Brian Battistone

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Brian Battistone Tennis player
Brian Battistone
Brian Battistone at the 2012 US Open
Nation: United StatesUnited States United States
Birthday: August 10, 1979
Size: 191 cm
Weight: 82 kg
1st professional season: 2007
Resignation: 2011
Playing hand: Right
Trainer: Mark Battistone, Lionel Burt
Prize money: $ 77,174
singles
Career record: 0-0
Highest ranking: 853 (November 16, 2009)
Double
Career record: 2: 9
Highest ranking: 88 (November 1, 2010)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Brian Battistone (born August 10, 1979 in Santa Barbara ) is a retired American tennis player .

life and career

Brian Battistone began taking part in the qualifying rounds for satellite and future tournaments in 1997 . As a single player, it was not until 2001 that he played in a main field for the first time, but in doubles he was able to win his first matches in 1999, mostly alongside his brother Dann . At the end of 2003, Battistone ended his tennis career for the time being and worked as a Mormon missionary with his brother in Brazil for two years . Up to this point, his best placements in the tennis world rankings were 1322 in singles and 1023 in doubles.

In 2007 he made a second attempt as a tennis player with greater success: In May 2007 he was able to win an individual match at a future tournament for the first time. In doubles, he and his brother reached a future final for the first time in early October 2007, and three weeks later they celebrated their first future title.

In the spring of 2008, two more Future Finals followed in doubles and the first match wins on the ATP Challenger Tour . In July 2008, the brothers received a wild card for the Newport ATP tournament , but lost in two tight sets against Rik De Voest and Ashley Fisher . Also a week later in Indianapolis they were eliminated in the first round against Harel Levy and Jim Thomas . After they had reached a Challenger final for the first time in Binghamton in August 2008 , the Battistones in New Haven got another wildcard for an ATP tournament, but they lost again in the first round against Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi . In October 2008 they won their first Challenger title in Sacramento against John Isner and Rajeev Ram . In the double world rankings, Brian Battistone and his brother were listed in the top 200 just under a year after their comeback. Battistone was only able to qualify for the main draw of a Challenger tournament once this year, but at least reached the second round there.

In 2009 Brian Battistone played several tournaments with other doubles partners, but not as successfully as with his brother. After he achieved his best position in the double world rankings in July 2009 with rank 152, he fell back to rank 330 in the following months. The trend only picked up again in November 2009 when he and his brother first reached a Challenger quarter-finals and won his second Challenger title two weeks later in Champaign .

In 2010 Brian Battistone played again with other partners. With Ryler DeHeart he reached a Challenger final in Saint-Brieuc in April 2010 , and a month later they won the Challenger tournament in Sarasota . Battistone was also able to win a Challenger title with Nicholas Monroe in Carson in May 2010 . In the further course of the season Battistone reached four more Challenger Finals, two of them together with Andreas Siljeström . In August 2010, Battistone's previous career highlight followed: at the age of 31, he made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open alongside Ryler DeHeart thanks to a wildcard . They lost in the first round against the eventual finalists Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi . After Battistone had reached another Challenger final with Andreas Siljeström the following week, he moved into the top 100 of the double world rankings for the first time in September 2010. In October 2010 Battistone and Siljeström got a wildcard for the ATP tournament in Stockholm and were able to record their first ATP match win against Arnaud Clément and Julian Knowle . In the second round, however, they lost to eventual tournament winners Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer . A week later in Montpellier , Battistone and Siljeström did not play a service game against the top seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirny , but lost both sets in the tie-break . He finished the year 91st in the world.

The year 2011 began with some first round defeats on the side of Siljeström u. a. in Santiago de Chile and Estoril . He never won more than one match with other partners in the entire year. As a result, he fell out of the top 400 of the double rankings by the end of the year. He ended his career and has played tournaments sporadically ever since. So he won his second Future title in 2015, but he is inactive most of the time.

particularities

Two special features stand out in Brian Battistone's game. On the one hand, this is the serve, which is more like a volleyball than a normal tennis serve. Battistone holds the tennis racket in his left hand and throws the ball up with his right hand, then changes the racket to the right hand, takes a run-up and jumps up to hit the ball at the highest possible point.

Even more extraordinary than his serve technique, however, is the tennis racket that Brian Battistone and his brother Dann Battistone have been using since their comeback in 2007. This bat, developed by Lionel Burt, called “The Natural”, has two handles, one for each hand. Battistone can use it to play both forehand and backhands, but also hit the ball with one hand with the right or left hand, depending on the game situation. This type of racket was approved by the ITF , which Battistone had specially confirmed with a certificate in order to convince critical opponents or referees of the legality.

successes

Legend (number of victories)
Grand Slam
ATP World Tour Finals
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
ATP World Tour 500
ATP World Tour 250
ATP Challenger Tour (4)

Double

Tournament victories

No. date competition Topping partner Final opponent Result
1. October 12, 2008 United StatesUnited States Sacramento Hard court United StatesUnited States Then Battistone United StatesUnited States John Isner Rajeev Ram
United StatesUnited States 
1: 6, 6: 3, [10: 4]
2. November 21, 2009 United StatesUnited States Champaign Hard court (i) United StatesUnited States Then Battistone PhilippinesPhilippines Treat Conrad Huey Harsh Mankad
IndiaIndia 
7: 5, 7: 6 5
3. May 15, 2010 United StatesUnited States Sarasota sand United StatesUnited States Ryler DeHeart GermanyGermany Gero Kretschmer Alex Satschko
GermanyGermany 
5: 7, 7: 6 4 , [10: 8]
4th May 30, 2010 United StatesUnited States Carson Hard court United StatesUnited States Nicholas Monroe RussiaRussia Artem Sitak Leonardo Tavares
PortugalPortugal 
5: 7, 6: 3, [10: 4]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Florian Huber: Heilbronn Open: American Brian Battistone plays with a very special racket. In: Stimme.de. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .
  2. Alex Starritt: Two-handled tennis racquet developed in US. In: telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved February 14, 2019 .