Open, he made his first appearance at a 3rd round in a Masters 1000 tournament at the Sony Open Tennis, where he defeated Wayne Odesnik, Tobias Kamke, Jimmy Wang and Vasek Pospisil, but lost to Benjamin Becker. He played in three tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour. He lost in the 1st round at St. Brieuc and Vercelli. He made a semifinal appearance at Mersin.

On 9 May, it was announced that Bedene had applied for a British passport, with legal support from the Lawn Tennis Association.

At Wimbledon, he lost in the 1st round as lucky loser to Kevin Anderson in straight sets. At the final grand slam of the year, the US Open, he failed to get past qualification, losing in Q3 against Peter Gojowczyk in three sets.

2015

Starting the year in 2015 Aircel Chennai Open, after passing over the qualifying round, Bedene reached the semifinals by defeating Lukáš Lacko, second seed Feliciano López and fifth seed Guillermo García López. In the semifinal, he stormed past the third seed and his good friend Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets. With this impressive win, he made his first ATP final, but lost to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.

At the Australian Open, Bedene faced world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round, but lost in straight sets.

On 26 March, Bedene, the world no 83, was granted UK citizenship and immediately became British No 2 behind Andy Murray. Bedene said he planned to appeal against a new rule which prevents players from ever representing more than one country in Davis Cup. Bedene played three dead rubbers for Slovenia in Davis Cup action in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Bedene claimed his first title as a British citizen after overcoming Pablo Andujar, to clinch the Liverpool Hope University International Tennis Tournament on 21 June. This was an exhibition tournament with a round robin format.

At the French Open, he lost in the opening round to Dominic Thiem in four sets.

On 30 May, the International Tennis Federation announced that Bedene would not be allowed to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup, in response to the Lawn Tennis Association who had appealed against a rule brought in on January 1, forbidding players from representing two nations in the competition. Bedene's case had been based on his passport application being submitted before the new regulation was implemented.

On 22 June, Bedene secured a first-round win at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, to record his first victory in an ATP tour match as a British player, eventually losing in the second round.

At Wimbledon, Bedene won his first-round match against former World No. 8 Radek Štěpánek in five sets. This was Bedene's first win at Wimbledon, as well as his first win in a grand slam main draw. In the second round, he lost in four sets against Viktor Troicki, despite breaking the Serbian twice in the first set and winning the second.

At the German Open, Bedene defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver and third seed Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarter finals, where he lost to eighth seeded Fabio Fognini. Bedene's next tournament was the Winston-Salem Open, where he defeated Italian qualifier Marco Cecchinato in straight sets to book a meeting with Gilles Simon. Bedene beat Simon in 3 sets, all of which went to a tiebreak. Bedene later described the match as his "best win". However, he lost his next match 3-6, 0-6, to Pierre-Hugues Herbert

The next Grand Slam for Bedene was the US Open. In the first round, his opponent Ernests Gulbis retired after Bedene had won the first two sets, allowing Bedene to reach the second round of the Grand Slam for the first time in his career. In the second round, Bedene won the first set against American Donald Young, before eventually losing the match in four sets.

On 17 November, Bedene and the LTA flew to Prague to appeal for the right of Bedene to play Davis Cup for Great Britain. However, the LTA did not submit a 70-page summary of its support for the player until just before the meeting. The ITF said the hearing of the appeal would be adjourned until the next board meeting on 20-21 March, 2016, so they could consider the document.

2016

The ITF who were meeting in Moldova on 20 March, considered Bedene's appeal to represent Great Britain in Davis Cup. Simultaneously, Bedene was defending his Challenger title in Irving, Texas, but he got up at 5am to argue his case via Skype, with LTA lawyer Stephen Farrow representing him in person in Chisinau. Later that day, Bedene went on to lose the final. However the ITF decided that Bedene was not eligible to represent Great Britain in Davis Cup or the Olympics. Bedene decided to consider seeking a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Bedene suffered stress and body pain due to his failed Davis Cup bid, and he only won six of his subsequent 17 matches. In March, he split from his coach James Davidson, but Davis Cup captain, Leon Smith, supervised him at the French Open.

On 27 May, at the French Open, Bedene progressed to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, beating Pablo Carreño Busta in 5 sets, 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2.

