Benjamin Becker

Benjamin Becker

Becker at the 2015 French Open
Country (sports)	Germany
Residence	Mettlach, Germany
Born	16 June 1981 Merzig, Saarland, West Germany
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
College	Baylor Bears
Prize money	US$ 4,338,815
Singles
Career record	153–217
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 35 (27 October 2014)
Current ranking	No. 119 (28 November 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2015)
French Open	3R (2015)
Wimbledon	2R (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016)
US Open	4R (2006)
Doubles
Career record	58–106
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 58 (5 July 2010)
Current ranking	No. 391 (28 November 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2011)
French Open	2R (2010, 2012)
Wimbledon	3R (2007)
US Open	2R (2010)
Last updated on: 28 November 2016.

Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German professional tennis player. Becker's primary weapon is a very big serve that he can hit at up to 220 km/h (140 mph), along with powerful groundstrokes.

Becker was born at Merzig, Saarland, then part of West Germany. He won the 2004 NCAA singles title while helping Baylor University to the team title. A rarity in men's tennis, Becker attended college for four years before turning professional.

Becker's most notable achievement is retiring Andre Agassi from professional tennis, defeating the latter in the third round of the 2006 US Open, which was Agassi's last tournament as a professional player. He is not related to fellow countryman and retired professional tennis player and current coach Boris Becker.^[1]

Early life and family

Benjamin Becker was born on 16 June 1981 in Merzig, West Germany, to Jorg, a tax office worker, and Ulrike. Becker has one younger sister.^[2] From 2001-2005, Becker played tennis at Baylor University, winning the NCAA singles championship as a junior in 2004 and leading the Bears to the team title that year. In 2005, the team finished runner-up at the NCAA tournament and won the ITA team indoor championship. He is the school's all-time leader in singles and doubles wins.^[3]

Career

2006

2006 was a breakthrough year for Becker. In June of that year, he qualified for Wimbledon and defeated Juan Ignacio Chela, before losing in the second round to Fernando Verdasco.

At the 2006 U.S. Open, he defeated Filippo Volandri and No. 30 seed Sébastien Grosjean to reach the third round, where he defeated former World No. 1 Andre Agassi in 4 sets. The match was especially noteworthy as it was Agassi's last on the ATP circuit: he had announced that the 2006 U.S. Open would be his final tournament, and his defeat was followed by an 8-minute standing ovation from the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. The day after Becker's win over Agassi, his own U.S. Open bid was ended by Andy Roddick in the fourth round.

Following the 2006 U.S. Open, Becker confirmed his status as a promising newcomer on the ATP Tour, improving his ranking from No. 421 at the beginning of the year to No. 62 in November 2006. As a result, Becker received the Newcomer of the Year award during the 2006 ATP Awards, and won the Sportsman of the Year award in his part of Germany. After completing his first season on the ATP Tour, Benjamin made the fastest rise of any player into the top 50.^[4]

2007

2007 saw Becker improving his ranking further in the early season, including through his semi-final appearances at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he lost to world No. 8 James Blake; and in San Jose at the SAP Open where he lost to Ivo Karlović, the tallest player on the ATP Tour (6' 10"). As a result, Becker's ATP ranking peaked at No. 38 in March 2007. However, in 2007 Becker was unable to progress beyond the first round in any of the Grand Slams or ATP Masters Series events, with the exception of the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost in the second round to Thomas Johansson.

Given his strong performance at the U.S. Open in the preceding year, his first round loss in the 2007 edition caused his ranking to drop to 79. Despite good form in Bangkok, where he lost in the finals to Dmitry Tursunov, Becker has thus far been unable to regain a ranking in the top 50.

Becker has the distinction of having played the match that finished second latest in ATP history, defeating Jiří Novák in Tokyo in 2006 at 3.24 am.

2009

In 2009, Becker won his first ATP World Tour title, the Ordina Open in the Netherlands, defeating local hope Raemon Sluiter.^[5]

2010

Becker at the 2010 US Open.

Becker reached the semifinal of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle/Westfalen, the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch and the Thailand Open in Bangkok. At the Grand Slam tournaments Becker reached the second round of the 2010 Australian Open as well as in Wimbledon and at the 2010 US Open. He was knocked out in the first round at the 2010 French Open. He qualified for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, but lost to Gaël Monfils in the first round. He advanced to the second round of the IF Stockholm Open, where he lost to second seed Robin Söderling. He reached the quarterfinals at St.Petersburg, where he lost to Illya Marchenko. He qualified for the BNP Paribas Open in Paris-Bercy, where he lost to Gaël Monfils in the second round after a first-round win over Denis Istomin. He went 29–31 on the season and earned a career-high $543,431.

