Benjamin Becker

Benjamin Becker

Country	Germany
Residence	Mettlach, Germany
Born	(1981-06-16) 16 June 1981 Merzig, Saarland, West Germany
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	158 lb (72 kg)
College	Baylor Bears
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,379,032
Singles
Career record	92–124
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 38 (5 March 2007)
Current ranking	No. 85 (25 February 2013)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2010, 2011, 2013)
French Open	1R (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012)
Wimbledon	2R (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012)
US Open	4R (2006)
Doubles
Career record	41–62
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 58 (5 July 2010)
Current ranking	No. 136 (14 January 2013)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2011)
French Open	2R (2010, 2012)
Wimbledon	3R (2007)
US Open	2R (2010)
Last updated on: 27 January 2013.

Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German professional tennis player. Becker's primary weapon is a very big serve that he can hit at up to 220km/h, along with powerful groundstrokes.

Becker was born at Merzig, Saarland, then part of West Germany. He won the 2004 NCAA singles title while helping Baylor University to the team title. A rarity in men's tennis,^{[citation needed]} Becker attended college for four years before turning professional.

Career

2006

2006 was a breakthrough year for Becker. In June of that year, he qualified for Wimbledon and defeated Juan Ignacio Chela, before losing in the second round to Fernando Verdasco.

At the 2006 U.S. Open, he defeated Filippo Volandri and #30 seed Sébastien Grosjean to reach the third round, where he defeated former World No. 1 Andre Agassi in 4 sets. The match was especially noteworthy as it was Agassi's last on the ATP circuit: he had announced that the 2006 U.S. Open would be his final tournament, and his defeat was followed by an 8-minute standing ovation from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. The day after Becker's win over Agassi, his own U.S. Open bid was ended by Andy Roddick in the fourth round.

Following the 2005 U.S. Open, Becker confirmed his status as a promising newcomer on the ATP Tour, improving his ranking from #421 at the beginning of the year to #62 in November 2006. As a result, Becker received the Newcomer of the Year award during the 2006 ATP Awards, and won the Sportsman of the Year award in his part of Germany. After completing his first season on the ATP Tour, Benjamin made the fastest rise of any player into the top 50.

2007

2007 saw Becker improving his ranking further in the early season, including through his semi-final appearances at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he lost to world #8 James Blake; and in San Jose at the SAP Open where he lost to Ivo Karlović, the tallest player on the ATP Tour (6' 10"). As a result, Becker's ATP ranking peaked at #38 in March 2007. However, in 2007 Becker was unable to progress beyond the first round in any of the Grand Slams or ATP Masters Series events, with the exception of the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost in the second round to Thomas Johansson. Given his strong performance at the U.S. Open in the preceding year, his first round loss in the 2007 edition caused his ranking to drop to 79. Despite good form in Bangkok, where he lost in the finals to Dmitry Tursunov, Becker has thus far been unable to regain a ranking in the top 50.

Becker has the distinction of having played the match that finished second latest in ATP history, defeating Jiří Novák in Tokyo in 2006 at 3:24 a.m.

2009

In 2009, Becker won his first ATP World Tour title, the Ordina Open in Holland, defeating local hope Raemon Sluiter.

2010

Becker reached the semifinal of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle/Westfalen, the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch and the Thailand Open in Bangkok. At the Grand Slam tournaments Becker reached the second round of the 2010 Australian Open as well as in Wimbledon and at the 2010 US Open. He was knocked out in the first round at the 2010 French Open. He reached the Main Draw of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai after two wins in the Qualifying. He lost to Gaël Monfils in the first round. He advanced to round two of the IF Stockholm Open where he lost to 2nd seed Robin Söderling. He reached the quarterfinal at St.Petersburg where he lost to Illya Marchenko. He qualified for the BNP Paribas Open in Paris-Bercy where he lost to Gaël Monfils in the second round after a first round win over Denis Istomin. He went 29–31 on the season and earned a career-high $543,431.

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (1–1)

