Evgeny Korolev

Raised in Moscow, began playing tennis at age four with his father, Evgeny, who still coaches him and used to play hockey...Never played junior circuit and picked up his first ATP points at age 15 in three German Challengers...Mother, Irina, is a housewife and sometimes travels to tournaments as well...Has one older brother, Alexey, who is his physio therapist and helps with his business matters and considers him his best friend and "buddy" (works in Moscow).

Speaks Russian, German and English...Started learning English at age seven with a private tutor...Favorite players growing up were Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Stefan Edberg and admired Sampras the most...Hobbies include hockey and enjoys playing or skating anytime he has a chance...Likes hard rock and favorite groups are Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Creed and Scott Stapp...Favorite surfaces are hard and clay courts and considers backhand his favorite shot...Coached by father, Evgeny.

2003 – Posted a 1-3 Futures record...

2004 – Reached first career Futures final in September at Kepten, Germany (l. to Chadaj)...One week later, claimed first Futures title at Friedberg (d. Zay)...Finished the year with an 18-10 record in Futures and a 1-3 mark in Challengers...Claimed doubles titles at one Futures event (w/ Motti)...

2005 – Claimed first career Challenger title at Aachen (d. Sluiter) in early November...Finished with a 15-8 Challenger record while reaching QF or better in final five Challenger events of the season...Won three Futures titles and was finalist at one other event while posting a 31-11 Futures record...Reached doubles final at Recanati Challenger (w/Dustov)...Won a pair of doubles titles at Futures events...

2006 – Broke through to finish in Top 100 of ATP Rankings for first time...Made his ATP season debut by winning eight matches and turning in a pair of QF results that helped push him into Top 100...Also compiled a 17-9 Challenger record with one title...Opened the year at Futures events, including a SF run at Futures in Stuttgart...Made ATP debut in February at Marseille and promptly reached first career QF with wins over Sidorenko and No. 6 Davydenko before falling to Grosjean...Win over Davydenko was first career win against a Top 10 player...In April, made ATP Masters Series debut in Monte-Carlo (l. to Stepanek)...The following week, in Barcelona, defeated Spaniards Moya and Vicente before losing to Karlovic in three tie-breaks...Made Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros, defeating Seppi before falling to former champion Gaudio in five sets...Posted wins over Serra and Horna to reach Bastad QF before falling to Robredo...In September, won title at Dusseldorf Challenger (d. Vinciguerra) and later advanced to final at Aachen Challenger (l. to Schuettler)...Reached 2nd RD at ATP stop in Moscow...Won Challenger doubles title in Grenoble (w/Gabashvili) and reached another final in Dusseldorf (w/Greul)...Also claimed one Futures doubles title (w/Coene)...

2007 – Won a career-high 20 ATP level matches while finishing in Top 100 for second straight season...Broke through to reach his first ATP SF and advanced to QF in three other tournaments...In January, reached QF in Sydney, losing to eventual champion Blake...Two months later, advanced to SF in Las Vegas, defeating No. 6 Blake and Querrey en route (l. to Melzer)...Followed with best showing in an ATP Masters Series tournament, 3rd RD in Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic)...On clay, reached QF in Valencia...Underwent a hernia operation in May and missed one month before returning on grass in Halle where he lost to No. 8 Blake in 2nd RD...Returned to clay in July and advanced to QF in Amersfoort...Best result rest of season was QF in Metz in October...Compiled records of 14-15 on hard and 5-6 on clay.

2008 -- The Russian finished outside Top 100 for the first time in three years, highlighted by first ATP SF and three QF...Won a personal-best 13 ATP matches and went 8-2 in Challenger play with one title...Opened season with 2nd RD in Adelaide (l. to Llodra) before reaching QF in Sydney as a qualifier (l. to Santoro)...Made debut at Australian Open and reached 2nd RD (l. to Kohlschreiber)...Reached QF at Las Vegas (d. Gonzalez in 2nd RD, l. to Anderson)...Lost in 1st RD of AMS Indian Wells (l. to Mahut) and Miami (l. to Miami) debuts...Rebounded on clay with first ATP SF at Valencia (l. to Almagro)...Won first AMS match as qualifier at Rome (d. Soderling, l. to Gonzalez)...Also qualified into Roland Garros for second straight year (l. to Santoro)...Followed with QF in Warsaw (l. to Davydenko)...Pushed Berdych to five sets in Wimbledon debut...Also made first appearance at US Open and reached 2nd RD (d. Soderling, l. to Monfils)...In September, advanced to SF at Dusseldorf Challenger (l. to Beck) and repeated Aachen Challenger (d. Bemelmans) title in November...Earned a career-high $258,190.

 

2009

The young Russian compiled his best season by finishing a year-end best No. 53 and reaching his first ATP World Tour final…Qualified five times, including Delray Beach where he reached his first final (l. to Fish)…Opened clay-court circuit with SF in Houston (l. to eventual champ Hewitt)…Did not win back-to-back tour level matches again until September in Metz where he reached QFs (l. to Kohlschreiber)…Previous week he won Challenger title in Szczecin (d. Serra)…Following Metz, advanced to QFs in Bangkok (l. to Simon), Mons Challenger (l. to Stakhovsky), Moscow and Basel (l. to Federer)…Compiled marks of 14-10 on hard, 4-6 on clay and 0-3 on grass…Had 12-5 tie-break record…Earned a career-high $381,805.