Blaž Rola

Blaž Rola
Country (sports)	Slovenia
Residence	Ptuj, Slovenia
Born	5 October 1990 (age 34); Ptuj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro	2013
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
College	Ohio State University
Prize money	$1,138,429
Singles
Career record	15–23
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 78 (5 January 2015)
Current ranking	No. 444 (15 January 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2014)
French Open	1R (2019)
Wimbledon	2R (2014)
US Open	1R (2014)
Doubles
Career record	8–8
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 186 (22 August 2016)
Current ranking	No. 204 (15 January 2024)
Medal record
Representing Slovenia
Men's Tennis
Mediterranean Games
	Last updated on: 21 January 2024.

Blaž Rola (born 5 October 1990) is a Slovenian tennis player.

His highest career ranking is No. 78 in singles and No. 186 in doubles. In his career, he has won one ATP 250 series doubles title, nine singles and six doubles ITF Futures tournaments and five ATP Challenger in singles and eight in doubles. He represents Slovenia on the Slovenia Davis Cup team. In the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey, he won gold in singles and doubles.^[1]^[2]

Personal life

Rola was born in Ptuj, the oldest Slovenian town, to father Marijan Rola and mother Majda Rola. He was four years old when he started playing tennis and when he was six he joined the Tennis Club Terme Ptuj where he spent the most of his youth. He went to High school in Ptuj.^[3] In 2010 he moved to the United States where he studied at and competed in tennis for Ohio State University until 2013. In January 2019 he and his fiancée Slovenian blogger Vanesa Rola, who was his long-term girlfriend, welcomed daughter Izabela. The same year he married Vanesa.

College career

He competed for Ohio State University from 2010 to 2013, winning the NCAA doubles championship in 2012 and the NCAA singles championship in 2013.

Professional career

2008–2013

In 2008 he began his professional career when he performed his first tournaments in ITF Futures and ATP Challenger Tour series.

In 2010 he represented Slovenia for the first time in Davis Cup and moved to study and play tennis in United States.

At 2013 Mediterranean Games he won 2 gold medals and made big progress when he reached Top 200 on ATP rankings for the first time in his career. In this period he won 9 Futures singles and 6 doubles titles and 1 title in doubles in Challenger series.

2014: Grand Slam and top 100 debut

Through qualifications he reached the main draw of Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the 2014 Australian Open. He lost in second round against Martin Kližan. With this result he became the fifth Slovene male player to reach the main draw of any Grand Slam.

In May he reached Top 100 in the ATP rankings and played in the qualifications for the 2014 French Open where her lost in the third round to James Ward.

In June he played his first ATP 250 series tournament on grass. At the 2014 Aegon Championships, London and the 2014 Aegon International, Eastbourne he lost in the first round on both occasions. He played in the main draw of 2014 Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career and lost 1–6, 1–6, 0–6 in the second round against Andy Murray.^[4]

2015: Career-high ranking

He reached a career-high ranking in singles of No. 78 on 5 January 2015.

2021: Fifth Challenger title

At the 2021 Zadar Open he won his seventh Challenger doubles title partnering his good friend Blaž Kavčič.

At the 2021 Split Open he defeated Kavčič to win his fifth Challenger singles title.^[5]

2023: Maiden ATP title

At the 2023 Croatia Open Umag he won his first ATP title partnering with Nino Serdarušić.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (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 (1–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)

Finals by setting
Outdoor (1–0)
Indoor (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2023	Croatia Open, Umag	250 Series	Clay	Nino Serdarušić	Simone Bolelli Andrea Vavassori	4–6, 7–6^(7–2), [15–13]

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 29 (15–14)

Legend (singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (5–8)
ITF Futures Tour (10–6)

Titles by surface
Hard (4–2)
Clay (11–12)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2010	Slovenia F1, Kamnik	Futures	Clay	Marcel Zimmermann	6–3, 2–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Jun 2010	Slovenia F3, Maribor	Futures	Clay	György Balázs	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Jul 2010	Italy F18, Modena	Futures	Clay	Matteo Viola	1–6, 6–4, 1–6
Win	2–2	Aug 2010	Austria F3, Bad Waltersdorf	Futures	Clay	Pascal Brunner	7–5, 6–3
Win	3–2	Jul 2012	USA F17, Innisbrook	Futures	Clay	Luis David Martínez	6–2, 6–1
Loss	3–3	Jul 2012	Austria F1, Telfs	Futures	Clay	Marc Rath	6–2, 3–6, 2–6
Win	4–3	Jul 2012	Austria F3, Bad Waltersdorf	Futures	Clay	Nicolas Reissig	6–3, 6–2
Loss	4–4	Aug 2012	Croatia F7, Čakovec	Futures	Clay	Peter Heller	4–6, 0–6
Win	5–4	Aug 2012	Croatia F8, Vinkovci	Futures	Clay	Toni Androić	6–2, 6–2
Win	6–4	Sep 2012	Austria F9, Vogau	Futures	Clay	Andreas Haider-Maurer	6–2, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	7–4	Jun 2013	Mexico F12, Quintana Roo	Futures	Hard	José Pereira	7–6^(8–6), 6–4
Loss	7–5	Aug 2013	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Agustín Velotti	3–6, 4–6
Win	8–5	Aug 2013	Poland F5, Bytom	Futures	Clay	Filip Krajinović	w/o
Win	9–5	Oct 2013	Armenia F2, Yerevan	Futures	Clay	Boy Westerhof	6–2, 6–4
Loss	9–6	Oct 2013	Croatia F11, Dubrovnik	Futures	Clay	Janez Semrajc	4–6, 7–5, 3–6
Win	10–6	Mar 2014	Guangzhou, China, P.R.	Challenger	Hard	Yūichi Sugita	6–7^(4–7), 6–4, 6–3
Loss	10–7	Mar 2014	Panama City, Panama	Challenger	Clay	Pere Riba	5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Loss	10–8	Apr 2014	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Rogério Dutra Silva	4–6, 2–6
Loss	10–9	Jul 2014	Poznań, Poland	Challenger	Clay	David Goffin	4–6, 2–6
Win	11–9	Apr 2015	Santos, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Germain Gigounon	6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	11–10	Jun 2016	Perugia, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Nicolás Kicker	6–2, 3–6, 0–6
Win	12–10	Apr 2017	Tallahassee, USA	Challenger	Clay	Ramkumar Ramanathan	6–2, 6–7^(6–8), 7–5
Loss	12–11	Mar 2018	Quijing, China, P.R.	Challenger	Hard	Malek Jaziri	6–7^(5–7), 1–6
Loss	12–12	Apr 2018	Panama City, Panama	Challenger	Clay	Carlos Berlocq	2–6, 0–6
Loss	12–13	Oct 2018	Las Vegas, USA	Challenger	Hard	Thanasi Kokkinakis	4–6, 4–6
Win	13–13	Apr 2019	León, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Liam Broady	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Win	14–13	Apr 2021	Split, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Blaž Kavčič	2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	15–13	Apr 2023	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	World Tennis Tour	Hard	Adrien Gobat	7–6^(7–4), 6–2
Loss	15–14	May 2024	M15 Celje, Slovenia	World Tennis Tour	Clay	Joao Eduardo Schiessl	6–4, 6–7^(4–7), 1–6

Doubles: 23 (15–8)

Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (9–5)
ITF Futures Tour (6–3)

