Justin Gimelstob ( born January 26, 1977 , Livingston , USA ) is an American tennis player , sports functionary and commentator. Winner of two Grand Slam tournaments in mixed doubles and 13 ATP tournaments in men's pairs, winner of the Hopman Cup (1997) as part of the US team.
| Justin Gimelstob | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Livingston , USA |
| Citizenship | |
| Place of residence | Santa Monica , USA |
| Growth | 196 cm |
| Weight | 88 kg |
| Carier start | 1996 |
| Retirement | 2007 |
| Working hand | right |
| Prize, $ | 2,575,522 |
| Singles | |
| V / p matches | 101-172 |
| Highest position | 63 ( April 19, 1999 ) |
| Grand Slam Tournaments | |
| Australia | 2nd circle (1999) |
| France | 1st round (1999-2000, 2003, 2006-07) |
| Wimbledon | 3rd circle (2000, 2003, 2005) |
| USA | 3rd circle (1997, 1999) |
| Doubles | |
| V / p matches | 174-158 |
| Titles | 13 |
| Highest position | 18 ( May 8, 2000 ) |
| Grand Slam Tournaments | |
| Australia | 1/2 finals (2001) |
| France | 1st round (1997-2000, 2003, 2006-07) |
| Wimbledon | 1/4 finals (1998, 2004) |
| USA | 3rd circle (1999, 2004, 2007) |
Personal life
Justin Gimelstob was born in New Jersey in the family of a wealthy financier Barry Gimelstob [2] . In 1995-96, he studied at the University of California at Los Angeles , completing the first semester with the highest possible grades (GPA 4.0) [3] but the transition to professional tennis prevented the degree, and Gimelstob returned to classes after graduation, returning to Southern California from New York, where he sold an apartment in Manhattan and broke up with his girlfriend [2] .
In 1998, the Justin Gimelstob Children's Fund was founded, collecting donations in New York and New Jersey. From its founding until 2014, the fund raised over a million dollars transferred to treat children suffering from cancer and diseases of the circulatory system [4] .
In 2006, Gimelstob, who previously served on the board of players of the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP) , lost the election to the board of directors of ATP in one of the players' representatives, but the next year he still got this post, replacing Thomas Blake on the board of directors . As a member of the board of directors, Gimelstob facilitated the election of Adam Helfant as president of the Asia-Pacific Region, lobbying leading players in his favor. In 2008, re-elected for a new three-year term [2] [5] .
Gimelstob works as a sports commentator on a number of radio and television channels, including Tennis Channel, CBS and Fox Sports . He also hosted a column in Sports Illustrated and his own broadcast on The Sports Junkies , aired in Washington. The most scandal involving Gimelstob is associated with this program: in the summer of 2008, Justin, known for his sharp tongue, allowed himself to be extremely rude about Anna Kournikova . The result was suspension from participation in the USTA advertising campaign [2] and disqualification for one match in the World Team Tennis professional tennis league [6] . Gimelstob was also briefly suspended from broadcasting on the Tennis Channel after he derogated in 2010 about the policies pursued by President Obama [2] .
Game career
Justin Gimelstob began playing tennis at the age of eight. His first partners in the game were brothers - the eldest, Josh, and the youngest, Russell. In 1991, Justin led the US national ranking among boys under the age of 14 years, in 1993 - under 16 years, and in 1995 won the US national championship among boys under the age of 18 years in singles and made it to the finals of the French Open paired with Ryan Walters [5] . In the first round of the US Open, 18-year-old Gimelstob defeated the 65th racket of the world by David Brought , and Sports Illustrated magazine predicted his career as a “tennis Tiger Woods ” [3] . Entering the University of California at Los Angeles in 1995, Gimelstob in the second year reached the final of the student’s (NCAA) Championship of North America in singles and in a team, and in doubles with Srjyan Mushkatirovich won the championship title [5] .
In 1996, Gimelstob joined the professional tennis tour of the Asia-Pacific Region . In his first season as a professional, he won one ATP Challenger class tournament and two in doubles, having risen from the ATP rating by more than 400 places in a year [7] . In early 1997, Gimelstob defended the colors of the US flag in the Hopman Cup , at the last moment replacing Richey Reneberg as part of the American team. Despite the fact that bookmakers rated the chances of Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin very low (bets were taken at a ratio of 66 to 1), they managed to bring the American team the first victory in its history at this tournament [8] . Later this year, he managed to win his first tournament of the main APR tour - this happened in the summer at the base category tournament in Newport , where New Zealander Brett Stephen played with him. With Steven, Gimelstob also defeated one of the strongest pairs in the world Paul Memphis - Yakko Elting on the way to the semifinals in Memphis, and defeated Olympic champions Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodford , the first in the ranking, with Olympic champions on the way to the Japan Open. . He finished the year already among the hundred best tennis players in the world in doubles, and in singles entered the first hundred in August after winning at the Wimbledon and the Canadian Open over opponents from the Top-20, although he could not stay in it until the end of the year.