Legend Grand Slam (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) ATP World Tour 500 series (0–0) ATP World Tour 250 series (1–1) Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score Runner-up 1. 24 September 2007 PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) Dmitry Tursunov 2–6, 1–6 Winner 1. 14 June 2009 Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands Grass Raemon Sluiter 7–5, 6–3 Doubles: 2 (0–2) Legend Grand Slam (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) ATP World Tour 500 series (0–0) ATP World Tour 250 series (0–2) Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score Runner-up 1. 2 August 2009 LA Tennis Open, Los Angeles, United States Hard Frank Moser Bob Bryan Mike Bryan 6–4, 7–6(2) Runner-up 2. 14 February 2010 SAP Open, San Jose, United States Hard (i) Leonardo Mayer Mardy Fish Sam Querrey 7–6(3), 7–5 Challenger Finals Singles: 12 (7–5) Legend ATP Challenger Tour (7–5) Outcome Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score Runner-up 1. 13 February 2006 Joplin, US Hard (i) Jesse Witten 3–6, 6–7(6–8) Winner 1. 13 March 2006 Salinas, Ecuador Hard Jesse Witten 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 Runner-up 2. 10 April 2006 Valencia, US Hard Frédéric Niemeyer 6–4, 3–6, 2–6 Runner-up 3. 31 July 2006 Segovia, Spain Hard Juan Martín del Potro 4–6, 7–5, 4–6 Runner-up 4. 13 November 2006 Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine Hard (i) Dmitry Tursunov 6–7(7–9), 4–6 Winner 2. 26 January 2009 Heilbronn, Germany Carpet Karol Beck 6–4, 6–4 Winner 3. 6 April 2009 Baton Rouge, US Hard Rajeev Ram 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 Winner 4. 27 April 2009 Rhodes, Greece Hard Simon Stadler 7–5, 6–3 Runner-up 5. 4 May 2009 Ramat HaSharon, Israel Hard Yen-Hsun Lu 3–6, 1–3 ret. Winner 5. 18 May 2009 Cremona, Italy Hard Izak van der Merwe 7–6(7–3), 6–1 Winner 6. 10 June 2012 Nottingham, UK Grass Dmitry Tursunov 4–6, 6–1, 6–4 Winner 7. 11 November 2012 Urtijëi, Italy Carpet Andreas Seppi 6–1, 6–4 Singles Performance Timeline Key W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO SF-B F S G NMS NH Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a Round Robin stage or lost in Qualification Round 3, 2, Round 1; absent from a tournament or participated in a team event; played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-off; won a bronze, silver (F or S) or gold medal at the Olympics, the former of which has, from 1908–1924 and 1996–present, been awarded to the winner of a play-off match between losing semifinalists. The last two are for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series) or a tournament that was Not Held in a given year. To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of (not during) a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended. Current till 2013 Sony Open Tennis. Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SR W-L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open A 1R 1R A 2R 2R 1R 2R 0 / 6 3–6 French Open A 1R 1R A 1R A 1R 0 / 4 0–4 Wimbledon 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R A 2R 0 / 6 6–6 US Open 4R 1R LQ 1R 2R A 1R 0 / 5 4–5 Win–Loss 4–2 0–4 1–3 1–2 3–4 1–1 0–4 1–1 0 / 21 13–21 ATP Masters Series 1000 Indian Wells A 1R 1R LQ 1R 2R A 1R 0 / 5 1–5 Miami A 1R 2R 2R 4R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 7 6–7 Monte Carlo A 2R A A 2R A A 0 / 2 2–2 Rome A 1R LQ A 1R A A 0 / 2 0–2 Madrid A A A A 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1 Canada A A LQ A A A LQ 0 / 0 0–0 Cincinnati A 1R 1R 2R 1R A LQ 0 / 4 1–4 Shanghai Not Masters Series 1R 1R A A 0 / 2 0–2 Paris A LQ A 2R 2R A LQ 0 / 2 2–2 Hamburg A 1R A NMS 0 / 1 0–1 Win–Loss 0–0 1–6 1–3 3–4 6–8 1–2 1–1 0–2 0 / 26 13–26 Career Statistics Titles–Finals 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1 / 2 1–1 Year End Ranking 58 84 129 40 53 304 65 $2,437,494 Doubles Performance Timeline Key W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO SF-B F S G NMS NH Won tournament, or reached Final, Semifinal, Quarterfinal, Round 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a Round Robin stage or lost in Qualification Round 3, 2, Round 1; absent from a tournament or participated in a team event; played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group (with its number indication) or Play-off; won a bronze, silver (F or S) or gold medal at the Olympics, the former of which has, from 1908–1924 and 1996–present, been awarded to the winner of a play-off match between losing semifinalists. The last two are for a Masters Series/1000 tournament that was relegated (Not a Masters Series) or a tournament that was Not Held in a given year. To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of (not during) a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended. Current till 2013 Australian Open. Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SR W-L Grand Slam tournaments Australian Open 1R 1R 3R 1R 0 / 4 2–4 French Open 1R 2R 2R 0 / 3 2–3 Wimbledon 3R 1R 1R 2R 0 / 4 3–4 US Open 1R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 4 1–4 Win–Loss 2–4 0–0 0–2 2–4 2–1 2–3 0–1 0 / 15 8–15 References External links Official website Benjamin Becker at the Association of Tennis Professionals Becker Recent Match Results Becker World Ranking History Baylor University Profile Awards Preceded by Gaël Monfils ATP Newcomer of the Year 2006 Succeeded by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga