Jesse Witten

Jesse Witten

Country	United States
Residence	Naples, Florida
Born	October 15, 1982 (1982-10-15) (age 29) Naples, Florida
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	about $275,000
Singles
Career record	2–7
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 163 (January 11, 2010)
Current ranking	No. 212 (February 7, 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	-
French Open	1R (2010)
Wimbledon	1R (2010)
US Open	3R (2009)
Doubles
Career record	35–57
Career titles	–
Highest ranking	No. 297 (April 19, 2010)
Last updated on: June 14, 2010.

Jesse Witten (born October 15, 1982, in Naples, Florida) is an American professional tennis player. He is a graduate of Lely High School and the University of Kentucky, where he majored in Kinesiology.

College career

Witten had a highly successful college career at the University of Kentucky from 2001 to 2005. His achievements include:

• Reached Final of NCAA Championships (2002)
• Named the NCAA/ITA National Rookie of the Year (2002)
• Named the SEC Rookie of the Year (2002)
• Attained (4) first team All-SEC singles selections during his career
• The University of Kentucky's first (5) time All-American (4 singles; 1 doubles)
• The University of Kentucky's first SEC Men's Tennis Player of the Year

Professional career

2001

Upon graduating from high school, Jesse was given a wildcard to the USTA Pro Circuit event in Seminole, Florida where he reached the semifinal.

2002

Jesse was given a wildcard to the qualifying round of the US Open and also attempted to qualify for ATP events in Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana.

2003

The summer after his sophomore year of college, Jesse played a handful of USTA Pro Circuit events and reach the semifinal of the event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

2004

As a wildcard, Jesse won his first professional title at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Joplin, Missouri. He also reached two other finals at USTA Pro Circuit events in Peoria, Illinois and Lexington, Kentucky.

2005

Upon graduation from the University of Kentucky, Jesse was given a lucky loser entrance into the ATP event in Indianapolis, Indiana where he lost in the first round to Andy Murray. He then won consecutive titles later in the summer on the ITF Circuit in Ecuador. He finished the year strong by reaching the semifinals of USTA Circuit events in Waco, Texas and Honolulu, Hawaii.

2006

His most successful year to date, Jesse ended the year with a high of No. 171 on the ATP Tour. He attempted to qualify for the French Open and Wimbledon. He qualified for his first Grand Slam at the US Open where he lost in the first round to Paul Goldstein. He began the year by winning the title at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Tampa, Florida. He went on to win USTA Pro Circuit titles in Joplin, Missouri and Harlingen, Texas. He received a wildcard to the ATP event in Houston, Texas where he lost in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis. He also attempted to qualify for ATP events in Delray Beach, Florida, Queen's Club, Newport, Rhode Island, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio. He made his main draw Grand Slam debut when he and Phil Simmonds partnered in doubles at the US Open. They lost in the first round to the pairing of Alexander Peya and Björn Phau.

2007

Jesse attempted to qualify for all four Grand Slam events. He qualifed for the ATP event in Memphis, Tennessee where he lost in the first round to Jürgen Melzer. Nearly a year a half since his last title, Jesse won his seventh championship at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he defeated Donald Young in the final. He reached the quarterfinals of five other USTA Pro Circuit events.

2009

Witten qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open, where he won his first round match against 29th seed Igor Andreev, 6–4, 6–0, 6–2. In second round, he defeated Máximo González 6-7(3), 6–4, 7–5, 6–3. In the third round, Witten lost the match to Novak Djokovic, 7–6(2) 3–6, 6-7(2), 4–6.^[1]

2010

Witten qualified into the 2010 French Open but was defeated in the first round by the #25 seed Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

Playing style

Witten employs an offensive baseline game although he is capable of playing an all-round game. His main strengths are his groundstrokes, foot speed, balance and return game. His groundstrokes are technically sound on both forehand and backhand, he hits the ball extremely early which creates great power, depth and consistency.

Personal

Jesse began playing tennis at age 6. His father Paul works in construction management, and his mother Elaine is an optometrist. He has one older sister Sarah who is an elementary school teacher and also played tennis for the University of Kentucky. Jesse's younger brother Ben graduated in 2008 from the University of South Florida and works in California as a chemist. Jesse likes every type of sport and is a big Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins fan.

References

1. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/usopen/6143698/US-Open-2009-Roger-Federer-overcomes-Lleyton-Hewitt-to-reach-last-16-in-New-York.html

External links

• Official Site
• Jesse Witten at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Witten Recent Match Results
• Witten World Ranking History
• Jesse Witten (Facebook)
• The New York Observer

Persondata
Name	Witten, Jesse
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 15, 1982
Place of birth	Naples, Florida
Date of death
Place of death