Aljaž Bedene

Aljaž Bedene
Country (sports)  Slovenia (2008–15, 2018–)
 Great Britain (2015–2017)
Residence Welwyn Garden City, UK
Born (1989-07-18) 18 July 1989
Ljubljana, SR Slovenia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro 2008
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach Igor Rorič
Dirk Hordorff
Claudio Pistolesi
James Davidson (2014–2016)
Leon Smith (2016)
Nick Cavaday (2016–present)
Prize money $2,888,226
Singles
Career record 90–105 (46.15%)
Career titles 0
14 Challenger, 5 Futures
Highest ranking No. 43 (19 February 2018)
Current ranking No. 64 (1 October 2018)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 1R (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
French Open 3R (2016)
Wimbledon 3R (2017)
US Open 2R (2015)
Doubles
Career record 15–34 (30.61%)
Career titles 0
1 Challenger, 2 Futures
Highest ranking No. 127 (7 October 2013)
Current ranking No. — (17 September 2018)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2016)
French Open 2R (2013)
Wimbledon 1R (2013, 2015)
US Open 1R (2015)
Last updated on: 25 September 2018.

Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a professional tennis player from Slovenia. He was naturalised British and played with this nationality from 2015 to 2017, returning to represent Slovenia in 2018.

He has won five Futures and 14 Challenger singles titles. In doubles he has won one Challenger title and two Futures titles. His highest ranking is no. 43 in singles (achieved on 19 February 2018) and no. 127 in doubles (achieved on 7 October 2013).

He represented Slovenia when he turned pro in 2008. On 31 March 2015, Bedene was granted UK citizenship and represented Great Britain,[1] but the International Tennis Federation has rejected his application to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup as he had previously played three dead rubbers for Slovenia.[2][3] After his appeals failed, Bedene switched his representation to his birth country of Slovenia for the 2018 season.[4]

Early and personal life

Bedene's father, Branko, is a dental industry worker and his mother is Darlen. Aljaž and his younger twin brother, Andraž used to compete for Slovenia’s top tennis honours. The two met regularly in competition finals. His nickname is Ali or Benke, and he speaks English, Slovene and Croatian. Andraž Bedene is a former ATP tour player.[5]

In 2008, Aljaž made the decision to pursue his tennis career in the UK because he felt it was stagnating under the limitations he encountered in Slovenia. He ended a seven-year wait to become a British citizen on 31 March 2015 and became British no. 2 behind Andy Murray.

Aljaž has lived in Welwyn Garden City since 2008 with his girlfriend, pop star Kimalie, formerly part of the Slovenian group Foxy Teens. Bedene is based at the Global Tennis Connections Academy in Gosling.[6] [7]

Career

2011

Not counting the Davis Cup competition, he competed in his first ATP tournament at Erste Bank Open in Vienna, Austria. He reached the second round where he lost in three sets against Tommy Haas.

2012

Bedene made his first ATP quarterfinal appearance at the Erste Bank Open. In the quarterfinal he played against no. 2 seed Janko Tipsarević and lost after retiring in the second set.[8]

2013

Bedene made his first ATP semifinal appearance at the Aircel Chennai Open defeating the no. 6 seed Robin Haase in the second round and the no. 4 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal, he lost against no. 2 seed Janko Tipsarević.[9]

At the Australian Open he played in his first Grand Slam tournament. He lost in the first round.

2014

On 9 May, it was announced that Bedene had applied for a British passport,[6] with legal support from the Lawn Tennis Association.[10]

2015

Starting the year in 2015 Aircel Chennai Open, Bedene reached the finals by defeating Lukáš Lacko, Feliciano López, Guillermo García López, and Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets. He lost the final to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.[11]

On 26 March, Bedene, the world no 83, was granted UK citizenship. Bedene said he planned to appeal against a new rule which prevents players from representing more than one country in Davis Cup. Bedene played three dead rubbers for Slovenia in Davis Cup action in 2010, 2011 and 2012.[1]

On 30 May, the International Tennis Federation announced that Bedene would not be allowed to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup in response to the Lawn Tennis Association who had appealed against a rule brought in on January 1, forbidding players from representing two nations in the competition. Bedene's case had been based on his passport application being submitted before the new regulation was implemented.[12]

On 17 November, Bedene and representatives from the Lawn Tennis Association flew to Prague to appeal for the right of Bedene to play Davis Cup for Great Britain. However, the Lawn Tennis Association did not submit a 70-page summary of its support for the player until just before the meeting. The International Tennis Federation said the hearing of the appeal would be adjourned until the next board meeting on 20–21 March 2016, so it could consider the document.[13][14][15][16]

2016

The International Tennis Federation, which was meeting in Moldova on 20 March, considered Bedene's appeal to represent Great Britain in Davis Cup. The International Tennis Federation decided that Bedene was not eligible to represent Great Britain in Davis Cup or the Olympics. Bedene decided to consider seeking a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.[17]

In March, he split from his coach James Davidson, and Davis Cup captain Leon Smith supervised him at the French Open.[18] Bedene progressed to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.[19]

2017

In March, Bedene won the Irving Tennis Classic, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin in the final in three sets,[20] before going on in April to win the 2017 Verrazzano Open defeating Benoît Paire in two sets in the final and then the 2017 Open Citta' Della Disfida defeating Gastão Elias, also in two sets.[21] Also in April, Bedene reached the Gazprom Hungarian Open final, where he lost to Lucas Pouille in two sets.[22]

2018

In January 2018 Bedene began representing his birth nation of Slovenia again.

