Jürgen Zopp (born 29 March 1988) is an Estonian retired tennis player. He is Estonia's all-time highest ranked male tennis player with a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in 2012.

Jürgen Zopp
Country (sports) Estonia
ResidenceTallinn, Estonia
Born (1988-03-29) 29 March 1988 (age 36)
Tallinn, Estonia[1]
Height1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Turned pro2008
Retired2020 (2023 last match)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,120,622
Singles
Career record27–39 (40.9%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 71 (10 September 2012)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (2012)
French Open3R (2018)
Wimbledon1R (2012, 2013, 2014)
US Open2R (2012)
Doubles
Career record7–4 (63.6%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 218 (11 July 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
WimbledonQ1 (2012)
US Open1R (2012)
Team competitions
Davis Cup45–19
Last updated on: 16 February 2023.

Career edit

Zopp started playing tennis at the age of 6 and grew up idolizing Pete Sampras, Marat Safin, and Roger Federer. Zopp had a somewhat successful junior career, reaching the second round of the Australian and US Open Boys' tournaments in 2006. In 2008, he would officially turn pro.

Zopp made a breakthrough on the ATP tour in 2012, qualifying for the main draws of the Australian Open, Roland-Garros and Wimbledon boosting his ranking to the point where he didn't have to go through qualifying by the time the US Open came around. and achieving his first main draw ATP tournament win at the 2012 Bucharest Open establishing himself as a top-100 player in the ATP rankings at world No. 71.

2013–2014 would see a huge dip in form and rankings as his ranking plummeted all the way down to the 300s in 2014. Early 2017 would be the lowest of his career as his ranking dropped to 500 on June 12, 2017. Late 2017 would see a steady increase of form and rankings grabbing a handful of challenger and ITF finals. However still struggling to even qualify for an ATP event.

In qualifying for the 2018 French Open he defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis.[3] Although he lost in the final round of qualifying to Denis Kudla[4] it was enough for him to make the main draw as a lucky loser.[5] In the first round he defeated American seed Jack Sock for his sixth tour level win on clay.[6] He then defeated fellow lucky loser Ruben Bemelmans despite losing the first two sets, therefore reaching a career-best third round at Grand Slam events. He was the first Estonian player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.[7] His run ended in the third round following a defeat to Maximilian Marterer.[8]

At the 2018 Swiss Open Gstaad, he defeated the 1st seed Fabio Fognini and made it all the way to the semifinals before losing to Matteo Berrettini. 2018 is considered by some to be the best year of his career as he returned to the top 100 for the first time since 2012 and started consistently qualifying for ATP events again.

2019 would see a dip in form and rankings again. He failed to make an ATP event or a challenger final the entire year and his ranking dropped back down to the 400s again by the end of the year.

On December 18, 2020, Zopp announced his retirement from professional tennis.[9]

Between 2022 and 2023 Zopp appeared in 3 Davis Cup matches (1 singles and 2 doubles), winning them all.[10]

Grand Slam performance timeline edit

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 1R A A Q1 Q2 A Q1 A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
French Open Q1 1R 1R 2R Q2 Q1 A 3R Q1 0 / 4 3–4 43%
Wimbledon Q3 1R 1R 1R Q2 Q1 A Q2 Q1 0 / 3 0–3 0%
US Open Q1 2R 1R A Q2 Q1 A Q1 A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Win–loss 0–0 1–4 0–3 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 0 / 9 4–10 28.57%
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A Q2 A A A A A A Q1 0 / 0 0–0 N/A
Miami Masters A Q1 A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0 N/A
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A A Q1 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0 N/A
Madrid Masters A A A A A A A Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0 N/A
Canada Masters A 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 1 0–1 0%

