Malek Jaziri

Malek Jaziri
مالك الجزيري

Malek Jaziri in 2016
Country (sports)  Tunisia
Residence Bizerte, Tunisia
Born (1984-01-20) January 20, 1984
Bizerte, Tunisia
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Plays

Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

*occasionally uses one-handed backhand
Prize money $1,335,694
Singles
Career record 33–51
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 49 (October 10, 2016)
Current ranking No. 58 (November 21, 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 3R (2015)
French Open 2R (2012, 2016)
Wimbledon 2R (2012)
US Open 2R (2011)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games 2R (2012)
Doubles
Career record 6–18
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 196 (April 16, 2012)
Current ranking No. 320 (February 1, 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2015)
French Open 1R (2016)
Wimbledon 2R (2015, 2016)
US Open 1R (2016)
Medal record
Pan Arab Games
2011 Doha Singles
2011 Doha Doubles
Mediterranean Games
2013 Mersin Doubles
2013 Mersin Singles
Last updated on: February 3, 2016.

Malek Jaziri (Arabic: مالك الجزيري Mālik al-Jazīrī) (born January 20, 1984) is a professional Tunisian tennis player. He reached the semi-finals of Moscow in 2012 and Winston-Salem in 2015 and the quarterfinals of Dubai in 2014.

Career overview

Jaziri reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour of world no. 50 in October 2016. Jaziri dedicated this milestone to Michael Fahimian and Henry Cohanim, his two biggest fans. He appeared in the qualifying draw at the 2010 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Michał Przysiężny of Poland. He primarily plays on the Futures circuit and the Challenger circuit. Jaziri qualified for the 2011 US Open, defeating Brian Dabul, Michael Ryderstedt, and Guillaume Rufin in the qualifying draw. This was the first time Jaziri played in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. In the first round, Jaziri defeated world no. 159 Thiemo de Bakker in four sets. Jaziri lost to world no. 8 Mardy Fish in the second round. Jaziri has been coached by Tunisian legend Haythem Abid on and off throughout his career.

In 2012, he kicked off his year at the ATP 250 event in Doha and pushed world no. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to three sets in the first round. He fell in the first round of qualifying at the Australian Open to Tim Smyczek. He then reached three Challenger finals in Quimper, Kyoto, and Pingguo to break into the top 100 for the first time.

In his clay season, he made the semi-finals in the Barletta Challenger and played his first Roland Garros main draw, winning his first-round match over German Philipp Petzschner before losing a tight second-round match to Spaniard Marcel Granollers, missing two match points.

On grass he reached the second round on his Wimbledon debut (lost to Kohlschreiber) and also the second round at the London Olympics (lost to John Isner).

He lost in the US Open first round, but later had his best-ever result on the ATP World Tour when he reached the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow (lost to eventual champion Andreas Seppi) to become the first Tunisian male to reach the semi-finals of an ATP event.

In 2013, Jaziri started off the year in Dubai, where he faced 17-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer and lost in three tight sets.

Jaziri started off 2015 making his first appearance at the Australian Open main draw, and beating Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin, making him the first Arab male tennis player to make it to the third round of a Grand Slam in over a decade. Jaziri then lost in the third round to Australian teen Nick Kyrgios.

Jaziri has been a member of the Tunisia Davis Cup team since 2000, posting an 18–12 record in singles and a 7–10 record in doubles in 29 ties.

Controversies

2013

Jaziri was embroiled in a controversial political incident, in which he withdrew from a tournament rather than play an Israeli player.[1] In the October 2013 Tashkent Challenger, tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, he was slated to play Israeli Amir Weintraub in the quarterfinals.[2] But the Tunisian tennis federation ordered Jaziri by email to withdraw from the match, and he did so.[2][1]

Weintraub said that Jaziri is "a good friend," and that "he really wanted to play."[2] Israel Tennis Association CEO Shlomo Glickstein said: "It is sad to me that these kinds of things still happen. I feel bad for the athletes who find themselves embroiled in such situations, which end up hurting their careers.”[2]

