Aljaž Bedene

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.

Aljaž Bedene
Country (sports) Slovenia (2008–15, 2018–)
 Great Britain (2015–2017)
ResidenceWelwyn Garden City, UK
Born (1989-07-18) 18 July 1989
Ljubljana, SR Slovenia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro2008
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CoachMarkus Wislsperger
Prize money$4,260,726
Singles
Career record123–136 (47.5%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 43 (19 February 2018)
Current rankingNo. 58 (2 February 2021)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open2R (2020)
French Open3R (2016, 2020)
Wimbledon3R (2017)
US Open3R (2019)
Doubles
Career record19–42 (31.1%)
Career titles0
1 Challenger, 2 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 127 (7 October 2013)
Current rankingNo. 384 (2 February 2021)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open1R (2016, 2019, 2020)
French Open2R (2013, 2020)
Wimbledon1R (2013, 2015)
US Open1R (2015)
Last updated on: 5 February 2021.

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 back 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, Darlen, works for the Ministry of Defence. 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 Serbian. 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 1 January, 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. 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.[12][13][14]

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.[15]

In March, he split from his coach James Davidson, and Davis Cup captain Leon Smith supervised him at the French Open.[16] Bedene progressed to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.[17]

2017

In March, Bedene won the Irving Tennis Classic, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin in the final in three sets,[18] 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 Città della Disfida defeating Gastão Elias, also in two sets.[19] Also in April, Bedene reached the Gazprom Hungarian Open final, where he lost to Lucas Pouille in two sets.[20]

2018

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

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

ATP career finals

Singles: 4 (4 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 (0–4)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoor (0–3)
Indoor (0–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jan 2015 Chennai Open, India 250 Series Hard Stan Wawrinka 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Apr 2017 Hungarian Open, Hungary 250 Series Clay Lucas Pouille 3–6, 1–6
Loss 0–3 Feb 2018 Argentina Open, Argentina 250 Series Clay Dominic Thiem 2–6, 4–6
Loss 0–4 Sep 2019 Moselle Open, France 250 Series Hard (i) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7–6(7–4), 6–7(4–7), 3–6

Wins over top 10 players

# Player Rank Event Surface Round Score AB Rank
2018
1. Kevin Anderson 7 Rome, Italy Clay 2R 6–4, ret. 65
2020
2. Stefanos Tsitsipas 6 Rotterdam Open, Netherlands Hard (i) 2R 7–5, 6–4 52

Davis Cup

Singles performances (8–1)

Edition Round Date Against Surface Opponent Win/Loss Result
2010 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 03-07-2010 Norway Hard (I) Stian Boretti Win 6–3, 6–2
2011 Europe/Africa Zone Group I 2R 07-10-2011 Italy Clay Fabio Fognini Loss 2–6, 2–2, ret.
2012 Europe/Africa Zone Group I 1R 02-12-2012 Denmark Hard (I) Thomas Kromann Win 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
2018 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 03-02-2018 Poland Hard (I) Kamil Majchrzak Win 6–3, 6–4
04-02-2018 Hubert Hurkacz Win 6–4, 7–5
PO 07-04-2018 Turkey Clay Altuğ Çelikbilek Win 6–4, 6–2
08-04-2018 Cem İlkel Win 7–6(7–4), 6–2
2019 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 13-09-2019 Egypt Clay Karim-Mohamed Maamoun Win 7–5, 4–1, ret.
14-09-2019 Mohamed Safwat Win 7–5, 7–5

Doubles performances (1–2)

Edition Round Date Against Surface Partner Opponents Win/Loss Result
2018 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 04-02-2018 Poland Hard (I) Blaž Rola Marcin Matkowski
Mateusz Kowalczyk
Loss 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 4–6
PO 08-04-2018 Turkey Clay Tom Kočevar-Dešman Cem İlkel
Anıl Yüksel
Loss 3–6, 6–3, 3–6
2019 Europe/Africa Zone Group II 1R 14-09-2019 Egypt Clay Blaž Rola Sherif Sabry
Mohamed Safwat
Win 7–5, 6–3

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (P) postponed; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Current through the 2021 Australian Open.

Tournament2009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021SRW–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A Q2 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 9 1–9
French Open A A A Q2 1R A 1R 3R 2R 1R 1R 3R 0 / 7 5–7
Wimbledon A Q2 A Q1 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R 2R 1R NH 0 / 7 4–7
US Open A A A Q2 1R Q3 2R 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 0 / 7 3–7
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–2 2–4 2–4 3–4 1–4 2–4 3–3 0–1 0 / 30 13–30
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A 1R A Q1 1R A A A NH 0 / 2 0–2
Miami Masters A A A A 2R 3R Q1 2R 1R 1R 1R NH 0 / 6 4–6
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A A A A A 2R A 2R 1R NH 0 / 3 2–3
Madrid Masters A A A A A A A A A A A NH 0 / 0 0–0
Rome Masters A A A A A A A 1R 2R 3R Q1 Q2 0 / 3 3–3
Canada Masters A A A A A A A A A A A NH 0 / 0 0–0
Cincinnati Masters A A A A Q1 A A A A A A 3R 0 / 1 2–1
Shanghai Masters A A A A A A A A 2R A A NH 0 / 1 1–1
Paris Masters A A A A A A 2R A A A A 1R 0 / 2 1–2
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 2–1 1–1 2–4 2–3 3–3 0–2 2–2 0–0 0 / 18 13–18
Career Statistics
2009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021Career
Tournaments 0 0 1 4 18 9 17 19 18 19 20 12 2 139
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 4
Overall Win–Loss 0–0 1–0 1–2 4–4 11–18 5–9 17–17 12–19 19–18 21–19 20–17 10–12 2–2 123–137
Win % 100% 33% 50% 38% 36% 50% 39% 51% 52% 53% 53% 66% 47.31%
Year-end Ranking 303 540 165 98 87 145 45 101 49 67 58

References

  1. "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. "Aljaz Bedene to switch his allegiance to Great Britain". BBC Sport. 9 May 2014.
  7. "Players". Gosling Tennis Academy. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  8. "Bedene Makes First ATP Tour Quarter-final in Vienna". globaltennisconnections. 19 October 2012. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013.
  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 January 2015.
  12. "British No2 Aljaz Bedene made to wait over Davis Cup appeal". The Guardian. 17 November 2015.
  13. "Aljaz Bedene ruled out of Davis Cup final after appeal hearing adjourned". The Guardian. 17 November 2015.
  14. "Aljaz Bedene ineligible for Davis Cup final team as decision delayed". BBC Sport. 17 November 2015.
  15. "Aljaz Bedene loses latest appeal to play in Davis Cup for Great Britain". ESPN. 23 March 2016.
  16. "Aljaz Bedene left in physical pain by battle to play for Great Britain". The Guardian. 22 May 2016.
  17. "French Open: Novak Djokovic makes short work of Aljaz Bedene to reach fourth round". The Independent. 28 May 2016.
  18. Aljaz Bedene captures Irving Tennis Classic title for second time, Star-Telegram, 19 March 2017
  19. "GB's Aljaz Bedene wins second ATP Challenger tournament in a row". BBC. 16 April 2017.
  20. "Pouille Storms To Budapest Title | ATP World Tour | Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
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