Titles by surface
Hard (4–4)
Clay (10–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2009	Croatia F9, Dubrovnik	Futures	Clay	Martin Rmuš	Morgan Phillips Antonio Šančić	6–3, 7–6^(9–7)
Loss	1–1	May 2010	Bosnia & Herzegovina F3, Doboj	Futures	Clay	Martin Rmuš	Michael Linzer Herbert Wiltschnig	w/o
Win	2–1	Jun 2010	Slovenia F3, Maribor	Futures	Clay	Martin Rmuš	Javier Martí Sergio Pérez Pérez	6–3, 6–3
Loss	2–2	Aug 2011	Croatia F7, Vinkovci	Futures	Clay	Mislav Hižak	Tomislav Brkić Marin Franjičević	6–3, 3–6, [7–10]
Win	3–2	Jul 2012	USA F17, Innisbrook	Futures	Clay	Chase Buchanan	Keith-Patrick Crowley Joshua Zavala	6–4, 6–2
Win	4–2	Jul 2012	Austria F1, Telfs	Futures	Clay	Tomislav Ternar	Stefan Hirn Sebastian Stiefelmeyer	6–2, 7–5
Loss	4–3	Aug 2012	Croatia F7, Čakovec	Futures	Clay	Tomislav Ternar	Thibault Venturino Janoš Žibrat	3–6, 4–6
Win	5–3	Aug 2012	Croatia F8, Vinkovci	Futures	Clay	Mislav Hižak	Tomislav Brkić Aldin Šetkić	6–4, 7–6^(7–3)
Win	6–3	Sep 2012	Austria F9, Vogau	Futures	Clay	Ruben Gonzales	Lukas Jastraunig Tristan-Samuel Weissborn	6–2, 6–2
Loss	6–4	Jul 2013	Portorož, Slovenia	Challenger	Hard	Aljaž Bedene	Marin Draganja Mate Pavić	3–6, 6–1, [5–10]
Win	7–4	Nov 2013	Toyota, Japan	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Chase Buchanan	Marcus Daniell Artem Sitak	4–6, 6–3, [10–4]
Loss	7–5	Jan 2014	Nouméa, New Caledonia	Challenger	Hard	Ante Pavić	Austin Krajicek Tennys Sandgren	6–7^(4–7), 3–6
Loss	7–6	Feb 2014	Chennai, India	Challenger	Hard	Sriram Balaji	Yuki Bhambri Michael Venus	4–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Win	8–6	May 2015	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Chase Buchanan	Guido Andreozzi Sergio Galdós	6–4, 6–4
Win	9–6	Sep 2015	Cary, USA	Challenger	Hard	Chase Buchanan	Austin Krajicek Nicholas Monroe	6–4, 6–7^(5–7), [10–4]
Win	10–6	Sep 2015	Columbus, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Chase Buchanan	Mitchell Krueger Eric Quigley	6–4, 4–6, [19–17]
Win	11–6	Oct 2017	Lima, Peru	Challenger	Clay	Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela	Gonçalo Oliveira Grzegorz Panfil	7–5, 6–3
Loss	11–7	Jun 2018	Caltanissetta, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Jiří Veselý	Federico Gaio Andrea Pellegrino	6–7^(4–7), 6–7^(5–7)
Win	12–7	Nov 2019	Charlottesville, USA	Challenger	Hard	Mitchell Krueger	Sekou Bangoura Blaz Kavcic	6–4, 6–1
Win	13–7	Mar 2021	Zadar, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Blaž Kavčič	Lukáš Klein Alex Molčan	2–6, 6–2, [10–3]
Win	14–7	Nov 2021	Knoxville, USA	Challenger	Hard (i)	Malek Jaziri	Hans Hach Verdugo Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela	3–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Loss	14–8	Jan 2022	Bendigo, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Enzo Couacaud	Ruben Bemelmans Daniel Masur	6–7^(2–7), 4–6
Win	15–8	Sep 2023	Tulln an der Donau, Austria	Challenger	Clay	Zdenek Kolar	Piotr Matuszewski Kai Wehnelt	6–4, 4–6, [10–6]

Singles performance timeline

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	P#	DNQ	A	Z#	PO	G	S	B	NMS	NTI	P	NH

(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.

Tournament	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	Q1	A	Q1	Q2	Q1	Q2	Q1	1–2
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q3	Q2	Q1	Q1	Q1	1R	Q1	Q2		0–1
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	A	Q2	Q1	NH	Q1		1–2
US Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Q1	Q1	Q2	Q1	Q1	A	Q3		0–1
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–3	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–6
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	A	A	A	NH	A		0–0
Italian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0–0
Canadian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A		Q1	A	A	A	A	NH	A		0–0
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Q1	A	A	A	A	A	A		0–1
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1
National representation
Davis Cup	A	A	Z2	A	A	Z1	Z1	Z1	Z1	A	Z2	Z2	A	A		6–5
Career statistics
Overall win–loss	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	5–9	6–6	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	15–23
Win %	–	–	100%	–	–	50%	36%	50%	50%	–	0%	0%	–	0%		41%
Year-end ranking	1465	933	423	721	307	201	80	144	255	206	188	145	155	181	1118	–

* As of 26 May 2022^[update]

Record against other players

Rola's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10. Players who have been No. 1 are in boldface

* As of 26 May 2021^[update].

Davis Cup

Group membership
World Group (0–0)
Group I (7–4)
Group II (2–3)
Group III (0–0)
Group IV (0–0)

Matches by surface
Hard (4–2)
Clay (5–5)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Matches by Location
Outdoor (5–3)
Indoor (4–4)

Matches by Type
Singles (6–4)
Doubles (3–3)

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.

