.jpg) Becker at the2015 French Open | |
| Country (sports) |  Germany |
|---|---|
| Residence | Mettlach, Germany |
| Born | (1981-07-16)16 July 1981 (age 44) |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Turned pro | 2005 |
| Retired | 2017 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| College | Baylor Bears |
| Prize money | US$4,399,584 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 153–220 |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Highest ranking | No. 35 (27 October 2014) |
| 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) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | 3R (2011) |
| French Open | 2R (2010,2012) |
| Wimbledon | 3R (2007) |
| US Open | 2R (2010) |
Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German former professionaltennis player. He is most known for defeating former world No. 1Andre Agassi in the third round at the2006 US Open, in Agassi's last match as a professional player.
Becker has reached a career-highATP ranking of No. 35 in singles on 27 October 2014, and No. 58 in doubles on 5 July 2010.
Becker is not related to German compatriot and former professional tennis playerBoris Becker.[1]
Benjamin Becker was born on 16 June 1981 inMerzig,West Germany, to Jörg, a tax office worker, and Ulrike. Becker has one younger sister.[2] From 2001 to 2005, Becker played tennis atBaylor 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] A rarity in men's tennis, Becker attended college for four years before turning professional.
2006 was a breakthrough year for Becker. In June of that year, he qualified forWimbledon and defeatedJuan Ignacio Chela, before losing in the second round toFernando Verdasco. At the2006 US Open, he defeatedFilippo Volandri and No. 30 seedSébastien Grosjean to reach the third round, where he defeated former world No. 1Andre Agassi in four sets. The match was especially noteworthy as it was Agassi's last on theATP 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 theArthur Ashe Stadium crowd. The day after Becker's win over Agassi, his own U.S. Open bid was ended byAndy Roddick in the fourth round.
Becker has the distinction of having played the match that finished second latest in ATP history, defeatingJiří Novák inTokyo in 2006 at 3.24 a.m. 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, Becker made the fastest rise of any player into the top 50.[4]
2007 saw Becker improving his ranking further in the early season, including through his semi-final appearances at theDelray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he lost to world No. 8James Blake; and inSan Jose at theSAP Open where he lost toIvo 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 theGrand Slams orATP Masters Series events, with the exception of theMonte Carlo Masters, where he lost in the second round toThomas Johansson.
Given his strong performance at the U.S. Open in the preceding year, Becker's first round loss in the 2007 edition caused his ranking to drop to 79. Despite good form inBangkok, where he lost in the finals toDmitry Tursunov, Becker finished the year ranked 84th.
In 2009, Becker won his first ATP World Tour title, theOrdina Open in the Netherlands, defeating local hopeRaemon Sluiter.[5]
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Becker reached the semifinal of theGerry Weber Open inHalle, theOrdina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch and theThailand Open inBangkok. At the Grand Slam tournaments, Becker reached the second round of the2010 Australian Open as well as inWimbledon and at the2010 US Open. He was knocked out in the first round at the2010 French Open. He qualified for theATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, but lost toGaël Monfils in the first round. He advanced to the second round of theIf Stockholm Open, where he lost to second seedRobin Söderling. He reached the quarterfinals at St.Petersburg, where he lost toIllya Marchenko. He qualified for theBNP Paribas Open inParis-Bercy, where he lost toGaël Monfils in the second round after a first-round win overDenis Istomin. He went 29–31 on the season and earned a career-high $543,431.
Becker reached the second round inBrisbane and at theAustralian Open, losing toSantiago Giraldo andAlexandr Dolgopolov. He also reached the second round atIndian Wells. The rest of the year, he played mostlyChallenger tournaments.
In 2012, Becker reached the second round in Doha, losing toGaël Monfils, but he was eliminated in the first round of theAustralian Open byMarcos Baghdatis. His best run of the year was inMemphis, where he reached the semifinals, defeatingDudi Sela,Xavier Malisse, andŁukasz Kubot, before succumbing toMilos Raonic. He defeatedOlivier Rochus in the first round inMiami, but then lost toJulien Benneteau. He won a Challenger title in Nottingham, before reaching the second round atWimbledon with a win overJames Blake. He was eliminated byRadek Štěpánek.
Becker made the quarterfinals inNewport, Rhode Island, avenging his loss to Raonic in the second round, but losing toRyan Harrison. InWashington, D.C., 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 inWinston-Salem, defeatingTatsuma Ito, but losing toJarkko Nieminen.
Becker reached the second round of theAustralian Open, losing toJuan Martín del Potro. He then suffered a succession of first-round exits before again reaching the final inNottingham, where he lost toMatthew Ebden. At theAegon Championships, he reached the quarterfinals, defeatingBernard Tomic,Lukáš Rosol, andAlexandr Dolgopolov, before losing to eventual championAndy Murray. AtWimbledon, he went down to Murray again in the first round.