2011

Becker reached the second round in Brisbane and at the Australian Open, losing to Santiago Giraldo and Alexandr Dolgopolov. He also reached the second round at Indian Wells. The rest of the year, he played mostly Challenger tournaments.

2012

In 2012, Becker reached the second round in Doha, losing to Gaël Monfils, but he was eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open by Marcos Baghdatis. His best run of the year was in Memphis, where he reached the semifinals, defeating Dudi Sela, Xavier Malisse, and Łukasz Kubot, before succumbing to Milos Raonic.

He defeated Olivier Rochus in the first round in Miami, but then lost to Julien Benneteau. He won a Challenger title in Nottingham, before reaching the second round at Wimbledon with a win over James Blake. He was eliminated by Radek Stepanek.

He made the quarterfinals in Newport, Rhode Island, avenging his loss to Raonic in the second round, but losing to Ryan Harrison. In Washington DC, he defeated one American, Steve Johnson, in the first round, but fell to another, Sam Querrey, in the second. He also made the second round in Winston-Salem, defeating Tatsuma Ito, but losing to Jarkko Nieminen.

2013

Becker reached the second round of the Australian Open, losing to Juan Martín del Potro. He then suffered a succession of first-round exits before again reaching the final in Nottingham, where he lost to Matthew Ebden. At the Aegon Championships, he reached the quarterfinals, defeating Bernard Tomic, Lukáš Rosol, and Alexandr Dolgopolov, before losing to eventual champion Andy Murray. At Wimbledon, he went down to Murray again in the first round.

He won a Challenger even in Istanbul in July. In Cincinnati, he qualified and reached the second round, only to meet Rafael Nadal.

At the US Open, he defeated Lukáš Rosol in the first round, but lost to Novak Djokovic in the second. He reached the quarterfinals in Metz with wins over two Frenchmen, Benoît Paire and Albano Olivetti, but lost to another, Nicolas Mahut. He won another Challenger tournament in Eckental, Germany in October.

2014 - Career High Ranking

In 2014, Becker reached the second round at Chennai, losing to Stanislas Wawrinka. He also reached the second round in Memphis, defeating Lukas Lacko, but succumbing to Kei Nishikori.

In Miami, he qualified and made the fourth round of the main draw, where he lost to Milos Raonic. In Houston, he made the second round, where he was eliminated by Jack Sock.

He made the final of the Rosmalen grass tournament that he had won in 2009, but he lost in the final to Roberto Bautista Agut.

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (1–2)

Legend
Grand Slam (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 (1–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	24 September 2007	PTT Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Dmitry Tursunov	2–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	14 June 2009	Ordina Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Raemon Sluiter	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	21 June 2014	Topshelf Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Roberto Bautista Agut	6–2, 6–7^(2–7), 4–6

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Legend
Grand Slam (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 (0–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	2 August 2009	LA Tennis Open, Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Frank Moser	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	6–4, 7–6^(7–2)
Runner-up	2.	14 February 2010	SAP Open, San Jose, United States	Hard (i)	Leonardo Mayer	Mardy Fish Sam Querrey	7–6^(7–3), 7–5

Challenger finals

Singles: 18 (9–9)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (9–9)