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals edit

Singles: 24 (18–6) edit

Legend
ATP Challenger (3–3)
ITF Futures (15–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–5)
Clay (12–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 2008 Finland F1, Vierumäki Futures Clay   Timo Nieminen 6–4, 6–2
Win 2–0 Mar 2009 Switzerland F2, Greifensee Futures Carpet   Philipp Oswald 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Win 3–0 Jul 2009 Estonia F1, Tallinn Futures Clay   Jaak Poldma 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win 4–0 Apr 2010 Turkey F7, Adana Futures Clay   Augustin Gensse 6–2, 4–6, 6–4
Win 5–0 Apr 2010 Turkey F8, Tarsus Futures Clay   Alexandre Folie 6–3, 6–1
Win 6–0 May 2010 Czech Republic F1, Teplice Futures Clay   Alexander Flock 4–6, 6–2, 7–5
Win 7–0 Jul 2010 Estonia F2, Tallinn Futures Clay   Timo Nieminen 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win 8–0 Oct 2010 Great Britain F17, Cardiff Futures Hard   Dan Evans 6–4, 7–5
Win 9–0 Jul 2011 Estonia F1, Tallinn Futures Clay   Hans Podlipnik Castillo 6–3, 6–3
Loss 9–1 Sep 2011 Ningbo, China Challenger Hard   Yen-Hsun Lu 2–6, 6–3, 1–6
Loss 9–2 Sep 2011 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Challenger Hard   Denis Istomin 4–6, 3–6
Win 10–2 Feb 2012 Kazan, Russia Challenger Hard   Marius Copil 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–4)
Win 11–2 Sep 2014 Sweden F4, Danderyd Futures Hard   Peter Kobelt 7–6(8–6), 6–4
Loss 11–3 Oct 2014 Sweden F6, Jönköping Futures Hard   Edward Corrie 6–3, 3–6, 3–6
Win 12–3 Nov 2014 Estonia F4, Tallinn Futures Hard   Evgeny Elistratov 6–1, 6–4
Win 13–3 Nov 2014 Helsinki, Finland Challenger Hard   Dudi Sela 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(8–6)
Loss 13–4 Oct 2015 Ningbo, China Challenger Hard   Yen-Hsun Lu 6–7(3–7), 1–6
Win 14–4 Jul 2017 Germany F8, Kassel Futures Clay   Jan Choinski 6–3, 6–2
Win 15–4 Jul 2017 Estonia F1, Pärnu Futures Clay   George Von Massow 6–1, 6–3
Loss 15–5 Aug 2017 Finland F2, Hyvinkaa Futures Clay   Julien Cagnina 6–0, 5–7, 0–6
Win 16–5 Aug 2017 Finland F3, Helsinki Futures Clay   Filippo Baldi 6–4, 6–0
Win 17–5 Sep 2017 Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands Challenger Clay   Tommy Robredo 6–3, 6–2
Loss 17–6 Oct 2017 Sweden F4, Falun Futures Hard   Tallon Griekspoor 4–6, 1–6
Win 18–6 Jul 2019 M15 Pärnu, Estonia World Tennis Tour Clay   Bogdan Bobrov 6–4, 6–3

Doubles: 13 (4–9) edit

Legend
ATP Challenger (2–2)
ITF Futures (2–7)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–4)
Clay (3–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 2007 Latvia F1, Jūrmala Futures Clay   Mait Künnap   Dušan Karol
  Mikhail Vasiliev
3–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss 0–2 Mar 2008 Italy F6, Monterotondo Futures Clay   Mikhail Vasiliev   L Magdinchev
  P Rusevski
6–3, 4–6, [5–10]
Win 1–2 Jun 2008 Poland F4, Koszalin Futures Clay   Artur Romanowski   Marek Mrozek
  Mateusz Szmigiel
7–5, 6–3
Loss 1–3 Feb 2009 Israel F2, Eilat Futures Hard   Tim Van Terheijden   Harel Levy
  Noam Okun
3–6, 0–6
Loss 1–4 Apr 2009 Turkey F6, Antalya Futures Hard   Mait Künnap   Martin Emmrich
  Juho Paukku
3–6, 4–6
Win 2–4 Jul 2009 Estonia F1, Tallinn Futures Clay   Mait Künnap   Mikk Irdoja
  Jaak Poldma
6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–5 Mar 2010 Switzerland F2, Wetzikon Futures Carpet   Walter Trusendi   Kevin Krawietz
  Marcel Zimmermann
2–6, 6–3, [5–10]
Loss 2–6 May 2010 Czech Republic F1, Teplice Futures Clay   Ricardo Urzua-Rivera   Jan Mertl
  Grzegorz Panfil
3–6, 4–6
Loss 2–7 Sep 2011 Ningbo, China Challenger Hard   Jan Hernych   Karan Rastogi
  Divij Sharan
6–3, 6–7(3–7), [11–13]
Win 3–7 May 2012 Tunis, Tunisia Challenger Clay   Jerzy Janowicz   Nicholas Monroe
  Simon Stadler
7–6(7–1), 6–3
Loss 3–8 Aug 2013 Kazan, Russia Challenger Hard   Ivo Klec   Victor Baluda
  K Kravchuk
3–6, 4–6
Win 4–8 Sep 2015 Nanchang, China Challenger Hard   Jonathan Eysseric   Lee Hsin-han
  Amir Weintraub
6–4, 6–2
Loss 4–9 Jul 2019 M15 Pärnu, Estonia World Tennis Tour Clay   Kenneth Raisma   Vladimir Ivanov
  Maxim Ratniuk
6–3, 4–6, [5–10]

References edit

  1. ^ "Jurgen Zopp | Overview".
  2. ^ Jürine, Jaan (15 December 2008). "Jürgen Zopp: kas peaksin olema suurem maksimalist?". Eesti Päevaleht (in Estonian). Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  3. ^ Fjeldstad, Jesper (23 May 2018). "Underdone Kokkinakis switches focus to Wimbledon". News.com.au. news.com.au.
  4. ^ "Kahju! Jürgen Zopp Prantsusmaa lahtistel põhiturniirile murda ei suutnud". Delfi Sport.
  5. ^ "Why The Surge In Lucky Losers At The French Open Is A Good Thing – UBITENNIS". ubitennis.net. 27 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com.
  7. ^ "Lucky loser Zopp battles into third round in Paris".
  8. ^ "Nadal wary of 'dangerous' Marterer – AOL". www.aol.co.uk.
  9. ^ "Estonia's all-time best tennis player Jürgen Zopp retires". news.err.ee. 18 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Jürgen Zopp – Davis Cup – Players". daviscup.com. Retrieved 16 February 2023.

External links edit