Davis Cup results
Rubber outcome	No.	Rubber	Match type (partner if any)	Opponent nation	Opponent player(s)	Score
5–0; 9–11 July 2010; TK Krka Otočec, Otočec, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group II Second Round; Clay
Victory	1.	IV (dead rubber)	Singles	Bulgaria	Valentin Dimov	6–0, 6–1
4–1; 13–15 Sep 2013; Park Tivoli, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I First Round Play-Off; Clay
Victory	2.	I	Singles	South Africa	Rik de Voest	6–1, 6–1, 6–4
Victory	3.	III	Doubles (with Blaž Kavčič)		Raven Klaasen / Nicolaas Scholtz	7–5, 6–1, 7–6^(7–4)
Defeat	4.	V (dead rubber)	Singles		Nicolaas Scholtz	3–2 ret.
1–3; 4–6 Apr 2014; ŠRC Marina Portorož, Portorož, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I Second Round; Clay
Victory	5.	II	Singles	Israel	Dudi Sela	6–3, 6–4, 6–4
Defeat	6.	III	Doubles (with Grega Žemlja)	Israel	Jonathan Erlich / Andy Ram	6–7^(7–9), 6–4, 6–7^(5–7), 3–6
5–0; 30 Oct – 1 Nov 2015; Teniski klub Triglav Kranj, Kranj, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I Second Round Play-Off; Hard (i)
Victory	7.	II	Singles	Lithuania	Laurynas Grigelis	7–6^(8–6), 6–2, 6–2
Victory	8.	III	Doubles (with Blaž Kavčič)		Laurynas Grigelis / Lukas Mugevičius	6–4, 7–6^(7–1), 6–4
Victory	9.	IV (dead rubber)	Singles		Lukas Mugevičius	6–2, 6–2
1–4; 4–6 Mar 2016; Sala Sporturilor, Arad, Romania; Europe/Africa Group I First Round; Hard (i)
Defeat	10.	I	Singles	Romania	Marius Copil	5–7, 3–6, 6–7^(5–7)
Defeat	11.	III	Doubles (with Grega Žemlja)		Florin Mergea / Horia Tecău	3–6, 6–7^(5–7), 6–7^(3–7)
Defeat	12.	II	Singles		Adrian Ungur	6–3, 6–4
2–3; 3–4 Feb 2018; Lukna Sports Hall, Maribor, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group II First Round; Hard (i)
Victory	13.	II	Singles	Poland	Kamil Majchrzak	4–6, 2–6
Defeat	14.	III	Doubles (with Aljaž Bedene)	Poland	Mateusz Kowalczyk / Marcin Matkowski	7–5, 6–7^(5–7), 4–6
3–1; 13–14 Sep 2019; Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo, Egypt; Europe/Africa Group I First Round; Clay
Defeat	15.	II	Singles	Egypt	Mohamed Safwat	4–6, 6–1, 6–7^(4–7)
Victory	16.	III	Doubles (with Aljaž Bedene)	Egypt	Sherif Sabry / Mohamed Safwat	7–5, 6–3

References

^ "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Singles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
^ "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Doubles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
^ "Interview: Caffe Invitation, guest: Blaž Rola (Slovene)". Ptuj television PeTV. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
^ "Andy Murray demolishes Blaz Rola for loss of two games to reach third round of Wimbledon 2014". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
^ "Blaž Rola Wins ATP Challenger Split Open Title!". Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.

External links

Blaž Rola at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Blaž Rola at the International Tennis Federation
Blaž Rola at the Davis Cup

[1] "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Singles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.

[2] "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Doubles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2013.

[3] "Interview: Caffe Invitation, guest: Blaž Rola (Slovene)". Ptuj television PeTV. Retrieved 10 August 2011.

[4] "Andy Murray demolishes Blaz Rola for loss of two games to reach third round of Wimbledon 2014". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 25 June 2014.

[5] "Blaž Rola Wins ATP Challenger Split Open Title!". Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.

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v t e Association of Tennis Professionals Top Slovenian male singles tennis players
As of Oct 27, 2024
1. Bor Artnak (386 ) 2. Blaz Rola (821 10) 3. Filip Jeff Planinsek (830 8) 4. Jan Kupcic (950 14) 5. Matic Kriznik (987 2)
6. Sebastian Dominko (1,130 132) 7. Matic Dimic (T1,352 11) 8. Luka Miklavcic (T1,655 10) 9. Nik Mikovic (T1,750 34) 10. Jaka Protic Zakelj (T1,777 13)