Igor Kunitsyn

Brought up by his grandparents when he was a young boy, he started to play tennis at age seven since there were two hard and two clay courts just a few hundred meters from where he lived...Went to the courts with friends where coach saw him and asked to come again to train...His grandmother, Ninel Kislovskaya, and grandfather, Nikolay Kislovskiy, have since become big tennis fans and used to travel with him  to tournaments...Plans to spend about half year living and training in northern California with countryman Dmitry Tursunov in 2007 and half year in Moscow, where he trains at CSKA (since age 18).

Originally from Vladivostok which is on the eastern coast of Russia, more than a nine hour flight from the capital...Also swam and played basketball as a youth, but tennis was the only sport he was serious about...Is known to be an excellent gourmet cook of Italian foods and loves going to good restaurants...Used to work with Ricardo Piatti and became interested in cooking with his mother...Speaks English and Italian along with his Russian...Considers hard courts as favorite surface and best part of his game is groundstrokes/baseline play...Has a 1-2 career Davis Cup record in two ties...Wife, Irina (married Dec. 8, 2005)...Coached by Allen Fox.

1998 -- Claimed one Futures final in the Ukraine while also reaching a final in Belarus

1999 -- Played ATP stops in St. Petersburg and Moscow...Won a Russian Futures title

2000 -- Reached first career Challenger final at Togliatti (l. to Kutsenko)

2001 -- Claimed one Futures title...Picked up first Futures doubles title

2002 -- Made Grand Slam debut at US Open (l. to Okun...Finalist at Seoul Challenger (l. to Eschauer)...Won a pair of Futures titles in five finals

2003 -- Made Wimbledon debut (l. to Gambill)...Finalist at Wroclaw Challenger (l. to Kucera)

2004 -- Earned first ATP win while reaching first career QF in Moscow...Defeated Berdych and Beck before calling to Hrbaty...Claimed one Challenger and one Futures title...Claimed two Challenger doubles titles while reaching three other finals

2005 -- Reached first ATP SF in Moscow with wins over Santoro, Rusedski and Pavel before falling to Kiefer...Won Challenger titles at Togliatti (d. Bruthans) and Saransk (d. Pashanski)...Earned first ATP doubles win at St. Petersburg (w/Davletshin) to reach QF...Claimed one Challenger doubles title...

2006 -- Reached Top 100 for first time after reaching a pair of ATP SF at events in his home country...Made ATP Masters Series debut in Miami (l. to Montanes)...Reached SF at Tallahassee Challenger (l. to Fish)...Also reached SF at Telde Challenger (l. to Dorsch)...Earned first career Grand Slam win at Wimbledon (d. Monfils, l. to Youzhny)...Made US Open debut, losing to countryman Tursunov... In October, reached Moscow SF for second year in a row (l. to Safin)...Also reached SF in St. Petersburg (l. to T. Johansson)...In doubles, reached first ATP final in Nottingham (w/Tursunov)...Advanced to SF in Washington and Moscow (w/Tursunov)...

2007 --Achieved a personal-best 16 match wins and reached three ATP QF...Made strong start with QF in Adelaide, posting three-set win over former World No. 1 Hewitt in RR action...Also advanced to QF at Waikoloa Challenger...Reached 2nd RD or better at six of seven final ATP appearances, amassing an 8-7 record...Advanced to QF at Indianapolis and Beijing, and 2nd RD at Washington, US Open (l. to Moya), Bangkok and Moscow.

2008 -- The Russian broke through to finish in Top 50 for first time and capture his first ATP title...Also won a Challenger title and reached two other finals while compiling a 20-9 mark during year...In February, advanced to QF in Delray Beach (l. to Blake) and in March qualified in AMS tournaments in Indian Wells (l. Odesnik) and Miami (l. to T. Johansson)...In April, reached final at Baton Rouge Challenger (l. to Reynolds) and next month advanced to final at Bordeaux Challenger (l. to Schwank)...Returned to ATP action in Poertschach and reached SF (l. to No. 4 Davydenko)...On grass, reached QF in Newport (l. to Dancevic)...In August, advanced to SF in Washington (l. to Troicki)...Lost in 1st RD at US Open (l. to Verdasco) and then qualified at Donetsk Challenger in Ukraine and won title (d. Bubka)...Biggest moment came in Moscow in October when he captured title, defeating countryman Safin in three sets...Afterwards, broke into Top 50 from No. 71 to No. 47...Compiled marks of 10-9 on hard, 4-2 on clay and 1-3 on grass...Made his Davis Cup debut in SF tie vs. Argentina, teaming (w/Tursunov) to beat Canas-Nalbandian 8-6 in fifth set...Also reached SF at Roland Garros (w/Tursunov)...Earned a career-high $495,243.

2009 -- The Russian finished just outside Top 100 after reaching a career high No.35 in July…In 30 tournaments, only won back-to-back matches twice in same event…In February reached QF in Memphis (d. Andreev, Petzschner, l. to Sela) and in October advanced to SF in St. Petersburg (l. to Zeballos)…In Grand Slam play, won his lone match at Wimbledon when Dimitrov retired…Compiled marks of 13-22 on hard, 2-3 on grass and 1-6 on clay.

2010

Went 1-5 in singles play through first two months of season...Fell in Australian Open 2nd RD (l. to Wawrinka)...Qualified at Dubai, played Murray in 1st RD on 21 February. Served in 24-minute 30-second second game of first set, which included 14 deuces and Murray eventually won on his ninth break point opportunity. After 38 minutes of play, the duo sat down at a change of ends for the first time with Murray leading 3-0. It is considered to be one of the longest tour-level men's games in the Open Era.