Becker won a Challenger event inIstanbul in July. At Cincinnati, he qualified and reached the second round, only to lose toRafael Nadal. At theUS Open, he defeatedLukáš Rosol in the first round, but lost toNovak Djokovic in the second. He reached the quarterfinals inMetz with wins over two Frenchmen,Benoît Paire andAlbano Olivetti, but lost to another,Nicolas Mahut. Becker won another Challenger tournament inEckental, Germany, in October.
In 2014, Becker reached the second round atChennai, losing to eventual championStanislas Wawrinka. He also reached the second round inMemphis, defeatingLukáš Lacko, but succumbing to eventual championKei Nishikori. InMiami, he qualified and made the fourth round of the main draw, where he lost toMilos Raonic. InHouston, he made the second round, where he was eliminated byJack Sock. He made the final of the2014 Topshelf Open grass tournament that he had won in 2009, but he lost in the final toRoberto Bautista Agut.
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| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Sep 2007 | Thailand Open, Thailand | International | Hard (i) |  Dmitry Tursunov | 2–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Jun 2009 | Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands | 250 Series | Grass |  Raemon Sluiter | 7–5, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–2 | Jun 2014 | Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands | 250 Series | Grass |  Roberto Bautista Agut | 6–2, 6–7(2–7), 4–6 |
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| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Aug 2009 | Los Angeles Open, United States | International | Hard | Frank Moser |  Bob BryanMike Bryan | 4–6, 6–7(2–7) |
| Loss | 0–2 | Feb 2010 | Pacific Coast Championships, United States | 250 Series | Hard (i) |  Leonardo Mayer | Mardy FishSam Querrey | 6–7(3–7), 5–7 |
| 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 | Dnipropetrovsk, 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 |
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | SR | W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 3R | 1R | Q1 | 0 / 9 | 5–9 |
| French Open | A | Q3 | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 3R[a] | 1R | Q1 | 0 / 8 | 2–7 |
| Wimbledon | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 2R | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | Q2 | 0 / 10 | 7–10 |
| US Open | A | 4R | 1R | Q1 | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 9 | 5–9 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 4–2 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 4–3 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0 / 36 | 19–35 |
| ATP Masters Series 1000 | |||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells | A | A | 1R | 1R | Q2 | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | Q1 | 0 / 7 | 1–7 |
| Miami | A | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 11 | 9–11 |
| Monte Carlo | A | A | 2R | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 0 / 3 | 2–3 |
| Madrid | A | Q1 | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | Q2 | A | 0 / 3 | 1–3 |
| Rome | A | A | 1R | Q2 | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0–2 |
| Canada | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | Q1 | 1R | Q1 | 1R | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0–2 |
| Cincinnati | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | Q1 | 2R | 2R | Q1 | A | A | 0 / 6 | 3–6 |
| Shanghai | Not Masters Series | 1R | 1R | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0–2 | |||
| Paris | A | A | Q1 | A | 2R | 2R | A | Q2 | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 2–2 |
| Hamburg | A | A | 1R | A | Not Masters Series | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | ||||||||
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–6 | 1–3 | 3–4 | 6–8 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0 / 39 | 17–39 |
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Titles / Finals | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 1 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 1 / 3 | |
| Overall win–loss | 0–0 | 9–8 | 21–32 | 11–20 | 14–19 | 29–31 | 3–9 | 10–14 | 9–20 | 27–26 | 11–20 | 9–18 | 0–3 | 153–220 | |
| Year-end ranking | 420 | 58 | 84 | 129 | 40 | 53 | 304 | 65 | 79 | 40 | 97 | 119 | 519 | 41% | |
a2015 French Open counts as 2 wins, 0 losses.Kei Nishikori received awalkover 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 aNishikori win).
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | SR | W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||
| Australian Open | 1R | A | A | 1R | 3R | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | A | 0 / 7 | 5–7 |
| French Open | 1R | A | A | 2R | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | 0 / 6 | 2–6 |
| Wimbledon | 3R | A | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | A | A | 0 / 6 | 3–6 |
| US Open | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | A | 2R | A | 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 | 0–0 | 0 / 24 | 12–24 |
| Season | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Total |
| Wins | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| # | Player | Rank | Event | Surface | Rd | Score | BB Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | |||||||
| 1. |  Tomáš Berdych | 10 | Bangkok, Thailand | Hard (i) | SF | 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 | 79 |
| 2008 | |||||||
| 2. | Nikolay Davydenko | 4 | Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom | Grass | 1R | 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 | 116 |
| 2009 | |||||||
| 3. | Fernando Verdasco | 8 | s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | 2R | 7–5, 7–6(7–4) | 82 |
| 2010 | |||||||
| 4. | Nikolay Davydenko | 5 | Halle, Germany | Grass | 2R | 6–3, 6–4 | 52 |
| 5. | Fernando Verdasco | 8 | Bangkok, Thailand | Hard (i) | 2R | 6–4, 6–4 | 65 |
| 2011 | |||||||
| 6. | Fernando Verdasco | 9 | Brisbane, Australia | Hard | 1R | 6–1, 6–7(2–7), 6–3 | 53 |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | ATP Newcomer of the Year 2006 | Succeeded by |