Martin Verkerk

Martin Willem Verkerk (born 31 October 1978) is a retired professional Dutch tennis player. He reached the final of the French Open in 2003 and achieved a career-high ranking of 14.

Martin Verkerk
Country (sports) Netherlands
ResidenceAlphen a/d Rijn, Netherlands
Born (1978-10-31) 31 October 1978
Leiderdorp, Netherlands
Height1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro1996
Retired9 December 2008
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,491,379
Singles
Career record59–66
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 14 (15 September 2003)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open1R (2003, 2004)
French OpenF (2003)
Wimbledon2R (2004)
US Open2R (2003)
Doubles
Career record23–34
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 63 (3 November 2003)

Early life

Verkerk started playing tennis at the age of seven, playing in local tournaments and training with his parents. He played in a tennis facility in his home city of Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands, where his talent was discovered by local coaches, and he soon had the opportunity to train with many better players. He later won the 18 and Under Dutch title in 1995.[1]

Career

In 2003, playing in only his third Grand Slam event and ranked 46, Verkerk reached the final of the French Open. Along the way, he beat Željko Krajan, Luis Horna, Vince Spadea and Rainer Schüttler before overcoming experienced clay court players Carlos Moyá (seeded 4th) and Guillermo Coria (seeded 7th). In the final, he lost to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets.[2]

His unexpected run at the French Open as an underdog and his expressive on-court antics made him popular in the Netherlands. The final was watched by even more households in the Netherlands than when his countryman Richard Krajicek won Wimbledon in 1996. However, hampered by various injuries and mononucleosis, Verkerk was unable to reproduce similar results during the rest of his career, never advancing beyond the third round in any subsequent Grand Slams.

During his career, he won two titles and reached the quarter-finals of the 2003 Rome Masters. Verkerk played a close match against Roger Federer at the 2003 Paris Masters, losing in three tiebreak sets after holding four match points.[2]

Playing style

Verkerk's game was based on powerful serves and backhands. He used a single-handed backhand and his favorite surface was clay.[3]

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss2003French OpenClay Juan Carlos Ferrero1–6, 3–6, 2–6

Career finals

Singles: 4 (2 wins, 2 losses)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (2)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jan 2003 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6–4, 5–7, 7–5
Loss 1–1 May 2003 French Open, France Clay Juan Carlos Ferrero 1–6, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 1–2 May 2004 Munich, Germany Clay Nikolay Davydenko 4–6, 5–7
Win 2–2 Jul 2004 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay Fernando González 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Tournament19981999200020012002200320042005200620072008SRW-L
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A A A Q1 1R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 0–2
French Open A A A A Q3 F 3R A A 1R A 0 / 3 8–3
Wimbledon A A A A A 1R 2R A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
US Open A A A A 1R 2R A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 7–4 3–3 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0 / 9 10–9
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A A 2R A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Miami Masters A A A A 1R 2R 2R A A 1R A 0 / 4 1–4
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A A 1R 2R A A 1R A 0 / 3 1–3
Rome Masters A A A A A QF 2R A A 1R A 0 / 3 4–3
Hamburg Masters A A A A A A 1R A A 1R A 0 / 2 0–2
Canada Masters A A A A A 2R A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A 1R A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Madrid Masters Not Held A 2R A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Paris Masters A A A A A 3R A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 6–7 2–5 0–0 0–0 0–4 0–0 0 / 17 8–17
Career statistics
Titles / Finals 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 1 / 2 1 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 0 2 / 4
Overall Win–Loss 1–1 0–0 0–1 0–1 7–11 25–25 26–19 0–0 0–0 0–9 0–3 59–70
Year-end ranking 416 253 233 161 86 19 55 N/A 1540 678 263

References

  1. "Martin Verkerk". www.laurense.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  2. "Martin Verkerk | Overview | ATP World Tour | Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  3. "We Are Tennis - We Are Tennis: Get all the news of tennis, players & players, tournaments. ATP & WTA Ranking. Follow the games and the results of tennis live". www.wearetennis.com. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.