Grega Žemlja

Grega Žemlja
Grega Žemlja 2014 at Wimbledon
Nation:	Slovenia
Birthday:	September 29, 1986
Size:	183 cm
Weight:	81 kg
1st professional season:	2004
Resignation:	2017
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Žiga Janskovec
Prize money:	$ 1,242,858
singles
Career record:	49:52
Highest ranking:	43 (July 15, 2013)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	15:24
Highest ranking:	252 (November 21, 2011)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Grega Žemlja (born September 29, 1986 in Jesenice ) is a former Slovenian tennis player .

life and career

Until 2004: Background and junior career

Grega Žemlja started playing tennis at the age of seven. Since 2001 he has been active on the junior tour and was able to win several tournaments there and in February 2004 he reached the top 50 of the junior world rankings.

2003–2007: First years as a professional

Since 2003 he has also tried to qualify for tournaments in the adult area. In June 2004 he was able to win his first future tournament as a qualifier and was then included in the tennis world rankings for the first time . In 2005, Žemlja reached a total of five future finals, of which he was able to win three. He was also able to win matches for the first time on the ATP Challenger Tour . He also made his debut for the Slovenian Davis Cup team in March 2005 . After smooth victories over the Ivory Coast and Latvia, however, they missed entry into the Europe / Africa group I in the decider against Portugal. Žemlja ended 2005 in 329th place in the world rankings.

The year 2006 was similar to the previous one: Grega Žemlja was able to win one of four future finals achieved, and he also reached the quarter-finals of a Challenger tournament once. In 2007, too, the great success was still a long time coming: Žemlja won a future title, but never made it past the quarter-finals at Challenger tournaments. At the US Open 2007 he was the first to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament, but failed in the first round of this.

2008–2010: First Challenger title and Grand Slam debut

After three future titles in the first half of the year, Grega Žemlja reached a Challenger final for the first time in Recanati in June 2008 , which he lost to Horacio Zeballos . In November 2008 he stood in Cancun for the second time in a Challenger final and prevailed against Martín Alund to win his first title. He then entered the top 200 in the world rankings for the first time.

In January 2009, Žemlja failed at the Australian Open in the third qualifying round. A month later he reached another Challenger final in Burnie , but lost to Brydan Klein . The next highlight of the season followed in June 2009 in Wimbledon , where Žemlja prevailed in the third qualifying round against Danai Udomchoke and thus qualified for a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. However, he was eliminated in the first round against Albert Montañés, who was placed in 32nd position . A month later he was able to qualify for an ATP tournament again in Umag , but also lost here in the first round against Potito Starace . Later in the year he reached two more Challenger Finals in Ljubljana and Cancún , but he lost both.

From 2010: Establishment on the Challenger Tour

The year 2010 began for Grega Žemlja with a successful qualification at the Australian Open , where he lost to Benjamin Becker in the first round. Only a week later, the next Challenger final followed in Honolulu , in which he was defeated by Michael Russell . In May 2010, Žemlja was able to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament for the third time at the French Open , and this time he succeeded against the 26th placed Juan Mónaco the first victory. In the second round, however, he was eliminated from the later round of 16 Teimuras Gabashvili . Nevertheless, in the following week he achieved his first best place in the world rankings with rank 111. After failing in the second qualifying round at Wimbledon , Žemlja was able to qualify for an ATP tournament again in Washington . In the first round, he won over Benjamin Becker in a sovereign manner and thus returned the favor for the defeat at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year. In the second round, however, he was eliminated against Andy Roddick, who was in second place . The next highlight of the season was the playoff match in the Davis Cup against Lithuania in September 2010. Grega Žemlja won both singles and thus secured a 3-2 win for Slovenia, which for the first time since 2001 was back in Europe / Africa Group I. rise. In October 2010, Žemlja once again qualified for an ATP tournament in Vienna . He won his first round match against Marsel İlhan , but then retired in three sets against Juan Ignacio Chela, who was in 8th position .

At the beginning of 2011, Grega Žemlja qualified for the Australian Open as in the previous year . There he fought his way in the first round against Marcos Baghdatis, who was in 21st place, in a fifth set, but ultimately lost to the favorite. In February 2011, Žemlja won his second Challenger title in Caloundra . In the final, he prevailed against Bernard Tomic in two sets . After he was eliminated in the first qualifying round at the French Open , Grega Žemlja reached his second Challenger final of the season in Rijeka in June 2011 , which it clearly lost to Rui Machado . At Wimbledon he moved up into the main field as a lucky loser and then reached the second round by defeating Lukáš Lacko . He won the first set against Gaël Monfils , who was in 9th position , but lost the match in four sets in the end.

In October 2012 he reached his only final on the World Tour in Vienna , which he lost to Juan Martín del Potro with 5-7 and 3-6. In the same season he also won tournaments on the Challenger Tour in Nottingham , Anning and Beijing , as well as in Portorož the following year . He ended his career in August 2017 following the Zavarovalnica Sava Slovenia Open .

particularities

With his qualification for the Wimbledon Championships 2009 Grega Žemlja became the first player from Slovenia, together with Luka Gregorc , to qualify for the main round of a Grand Slam tournament. At the French Open 2010 he was together with Blaž Kavčič , who also won his first round match, the first Slovene to win a Grand Slam match.

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 (8)

singles

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	November 30, 2008	Cancun	sand	Martin Alund	7: 5, 6: 3
2.	February 13, 2011	Caloundra	Hard court	Bernard Tomic	7: 6 4 , 6: 3
3.	17th June 2012	Nottingham	race	Karol Beck	7: 6 3 , 4: 6, 6: 4
4th	July 22, 2012	Anning	sand	Aljaž Bedene	1: 6, 7: 5, 6: 3
5.	5th August 2012	Beijing	Hard court	Wu Di	6: 3, 6: 0
6th	July 7, 2013	Portorož	Hard court	Martin Fischer	6: 4, 7: 5

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	October 21, 2012	Vienna	Hard court	Juan Martín del Potro	5: 7, 3: 6

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	September 19, 2011	Ljubljana	sand	Aljaž Bedene	Roberto Bautista Agut Iván Navarro	6: 3, 6: 7 10 , [12:10]
2.	October 11, 2015	Sacramento	Hard court	Blaž Kavčič	Daniel Brands Dustin Brown	6: 1, 3: 6, [10: 3]

Web links

Commons : Grega Žemlja  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Grega Žemlja (English)
• ITF profile of Grega Žemlja (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Grega Žemlja (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lah Wins First ATP Challenger Match In Portoroz. In: tennis-tourtalk.com. August 7, 2017, accessed October 27, 2017 .