In 1998, Gimelstob won his second doubles title in the ATP tournaments and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the Wimbledon tournament in the men's doubles (in both Grand Slam tournaments, his partner was Brian McPhee , with whom they beat the third world pair Leander Paes at Wimbledon Mahesh Bhupati ). In singles Gimelstob twice played in the semi-finals of the ATP tournaments (in Coral Springs and in Los Angeles, where he defeated Rafter - at that time the fifth racket of the world). Towards the end of the year, he again made his way into the hundred of the strongest players in the world. But he achieved his main success this season in the mixed season, winning the Australian Open and the French Open, together with 17-year-old Venus Williams . In Melbourne, young Americans who received a “wyck-card” from the tournament organizers outplayed the three seeded couples in the first round, quarter-finals and finals [9] . Also, they managed to beat the three seeded couples on the way to the title in Paris, although in the final they were opposed by another sifted couple - the younger sister Venus, Serena , and the Argentinean Luis Lobo [10] . At Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament of the season, Venus and Justin defeated the first pair of the tournament Larisa Neiland- Leander Paes in the quarterfinal, but lost in the semifinal to the seeded fifth Mirjana Lucic and Maheshu Bhupati, and Serena Williams and Belarus Maxim Mirny became champions [11 ] .
In 1999, Gimelstob won five titles at the APR tournaments in doubles, defeating, among others, Woodbridge and Woodford in Atlanta, Daniel Nestor and Sebastien Laro in Singapore and the second racket of the world Bhupati, who paired with Andrew Florent , in Paris . He ended the year in 24th place in the ranking of paired players. In singles Gimelstob reached a record 63rd position by April 1999, after a successful performance in Scottsdale (Arizona), where he managed to beat the 22nd racket of the world by Thomas Muster . In 2000, he reached the 18th place in the doubles ranking, having four times played in the finals of the APR tournaments and won two victories four times a year.
At the beginning of 2001 at the Australian Open, Gimelstob achieved the highest success in Grand Slam tournaments, in addition to two 1998 mixed wins. Paired with Scott Humphries, he managed to make it to the semifinals after winning in the third round over seeders Eugene Kafelnikov and Wayne Ferreira . In 2004, Gimelstob and Humphries made it to the quarter-finals at the Wimbledon tournament, defeating Bob and Mike Brianov seeded second. In 2002-2006, Gimelstob played six more times in the finals of the APR tournaments in doubles, having won four more titles. In the summer of 2006, occupying the 111th place in the ranking at the end of his career, he went to Newport in the only singles final of the ATP tournament during his performances, where he lost to Mark Filippussis , who at that time was in the tennis hierarchy only in the third hundred.
Back injuries caused Gimelstob to end his career at the age of 30 [2] . He announced his planned retirement after losing to Andy Roddick at the 2007 US Open [12] and spent his last matches in the APR tournaments in the fall of that year in Moscow and St. Petersburg, having already lost in the first round in both categories. In 2008 , however, he still took part in the World TeamTennis summer league as part of the newly formed Washington Castle team, becoming its first player in history [13] .
