Dmitry Tursunov
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| Country |  Russia |
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| Residence | Roseville, California , USA | |
| Date of birth | December 12, 1982 | |
| Place of birth | Moscow, Russia | |
| Height | 6'1 (185 cm) | |
| Weight | 180 lb (81 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | 2000 | |
| Plays | Right; Two-handed backhand | |
| Career Prize Money | $1,285,371 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 72-62 | |
| Career titles: | 1 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 20 (October 2, 2006) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 2nd (2006) | |
| French Open | 3rd (2006) | |
| Wimbledon | 4th (2005, 2006) | |
| U.S. Open | 3rd (2003) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 25-32 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 30 (November 13, 2006) | |
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (Russian: Дми́трий И́горевич Турсу́нов (listen ) (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 USA 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.
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[edit] Tennis career
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 US 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 US 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 US 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 Moya in the next round.
After the 2004 US 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 US citizenship became apparent. Tursunov had for years attempted to become a US 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?"[1] 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 Tomas Berdych in Mumbai and made 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.[2]
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.A 6-3 6-4 5-7 3-6 17-15 in a match that has lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes and with this victory Russia will play against Argentina in Russia for the 2006 Davis Cup final in December.
[edit] Singles Titles (1)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 2006 | Mumbai, India | Clay |  Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) |
6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) |
[edit] Finalist (1)
- 2006: Los Angeles (lost to Tommy Haas)
[edit] Personal and Quotes
Tursunov has a quick wit and he was the ATP blogger of the week for the Estoril Open in May 2006. The blog was warmly received by tennis fans for his writing style and observations of the tennis world including: breakfast time, the tournament itself, the local drivers, and fellow players personalities, especially Marat Safin. [3]
When asked about the Russian and the US tennis federations: "I was frustrated with both federations. When ever you need help, there is no help. Whenever you're doing well, people will offer you help," he confides. "It's like that in anything, not just tennis. In an ideal world, you would have a federation watching over you, pick players up early and lead them along."
Whether he is American or Russian: "I never really thought of myself as fully Russian or fully American," he says. "I was Russian, but then I left for a year and everyone was calling me an American. When I came back to America, everyone was calling me a Russian. It's a different position to be in."
On his game: "I do have a lot of weapons, but they misfire a lot."
On his Wimbledon performance and what it will mean for his exposure: "Well, I didn't make any money other than the prize money. That's always good. Hopefully I can buy a new stereo for my car. You know, other than that prize money, I don't think there's any sponsors knocking on my door."
"I think it's changed. Maybe a couple years ago it would have happened. Now I'm 22. By prodigy standards, I'm pretty old. Neither fish nor fowl. I'm not an up-and-comer and I'm not a veteran either. It's very difficult for me to understand why I wouldn't have a sponsor. Technically there are a lot of people who get free clothes, like Justine Henin's husband, he gets sponsored by adidas even though he doesn't play tennis. I guess to them it means more in terms of exposure. I guess I'm not a big enough exposure for certain companies."
On what he gets for free: "I get my racquets for free, yes. I only have two actually, believe it or not."
On agents: I don't think that agents can make money if there's no one to pay the money. But, yeah, I have an agent.
On beating British Tennis players "It's actually a lot of fun to see people in tears, leaving the stadium and vowing never to come back to Wimbledon."