Bedene reached the finals of the Argentina Open in February, defeating Jiri Vesely, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Diego Schwartzman, and Federico Delbonis before losing to Dominic Thiem.

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

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 (0–3)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (0–3)
Indoor (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jan 2015 Chennai Open, India 250 Series Hard Switzerland Stan Wawrinka 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Apr 2017 Hungarian Open, Hungary 250 Series Clay France Lucas Pouille 3–6, 1–6
Loss 0–3 Feb 2018 Argentina Open, Argentina 250 Series Clay Austria Dominic Thiem 2–6, 4–6

Wins over top 10 players

# Player Rank Event Surface Round Score AB Rank
2018
1. South Africa Kevin Anderson 7 Rome, Italy Clay 2R 6–4, ret. 65

Davis Cup

Singles performances (6–1)

Edition Round Date Against Surface Opponent Win/Loss Result
2010 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 03-07-2010 Norway Norway Hard (I) Norway Stian Boretti Win 6–3, 6–2
2011 Europe/Africa Zone Group I 2R 07-10-2011 Italy Italy Clay Italy Fabio Fognini Loss 2–6, 2–2, ret.
2012 Europe/Africa Zone Group I 1R 02-12-2012 Denmark Denmark Hard (I) Denmark Thomas Kromann Win 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
2018 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 03-02-2018 Poland Poland Hard (I) Poland Kamil Majchrzak Win 6–3, 6–4
04-02-2018 Poland Hubert Hurkacz Win 6–4, 7–5
PO 07-04-2018 Turkey Turkey Clay Turkey Altuğ Çelikbilek Win 6–4, 6–2
08-04-2018 Turkey Cem İlkel Win 7–6(7–4), 6–2

Doubles performances (0–2)

Edition Round Date Against Surface Partner Opponents Win/Loss Result
2018 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 04-02-2018 Poland Poland Hard (I) Slovenia Blaž Rola Poland Marcin Matkowski
Poland Mateusz Kowalczyk		 Loss 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 4–6
PO 08-04-2018 Turkey Turkey Clay Slovenia Tom Kočevar-Dešman Turkey Cem İlkel
Turkey Anıl Yüksel		 Loss 3–6, 6–3, 3–6

Singles performance timeline

Current through the 2018 US Open.

Tournament2009201020112012201320142015201620172018SRW–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A Q2 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 6 0–6
French Open A A A Q2 1R A 1R 3R 2R 1R 0 / 5 3–5
Wimbledon A Q2 A Q1 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R 2R 0 / 6 4–6
US Open A A A Q2 1R Q3 2R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 5 1–5
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–2 2–4 2–4 3–4 1–4 0 / 22 8–22
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A 1R A Q1 1R A A 0 / 2 0–2
Miami Masters A A A A 2R 3R Q1 2R 1R 1R 0 / 5 4–5
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A A A A A 2R A 2R 0 / 2 2–2
Madrid Masters A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Rome Masters A A A A A A A 1R 2R 3R 0 / 3 3–3
Canada Masters A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Cincinnati Masters A A A A Q1 A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters A A A A A A A A 2R 0 / 1 1–1
Paris Masters A A A A A A 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 1–1 2–4 2–3 3–3 0 / 14 11–14
Career Statistics
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 3
Overall Win–Loss 0–0 1–0 1–2 4–4 11–18 5–9 17–17 12–19 19–18 20–18 90–105
Win % – 100% 33% 50% 38% 36% 50% 39% 51% 53% 46%
Year-end Ranking 303 540 165 98 87 145 45 101 49

References

  1. 1 2 "Aljaz Bedene: GB to have second top-100 player in men's rankings". BBC Sport. 26 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene's Great Britain Davis Cup switch blocked by ITF". BBC Sport Tennis. 30 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans strengthen Davis Cup claims". BT Sport. 15 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene to play for Slovenia instead of Great Britain". BBC Sport Tennis. 15 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "Andraz Bedene". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Aljaz Bedene to switch his allegiance to Great Britain". BBC Sport. 9 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Players". Gosling Tennis Academy. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Bedene Makes First ATP Tour Quarter-final in Vienna". globaltennisconnections. 19 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Janko Tipsarevic into Chennai final". ESPN. 6 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene: GB to have second top-100 player in men's rankings". BBC Sport. 26 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene the Slovenian import poised to strengthen British tennis on the ATP tour". Tennis World USA. 14 Jan 2015.
  12. ↑ "Great Britain suffer Davis Cup blow after Aljaz Bedene switch blocked by ITF". Mail Online. 30 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "A Davis Cup call for Aljaz Bedene feels like the right move at the wrong time for Great Britain ahead of Belgium final". Mail Online. 15 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "British No2 Aljaz Bedene made to wait over Davis Cup appeal". Guardian. 17 November 2015.
  15. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene ruled out of Davis Cup final after appeal hearing adjourned". Guardian. 17 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene ineligible for Davis Cup final team as decision delayed". BBC Sport. 17 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene loses latest appeal to play in Davis Cup for Great Britain". ESPN. 23 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "Aljaz Bedene left in physical pain by battle to play for Great Britain". Guardian. 22 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "French Open: Novak Djokovic makes short work of Aljaz Bedene to reach fourth round". Independent. 28 May 2016.
  20. ↑ Aljaz Bedene captures Irving Tennis Classic title for second time, Star-Telegram, March 19, 2017
  21. ↑ "GB's Aljaz Bedene wins second ATP Challenger tournament in a row". BBC. 16 April 2017.
  22. ↑ "Pouille Storms To Budapest Title | ATP World Tour | Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 2017-04-30.
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