End of year ranking position
| Discharge | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 576 | 152 | 104 | 80 | 82 | 97 | 177 | 106 | 106 | 162 | 104 | 86 | 556 |
| Doubles | 471 | 243 | 68 | 50 | 24 | 55 | 63 | 84 | 57 | 63 | 78 | 49 | 157 |
Career Finals
| Result | date | Tournament | Coating | Opponent in the final | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defeat | July 10, 2006 | Newport, USA | Grass | Mark Philippusssis | 3-6, 5-7 |
| Legend |
|---|
| Grand Slam (0) |
| ATP Final Championship (0) |
| ATP Super 9 / ATP Masters (0) |
| ATP Championship Series / ATP International Gold (3-1) |
| ATP World / ATP International (10-4) |
| Result | No. | date | Tournament | Coating | Partner | Opponents in the finals | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defeat | one. | April 14, 1997 | Japanese Open, Tokyo | Hard | Patrick rafter | Daniel Waceck Martin Damm | 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 |
| Victory | one. | July 7, 1997 | Newport, USA | Grass | Brett Steven | Kent Kinnear Aleksandar Kitinov | 6-3, 6-4 |
| Victory | 2. | June 15, 1998 | Nottingham UK | Grass | Byron Talbot | Sebastien Laro Daniel Nestor | 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 |
| Victory | 3. | March 1, 1999 | Scottsdale , USA | Hard | Richie Reneberg | Mark Knowles Sandon stall | 6-4, 6-7 4 , 6-3 |
| Victory | four. | April 26, 1999 | Atlanta , USA | Priming | Patrick galbright | Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodford | 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 |
| Victory | five. | June 14, 1999 | Nottingham (2) | Grass | Patrick galbright | Marius Barnard Brent Highgart | 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 |
| Victory | 6. | August 16, 1999 | Washington , USA | Hard | Sebastien Laro | David adams John Laffney de Jager | 7-5, 6-7 2 , 6-3 |
| Victory | 7. | November 8, 1999 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet (i) | Daniel Waceck | Andrey Medvedev Marat Safin | 6-2, 6-1 |
| Victory | eight. | February 14, 2000 | Memphis , USA | Hard (i) | Sebastien Laro | Jim Grubb Richie Reneberg | 6-2, 6-4 |
| Defeat | 2. | April 10, 2000 | Atlanta | Priming | Mark Knowles | Rick Leach Ellis Ferreira | 3-6, 4-6 |
| Defeat | 3. | May 1, 2000 | Orlando , USA | Priming | Sebastien Laro | Leander Paes Jan Simerink | 3-6, 4-6 |
| Victory | 9. | September 11, 2000 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Hard | Scott Humphries | Marius Barnard Robbie Koenig | 6-3, 6-2 |
| Defeat | four. | July 22, 2002 | Los Angeles , USA | Hard | Michael Llodra | Sebastien Laro Nicholas Kiefer | 4-6, 4-6 |
| Victory | ten. | September 29, 2003 | Japan Open | Hard | Nicholas Kiefer | Mark Merklane Scott Humphries | 6-7 6 , 6-3, 7-6 4 |
| Victory | eleven. | September 13, 2004 | Chinese Open, Beijing | Hard | Graydon Oliver | Alex Bogomolov Taylor dent | 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 6 |
| Victory | 12. | September 27, 2004 | Thailand Open Bangkok | Hard | Graydon Oliver | Yves Allegro Roger Federer | 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Victory | 13. | September 12, 2005 | Chinese Open (2) | Hard | Nathan healy | Dmitry Tursunov Mikhail Yuzhny | 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
| Defeat | five. | July 10, 2006 | Newport, USA | Grass | Jeff Kutze | Robert Kendrick Jürgen Meltzer | 6-7 3 , 0-6 |
| Result | Year | Tournament | Coating | Partner | Opponents in the finals | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victory | 1998 | Australian Open | Hard | Venus Williams | Gelena Sukova Cyril Bitch | 6-2, 6-1 |
| Victory | 1998 | French Open | Priming | Venus Williams | Serena Williams Louis Lobo | 6-4, 6-4 |
Notes
- ↑ ATP website
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Daniel Kaplan. Gimelstob known to serve up controversy . Sports Business Journal (August 30, 2010). Date of treatment August 26, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 Justin Gimelstob on Jews in Sports
- ↑ Isner, Gimelstob Receive ATP ACES For Charity Grants . ATP (March 20, 2014). Date of treatment August 26, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Profile on the ATP website (eng.)
- ↑ Gimelstob says he's sorry for remarks about Kournikova . ESPN (June 27, 2008). Date of treatment August 26, 2014.
- ↑ History of position in the rating on the Asia-Pacific Region website (English)
- ↑ Stephen Nidetz. Late Sub Helps Us Capture Hopman Cup Tennis Title . Chicago Tribune (January 5, 1997). Date of treatment August 26, 2014.
- ↑ Australian Open 1998 Mixed Doubles tournament standings on the ITF website
- ↑ 1998 French Mixed Doubles standings at the ITF website
- ↑ Mixed Doubles 1998 Wimbledon Tournament Drawings on ITF Website
- ↑ Interview: Justin Gimelstob, Andy Roddick . ASAP Sports (August 28, 2007). Date of treatment August 26, 2014.
- ↑ Serena Williams and Justin Gimelstob to Play for DC World Team Tennis (link not available) . USTA (April 4, 2008). Date of treatment August 26, 2014. Archived on August 26, 2014.
Links
- Jewish in Sports website biography