Outcome		Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	13 February 2006	Joplin, US	Hard (i)	Jesse Witten	3–6, 6–7^(6–8)
Winner	1.	13 March 2006	Salinas, Ecuador	Hard	Jesse Witten	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	10 April 2006	Valencia, US	Hard	Frédéric Niemeyer	6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	31 July 2006	Segovia, Spain	Hard	Juan Martín del Potro	4–6, 7–5, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	13 November 2006	Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine	Hard (i)	Dmitry Tursunov	6–7^(7–9), 4–6
Winner	2.	26 January 2009	Heilbronn, Germany	Carpet (i)	Karol Beck	6–4, 6–4
Winner	3.	6 April 2009	Baton Rouge, US	Hard	Rajeev Ram	6–2, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	4.	27 April 2009	Rhodes, Greece	Hard	Simon Stadler	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	4 May 2009	Ramat HaSharon, Israel	Hard	Yen-Hsun Lu	3–6, 1–3 RET
Winner	5.	18 May 2009	Cremona, Italy	Hard	Izak van der Merwe	7–6^(7–3), 6–1
Winner	6.	10 June 2012	Nottingham, UK	Grass	Dmitry Tursunov	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Winner	7.	11 November 2012	Urtijëi, Italy	Carpet	Andreas Seppi	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	9 June 2013	Nottingham, UK	Grass	Matthew Ebden	5–7, 6–4, 5–7
Winner	8.	14 July 2013	Istanbul, Turkey	Hard	Dudi Sela	6–1, 2–6, 3–2 RET
Winner	9.	3 November 2013	Eckental, Germany	Carpet	Ruben Bemelmans	2–6, 7–6^(7–3), 6–4
Runner-up	7.	11 October 2015	Mons, Belgium	Hard (i)	Illya Marchenko	2–6, 7–6^(10–8), 4–6
Runner-up	8.	8 November 2015	Eckental, Germany	Carpet (i)	Mikhail Youzhny	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	9.	25 September 2016	Columbus, USA	Hard (i)	Mikael Torpegaard	4–6, 6–1, 2–6

Performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; played in a (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; won a (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Current at end of 2016 ATP World Tour.

Singles

Tournament	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	SR	W-L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	1R	A	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	3R	1R	0 / 9	5–9
French Open	Q3	1R	1R	A	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	3R^[a]	1R	0 / 8	2–7
Wimbledon	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	2R	1R	2R	1R	2R	0 / 10	7–10
US Open	4R	1R	Q1	1R	2R	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 9	5–9
Win–Loss	4–2	0–4	1–3	1–2	3–4	1–1	1–4	2–4	1–4	4–3	1–4	0 / 36	19–35
ATP Masters Series 1000
Indian Wells	A	1R	1R	LQ	1R	2R	A	1R	1R	1R	A	0 / 7	1–7
Miami	A	1R	2R	2R	4R	1R	2R	1R	4R	1R	1R	0 / 10	9–10
Monte Carlo	A	2R	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 3	2–3
Rome	A	1R	LQ	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 2	0–2
Madrid	LQ	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	1R	1R	Q2	0 / 3	1–3
Canada	A	A	LQ	A	A	A	LQ	1R	Q1	1R	A	0 / 2	0–2
Cincinnati	A	1R	1R	2R	1R	A	LQ	2R	2R	Q1	A	0 / 6	3–6
Shanghai	Not Masters Series			1R	1R	A	A	Q1	A	A	A	0 / 2	0–2
Paris	A	LQ	A	2R	2R	A	LQ	A	A	A	A	0 / 2	2–2
Hamburg	A	1R	A	Not Masters Series								0 / 1	0–1
Win–Loss	0–0	1–6	1–3	3–4	6–8	1–2	1–1	1–4	3–4	0–5	0–1	0 / 38	17–38
Career Statistics
Titles / Finals	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	1 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	1 / 3
Year-end Ranking	58	84	129	40	53	304	65	79	40	97	119

^a 2015 French Open counts as 2 wins, 0 losses. Kei Nishikori received a walkover in the third round, after Becker withdrew because of a muscle tear in his right shoulder,^[6] does not count as a Becker loss (nor a Nishikori win).

Doubles

Tournament	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	SR	W-L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	1R	A	A	1R	3R	A	1R	1R	3R	2R	0 / 7	5–7
French Open	1R	A	A	2R	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	A	0 / 6	2–6
Wimbledon	3R	A	1R	1R	A	2R	A	1R	1R	A	0 / 6	3–6
US Open	1R	A	1R	2R	A	1R	A	2R	A	A	0 / 5	2–5
Win–Loss	2–4	0–0	0–2	2–4	2–1	2–3	0–2	1–4	2–3	1–1	0 / 24	12–24

References

1. Faulkner, Cynthia (3 September 2006). "Germany's other B. Becker". ESPN.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
2. http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Be/B/Benjamin-Becker.aspx
3. "Benjamin Becker". Baylor University. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
4. Benjamin Becker Tennis: December 2006 Archived 9 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
5. "German Becker claims maiden title". BBC Sport. 20 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
6. Herman, Martyn (28 May 2015). "Tennis-Nishikori through to last 16 after Becker pulls out". Reuters. Retrieved 28 May 2015.

External links

• Benjamin Becker at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Benjamin Becker at the International Tennis Federation
• Benjamin Becker at the Davis Cup
• Benjamin Becker – University profile