Jesse Witten only played a few matches as a junior. In 2000 he took part in a junior Grand Slam for the only time when he lost significantly to Andy Roddick in the first round of the individual . In the junior ranking, he came up to 159th place in the world.
From 2001 to 2005 Witten studied at the University of Kentucky and also played college tennis at that time . He was voted the most successful player at his university and four times in the All-American team in singles.
Witten started playing professional tournaments in 2001 while he was still a student. He won his first title in 2004 on the third-class ITF Future Tour . The following week he was able to reach the final of the higher-class Challenger in Lexington , after winning only two matches in five of such tournaments. In the world rankings he was in the top 450 for the first time. After two more futures, which he won in 2005, he was able to celebrate his first Challenger tournament victory in his first full professional season in 2006 in addition to two futures in Joplin . In the final, he defeated Benjamin Becker , who reciprocated in the final of the Challenger in Salinas a month later and in turn won the tournament. Shortly before moving into the top 200, the American got his first appearance in an ATP Tour tournament with a wildcard in Houston . There he lost to Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets. His first appearance on the big stage followed in August at the US Open 2006 , when he made his debut in singles and doubles, but lost both matches. Against Paul Goldstein , however, he held up well in five sets. The year ended best for him in the singles with rank 174. In 2007 he lost some ground, but was able to book his second Challenger title in Tulsa towards the end of the year , when he defeated Donald Young in the final there and only lost one set in the course of the tournament.
In 2008 Witten flew briefly out of the top 400 and was able to fight his way up again with three future victories, so that he could participate in the qualification for the US Open . There he moved into the main field after three victories in the qualification and thus ended an abstinence from Grand Slams of 3 years. After convincing victories against Igor Andrejew and Máximo González , he faced the world number four Novak Đoković in the third round , to whom he was defeated in four sets. This became Witten's greatest career success. He finished the year with position 166 as the best of his career; At the beginning of 2010 it was the highest ever with rank 163. Also in 2010 he successfully qualified in the second and third Grand Slam of the year, but he was unable to follow up with another victory. Witten won his only Challenger title in doubles in 2010, and a future title in singles in 2013. After 2010 he lost ground in the rankings and fell out of the top 500, in 2016 out of the top 1000. In 2019 he still played professional tournaments occasionally.
United States
Benjamin Becker
Naples
Dustin Brown
Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
