Justin Gimelstob

2006 IN REVIEW

The American serve-and-volleyer reached his first career final and finished in year-end ATP Rankings Top 100 for first time since 2000...Ended season after US Open to have major back surgery on Sept. 13...Reached 2nd RD at three of his first four ATP events: Chennai, Delray Beach and San Jose...Reached a pair of SF in spring Challengers...Reached QF at ATP stop in Estoril (d. Massu, l. to Portas)...Reached at least 2nd RD at Wimbledon for sixth time in seven appearances with win over C. Rochus (l. to Ljubicic)...Returned to U.S. and stayed on grass to reach first singles final in his 153rd career tournament in Newport (d. Murray in SF, l. to Philippoussis in F)...Reached 2nd RD at US Open (d. Marach, l. to Ferrer) in final tournament of year...In doubles, reached QF at Australian Open (w/Fisher) and final in Newport (w/Coetzee)...Claimed doubles title at Cordoba Challenger (w/Kim)...Ended season with No. 49 Stanford ATP Doubles Ranking.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

1995-Played as an amateur at US Open where he beat Prinosil in five sets before losing to Krajicek in 2nd RD...1996-Improved his ranking 418 positions...1997-Broke Top 100 during season after QF in Hong Kong and Toulouse...In doubles, earned first ATP title in Newport (w/Steven) and finalist in Tokyo (w/Rafter)...1998- Reached SF in Coral Springs and Los Angeles and won Andorra Challenger (d. Bastl)...Won doubles title in Nottingham (w/Talbot)...1999-Reached QF in San Jose and Scottsdale and 3rd RD at Cincinnati, Washington and US Open (l. to Agassi in four sets)...Repeated with Andorra Challenger title...Had best year in doubles, winning five titles with four different players and finishing a year-end best No. 24...Earned a career-high $412,637...2000-Despite a late season ankle injury, finished among Top 100 for a third consecutive year...Reached 3rd RD at Queen's and Wimbledon...Advanced to SF in Los Angeles (l. to Chang in three sets) followed by a finalist appearance at Lexington Challenger (l. to Suzuki)...In doubles play, won titles at Memphis (w/Lareau) and Tashkent (w/Humphries)...Also, reached finals at Atlanta (w/Knowles) and Orlando (w/Lareau)...Went over $1 million in career earnings...2001-Went 12-7 in Challengers, reaching final in Tallahassee...2002-Compiled a 30-18 record in Challenger level, reaching two finals (Tallahassee, Fresno) and advancing to SF in four other tournaments...His best ATP result was QF in Newport...In doubles, won title at Joplin Challenger (w/Humphries) and reached finals at Waikoloa (w/J. Blake) and Calabasas (w/Goldstein) Challengers...Also runner-up at ATP stop in Los Angeles (w/Llodra)….2003 – Advanced to 3rd RD at Wimbledon for second time (d. Labadze and Clement, l. to Bjorkman) …Reached SF in San Jose (d. Srichaphan, l. to Sanguinetti)…Finalist at Dallas Challenger (l. to Greul)… Broke his left foot at Nottingham Challenger in late October and underwent surgery on Nov. 3…In doubles play, captured 10th career title captured in Tokyo (w/Kiefer)…Also reached SF in doubles in Memphis (w/Blake) and Indianapolis (w/Zimonjic)…Won doubles titles on Challenger circuit at Dallas, Calabasas, Forest Hills (all w/Humphries) and Tiburon (w/Coupe)…2004 – Missed first five months of the year healing from foot surgery…Played five ATP events…In second event back from layoff, won Forest Hills Challenger (d. Vemic)…Also won Beijing Challenger (d. Bogomolov)…Finished season with back-to-back titles at Nashville (d. Delic) and Champaign (d. Delgado)… Won a pair of doubles titles…Reached doubles QF at Wimbledon w/Humphries …Won titles in Beijing (d. Bogomolov-Dent) and Bangkok (d. Allegro-Federer) w/Oliver…In between those events, reached final at Beijing Challenger w/Oliver (l. to Fisher-Phillips)…Also won Challengers at Forest Hills (w/Coupe) and reached final at Champaign (w/Oliver)…2005 – The American veteran won one Challenger title in three finals appearances... Reached final of Tallahassee Challenger in April (l. to Vahaly)... As lucky loser at Wimbledon defeated Garcia and Massu before falling to Hewitt in 3rd RD... Rested back and shoulder injuries before returning in New Haven and reached 2nd RD (l. to Gonzalez)... In Bangkok defeated N. Lapentti then had four match points against Hewitt before falling 7-6 in third... In late October, won title at Carson Challenger (d. Delic)... In November, finalist in Champaign Challenger (l. to Udomchoke)...In doubles, defended ATP Beijing title (w/Healey)...Won Challenger title in Yuba City (w/Coupe) and reached final in Busan (w/Moodie).

PERSONAL

Began playing tennis at age eight with older brother Josh and younger brother Russell...Won U.S. National Boys’ 18s singles title and reached Roland Garros junior doubles final in 1995...In 1993, finished as top player in U.S. in Boys’ 16s and in ‘91 in Boys’ 14s...Held a 4.0 (grade point average) in his freshman year at UCLA where he played in 1995-96...Reached NCAA team final (l. to Stanford) in 1996 with a 27-1 team record...Finished No. 2 in singles (behind Cecil Mamiit) and No. 1 in doubles (w/Muskatirovic)...Won NCAA doubles title...Has hosted Justin Gimelstob Children’s Fund charity event to benefit children with cancer and blood diseases in his native New Jersey...At 2005 US Open, began writing a daily column for sportsillustrated.com and continued on a bi-weekly basis during rest of season...Hosted Open Access and provided commentary for The Tennis Channel while rehabbing his broken left foot in 2004...Inducted into Southern California Jewish Hall of Fame in 2003 and into Newark (N.J.) Academy Hall of Fame (his high school) in 2005...School’s tennis facility was named and dedicated to Justin and his brothers Josh and Russell...Member of ATP Player Council...Coached part-time by former ATP pro Jim Grabb.