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	11 January 2015	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Stan Wawrinka	3–6, 4–6

Singles finals: 22 (16–6)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	7 June 2009	Maribor, Slovenia	Clay	Marko Tkalec	7–5, 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2.	19 July 2009	Telfs, Austria	Clay	Johannes Ager	3–6, 6–7(2–7)
Winner	3.	16 August 2009	Piešťany, Slovakia	Clay	Martin Fafl	6–0, 2–0, ret.
Winner	4.	23 August 2009	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Benoît Paire	6–4, 6–0
Winner	5.	6 September 2009	Wels, Austria	Clay	Nicolas Reissig	6–1, 6–2
Winner	6.	18 October 2009	Dubrovnik, Croatia	Clay	Attila Balázs	6–2, 7–6(13–11)
Winner	7.	15 November 2009	Antalya, Turkey	Clay	Aldin Šetkić	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	8.	9 May 2010	Doboj, Bosnia	Clay	Michal Schmid	7–5, 2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Winner	9.	4 April 2011	Barletta, Italy	Clay	Filippo Volandri	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	16 October 2011	Solin, Croatia	Clay	Nick Van Der Meer	6–3, 4–6, 2–6
Winner	11.	4 March 2012	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Nicolas Devilder	7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–4)
Winner	12.	8 April 2012	Barletta, Italy	Clay	Potito Starace	6–2, 6–0
Winner	13.	16 June 2012	Košice, Slovakia	Clay	Simon Greul	7–6(7–3), 6–2
Runner-up	14.	22 July 2012	Anning, China	Clay	Grega Žemlja	6–1, 5–7, 3–6
Winner	15.	29 July 2012	Wuhan, China	Hard	Josselin Ouanna	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Winner	16.	12 May 2013	Rome, Italy	Clay	Filippo Volandri	6–4, 6–2
Winner	17.	15 September 2013	Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Clay	Diego Schwartzman	6–3, 6–4
Winner	18.	6 July 2014	Todi, Italy	Clay	Márton Fucsovics	2-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-4
Winner	19.	22 March 2015	Irving, USA	Hard	Tim Smyczek	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–3
Winner	20.	10 May 2015	Rome, Italy	Clay	Adam Pavlásek	7–5, 6–2
Winner	21.	12 July 2015	Todi, Italy	Clay	Nicolas Kicker	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Runner-up	6.	20 March 2016	Irving, USA	Hard	Marcel Granollers	1–6, 1–6

Doubles finals: 4 (3–1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	01-19-2009	Austria F1	Carpet (i)	Andrej Martin	Gerald Melzer Nicolas Reissig	6–3, 6–2
Winner	2.	08-17-2009	Austria F7	Clay	Andraž Bedene	Pascal Brunner Michael Linzer	6–4, 6–3
Winner	3.	09-18-2011	Ljubljana	Clay	Grega Žemlja	Roberto Bautista Agut Iván Navarro	6–3, 6–7(10–12), [12–10]
Runner-up	4.	07-06-2013	Portorož	Hard	Blaž Rola	Marin Draganja Mate Pavić	3–6, 6–1, [5–10]

Singles performances (2–1)

Edition	Round	Date	Against	Surface	Opponent	Win/Lose	Result
2010 Europe/Africa Zone Group II	1R	03-07-2010	Norway	Hard (I)	Stian Boretti	Win	6–3, 6–2
2011 Europe/Africa Zone Group I	2R	07-10-2011	Italy	Clay	Fabio Fognini	Lose	2–6, 2–2, ret.
2012 Europe/Africa Zone Group I	1R	02-12-2012	Denmark	Hard (I)	Thomas Kromann	Win	6–3, 3–6, 6–4

Against top-10 players

Bedene's win–loss record against players who have been ranked World No. 10 or higher:

Opponent	Highest ranking	Matches	Won	Lost	Win %	Last match
Tommy Haas	02 !2	1	0	1	0%	Lost (6–4, 4–6, 4–6) at 2011 Vienna 1R
David Nalbandian	03 !3	2	1	1	50%	Won (4–6, 6–0, 6–4) at 2013 Acapulco 1R
Nikolay Davydenko	03 !3	1	1	0	100%	Won (3–6, 6–4, 6–3) at 2013 Düsseldorf 1R
Stanislas Wawrinka	03 !3	3	1	2	33%	Lost (3–6, 4–6) at 2015 Chennai F
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	05 !5	1	0	1	0%	Lost (2–6, 2–6, 3–6) at 2013 French Open 1R
Tommy Robredo	05 !5	1	0	1	0%	Lost (1–6, 4–6) at 2013 Umag QF
Janko Tipsarević	08 !8	2	0	2	0%	Lost (6–4, 2–6, 2–6) at 2013 Chennai SF
Total	11 !––	11	3	8	26%

* Statistics correct as of ...

Full list

Bedene's career win–loss record in singles matches on ATP World Tour and Davis Cup Main Draw:

* ATP statistics doesn't include Walkovers (w/o), Qualifying matches, or matches at a Challenger or Futures event, Hopman Cup, or any other fraction of the exhibition event.

19–27

From 7 March 2010 to 12 March 2016

*As of 31–12–2014