Victor Hanescu

Began playing tennis at age seven... Says, "When I was seven years old I went to a basketball club and wanted to start playing. I was tall but they told me that I was too young. Then I saw two tennis courts and started to play tennis instead"... Father, Constantin, and mother, Cristina, are engineers; younger sister, Irina, enjoys swimming... Hobbies include soccer (fan of Steaua Bucharest), fishing and swimming (competed until he was 12)... Childhood idols were Ilie Nastase, Goran Ivanisevic and Pete Sampras... Favorite shot is backhand and enjoys playing on clay and grass... Member of Romanian Davis Cup team since 2001 and has an 10-11 career record (10-9 in singles) in 14 ties... Fitness trainer is Bogdan Tudor (since 2002) and coached by Firicel Tomai (since 1996).

2001 -- Reached first Challenger final in Freudenstadt (l. to Montanes)...

2002 -- Qualified for Umag and reached QF...Won first Challenger title in Maia (d. Hernandez)...Made Davis Cup debut vs. Austria (d. Melzer in dead rubber)...In World Group playoff, defeated Slovak Republic's Beck, also in dead rubber...Compiled 19-19 record in Challengers...

2003 -- Finished in Top 100 and as No. 1 Romanian for first time after jumping 100 spots...Won 15 matches in ATP play and went 16-12 in Challengers...Qualified for first Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Wimbledon and reached 3rd RD in both...Reached final at Rome Challenger (l. to Galimberti)...Advanced to QF in Bucharest...Helped Romania reach Davis Cup World Group after defeating G. Lapentti in five sets in playoff as Romania defeated Ecuador 3-2 in Quito...

2004 -- The Romanian No. 2 (behind Pavel) reached his first ATP SF in Scottsdale (l. to Kiefer) and won Rome Challenger title...Played in Davis Cup World Group 1st RD tie vs. Switzerland (d. Wawrinka in dead rubber)...Began clay court season with QF run in Estoril, defeating No. 6 Schuettler in 1st RD to claim first career Top 10 win...Also reached QF in St. Poelten, Nottingham and Bucharest...Played in Athens Olympics (l. to Arthurs in 1st RD)...

2005 -- Finished as No. 1 Romanian with his first Top 50 year-end ranking and Grand Slam-best QF result at Roland Garros (d. Nalbandian in 4th RD, l. to Federer)...Also won a career-high 26 matches...Reached SF in New Haven (l. to eventual champion Blake) and Bucharest and QF in Kitzbnhel and Sopot...In doubles, reached first career ATP final in Bucharest (w/Pavel)...

2006 -- Suffered torn ligaments in his stomach while serving on Feb. 11 in Davis Cup match vs. U.S. and later struggled with back problems....

2007 -- The No. 2 Romanian (behind Pavel) returned to ATP circuit after being sidelined with a stomach injury most of '06 season to finish in Top 100...Advanced to his first ATP final in his hometown and captured three Challenger titles while compiling a 30-10 record...Reached final in Milan (l. to Ventura) in June and won back-to-back titles in August in Timisoara (d. Ventura) and Graz (d. L. Mayer)... Following month, reached ATP final in Bucharest without dropping a set (l. to Simon)... Afterwards, climbed from No. 151 to No. 106...Then lifted his country to a 3-2 Davis Cup victory over Japan by winning fifth and decisive match against Go Soeda to lift Romania into '08 World Group...Returned home following week to win Bucharest Challenger title (d. Granollers).

2008 -- The top Romanian finished in Top 50 for second time in his career, highlighted by his first ATP title...Rebounded from a slow start (5-14) in first half of season before finishing with an 18-9 mark from July-on...After a 2nd RD loss at Wimbledon (l. to Berdych), returned to clay in Gstaad and beat No. 10 Wawrinka in SF and Andreev in final to capture first ATP title...Following week, advanced to SF in Kitzbuhel (l. to del Potro) and won first ATP doubles title (w/Cerretani)...In September, won both of his singles matches vs. India to lead his country back into '09 Davis Cup World Group...Closed season with SF in St. Petersburg (l. to Golubev) and runner-up at Dnepropetrovsk Challenger (l. to Santoro)...Went 1-3 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled a 12-6 mark on clay and 10-15 on hard...Earned a career-high $491,447.

2009

The No. 1 Romanian broke in Top 30 during July highlighted by reaching singles and doubles finals in Stuttgart...Lost in three sets to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy and was runner-up (w/Tecau)...Also QF in Doha (l. to Roddick), Casablanca (l. to Ferrero), Kitzbuehel (l. to Garcia-Lopez) and Hamburg (l. to Davydenko)... Played well in Grand Slams, reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros (l. to F. Gonzalez) and the third round Wimbledon (l. to Simon).