Jaziri was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that the Tunisian Tennis Federation breached the ITF constitution by ordering him not to compete. The organization barred Tunisia from competing in the 2014 Davis Cup.[3] ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said: "There is no room for prejudice of any kind in sport or in society. The ITF Board decided to send a strong message to the Tunisian Tennis Federation that this kind of action will not be tolerated by any of our members."[3]

2015

In February 2015, Jaziri was again embroiled in a controversial political incident when he withdrew from a tournament before facing Israeli players.[4][5] He withdrew from both the singles and doubles events at the Open Sud de France, citing an elbow injury, after winning his first set in his singles match against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.[6] Had Jaziri won, he would have been scheduled to face Israeli Dudi Sela in the next round. In the doubles event, he and Spanish partner Marc López would have faced Israeli opponent Jonathan Erlich and František Čermák of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.[4]

The ATP said that they had confirmed with on-site medical staff that Jaziri's elbow injury was genuine, but opened an inquiry, stating: "Given a previous incident involving the player's national federation in 2013, we are looking into any wider circumstances of his withdrawal as a matter of prudence."[4] On February 10, the ATP closed its investigation after extensive discussions with Jaziri and medical staff, saying it was satisfied that Jaziri had a legitimate medical reason to retire from the event.[7]

Tour singles titles – all levels (12)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (0)
Challengers (3)
Futures (9)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. 2005 Tunis Clay Petar Popović 1–6, 6–2, 6–3
2. 2006 Mégrine Hard Blaž Kavčič 4–6, 6–1, 6–4
3. 2009 Kelibia Clay Haithem Abid 7–6, 5–7, 7–6
4. 2009 Tbilisi Clay David Savić 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
5. 2010 Sfax Hard Laurent Rochette 6–4, 6–3
6. 2010 Córdoba Hard Pablo Carreño-Busta 6–4, 5–7, 6–4
7. 2011 Newcastle Clay Yannick Mertens 6–3, 6–4
8. 2011 Manchester Grass Rudy Coco 7–6, 4–6, 6–2
9. 2011 Almaty Hard Denys Molchanov 6–3, 6–2
10. 2011 Geneva Hard Mischa Zverev 4–6, 6–3, 6–3
11. 2013 Geneva Hard Jan-Lennard Struff 6–4, 6–3
12. 9 April 2016 Le Gosier, Guadeloupe Hard Stefan Kozlov 6–2, 6–4

Tour singles finals – all levels (18)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (0)
Challengers (6)
Futures (12)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. 2011 Samarkand Clay Denis Istomin 6–7(2–7), ret
2. 2012 Quimper Hard Igor Sijsling 3–6, 4–6
3. 2012 Kyoto Carpet Tatsuma Ito 7–6(7–5), 1–6, 2–6
4. 2012 Pingguo Hard Go Soeda 1–6, 6–3, 5–7
5. 2014 Dallas Hard Steve Johnson 4–6, 4–6
6. 2014 Izmir Hard Borna Ćorić 1–6, 7–6(9–7), 4–6

Singles performance timeline

Tournament201120122013201420152016SRW–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A Q1 A Q1 3R 1R 0 / 2 2–2
French Open A 2R Q2 Q2 1R 2R 0 / 3 2–3
Wimbledon A 2R Q3 1R 1R 1R 0 / 4 1–4
US Open 2R 1R Q3 Q2 1R 1R 0 / 4 1–4
Win–Loss 1–1 2–3 0–0 0–1 2–4 1–4 0 / 13 6–13

References

  1. 1 2 "Tunisia's Malek Jaziri forced to withdraw from match against an Israeli". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. October 11, 2013. Archived from the original on November 8, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sinai, Allon. "Sela into final, Weintraub out in semis amid turmoil". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Tunisia suspended from Davis Cup over Malek Jaziri order". Sky Sports. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Fox Sports. "Tunisian tennis player withdraws before facing Israeli at French tournament". FOX Sports.
  5. ↑ "Tunisian player Malek Jaziri withdraws before facing Israeli". ESPN.com.
  6. ↑ Fox Sports. "Tunisian tennis player withdraws before facing Israeli at French tournament". FOX Sports.
  7. ↑ "ATP clears Tunisian Malek Jaziri of wrongdoing for withdrawal before match vs. Israeli". FOX Sports. Associated Press. February 11, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2015.


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