Jiří Veselý (Czech pronunciation:[ˈjɪr̝iːˈvɛsɛliː]; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player.
Tennis career
Juniors
In 2011, Veselý won the boys' singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Australian Luke Saville in straight sets. He also won the boys' doubles titles at the Australian Open, partnering Filip Horanský of Slovakia; they defeated Ben Wagland and Andrew Whittington of Australia in the final. The same year he reached the finals of the US Open singles and the Wimbledon doubles (as well the final of the US Open doubles in 2010).
Veselý reached the No. 1 junior combined world ranking in January 2011, compiling a singles win/loss record of 125–45.[4]
Pro tour
Veselý made his Davis Cup debut for Czech Republic in February 2013, and to date has nine singles titles on the ITF Futures circuit to his name and three Challengers.[5]
Veselý qualified into the 2013 French Open for his first appearance into the main draw of a grand slam. Vesely was, at the time, the youngest player in the world's top 100 at 20 years and 3 months old. In 2014, Veselý reached the 3rd round of the BNP Paribas Open where he lost to Andy Murray in three sets.
Veselý won a match at the 2014 French Open, then the following month reached the third round of Wimbledon as a wildcard. He beat Gaël Monfils in five sets in the second round, before being defeated by fellow wildcard Nick Kyrgios in four sets. He also won his first doubles title at ATP World Tour in doubles with countryman František Čermák.
Veselý reached two singles finals at ATP World Tour, winning his first title at Auckland, after defeating Adrian Mannarino. He also reached 3rd round at US Open, after victory over Ivo Karlović.
At the Monte Carlo, he beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a stunning second-round upset. It was the first time Djokovic had lost at a Masters tournament prior to the final since the 2014 Shanghai Masters, and his earliest exit from any tournament in three years. However, he lost to Gaël Monfils in straights sets in the third round. Veselý made it to the third round of the 2016 Istanbul Open – Singles before losing to Grigor Dimitrov. At the Nice Open, he lost to Leonardo Mayer in the first round. Veselý made it to the second round of the 2016 French Open by beating Rajeev Ram in the first round. He lost to Nicolás Almagro.
Veselý started his grass court season at 2016 Aegon Championships by losing to Kevin Anderson in qualifying, but earned the Lucky Loser spot. He beat Jérémy Chardy in the first round before falling to Milos Raonic in the second round. He next competed at the 2016 Nottingham Open. He beat Horacio Zeballos, but lost to 8th seeded Gilles Müller in the second. At the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, Jiří pushed through 3 consecutive tie-broken sets, besting world No. 8 Dominic Thiem, to move through to the third round. It was his second top 10 win of his career after beating Novak Djokovic earlier in the season. He defeated the 31st seed João Sousa in the third round. Jiří lost to fellow countryman Tomáš Berdych in a hard-fought five set match.[6]
Veselý next competed at the 2016 Davis Cup representing his country. He lost both of his matches to the French.
Jiří was seeded 8th at the 2016 Croatia Open. In the first round, he won in straight sets, but was forced to retire in the second round against Carlos Berlocq due to injury. He next competed at the 2016 Western & Southern Open where he lost in the first round to Marcel Granollers. The 2016 Winston-Salem Open proved dreadful for him as he was forced to retire again during his match in the third round to Andrey Kuznetsov. He was able to Compete at the 2016 US Open. He beat Saketh Myneni in the first round and set up a rematch of Monte Carlo with world number one Novak Djokovic. However, Veselý pulled out before the match was set to begin because of a left arm injury.[7]
His first tournament since the US Open was the 2016 Shenzhen Open, where he was seeded 8th. He won his first two matches in straight sets, but lost to his idol and countryman Tomáš Berdych in three sets. He finished his season by competing at the 2016 Japan Open. Jiří won his first round match against Kevin Anderson in three sets before losing to David Goffin in the second round.
2020: First singles title since 2015
Veselý started off his year by playing challenger tours, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2020 Bangkok Challenger II, before losing to eventual champion Federico Gaio in straight sets. He then entered the main draw in 2020 Maharashtra Open. He opened his campaign by defeating wildcard Arjun Kadhe, then beat 7th seed Salvatore Caruso in straight sets, before saving a match point in the final tiebreak to defeat Ilya Ivashka in 3 tight sets. In the semifinals, he once again required 3 sets, saving 4 match points to defeat Ričardas Berankis, to advance to his first tour-level final since April 2015. He defeated Egor Gerasimov in 3 sets to win the title.
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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Czech Republic
mixed-NOCs team
Adrian Mannarino
Guillermo García López
Egor Gerasimov
Sam Groth
Tuna Altuna
Alessandro Motti
Robin Haase
Norbert Gombos
Austin Krajicek
Dominic Thiem
Henri Laaksonen
James McGee
Simon Greul
Steve Darcis
Federico Delbonis
Laslo Đere
Radu Albot
Teymuraz Gabashvili
Érik Chvojka
Lee Hsin-han
Zhang Ze
Blaž Rola
Ernests Gulbis 3–0
Kevin Anderson 3–2
Fernando Verdasco 2–0
Fabio Fognini 2–3
Nikolay Davydenko 1–0
Novak Djokovic 1–0
Tommy Haas 1–0
Jürgen Melzer 1–0
Gaël Monfils 1–2
Jack Sock 1–3
Marin Cilic 0–1
David Goffin 0–1
Juan Monaco 0–1
Andy Murray 0–1
Kei Nishikori 0–1
Grigor Dimitrov 0–2
Milos Raonic 0–2
Stan Wawrinka 0–2
Marcos Baghdatis 0–4
Tomas Berdych 0–4
