Kevin Anderson is a male South African tennis player.
He became the top-ranked South African player on 10 March 2008 after making the final at
the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas.
He first achieved his career-high ranking of World No. 17 in July 2014.
On 6 February 2011, he defeated Somdev Devvarman, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2, in his hometown of Johannesburg
to capture the South African Open title for his first ATP-level event title.
Anderson has represented South Africa in both Davis Cup play and in the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing.
Collegiate career Anderson played three seasons of college tennis
in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles.
During his sophomore year, he won the national doubles championship with his partner, Ryan
Rowe.
The following season, he led the Illini team to a national runner-up finish before again
reaching the national championship match in doubles with Ryan Rowe and reaching the semifinals
in singles.
During the summer of 2007, Anderson decided to forgo his senior season at Illinois to
pursue his professional tennis career full-time.
Professional career highlights 2003-2007
At age 17, Anderson entered his first professional tournament, a Satellite in South Africa, winning
four main-draw matches in the four-week tournament to earn a world ranking of no.
1178 from his only tournament of the year.
He also finished the year with a doubles ranking of no.
902.
In November, Anderson entered his third pro tournament and won the Botswana F1 to push
his ranking to no.
769.
He followed that up the next two weeks in South Africa, reaching the final in F1 and
the semifinals in F2 to finish the year ranked no.
665 in singles from just 3 tournaments.
At age 19, Anderson continued to play at the Futures level, exclusively in the United States,
reaching the semifinals of USA F21 in August.
In November, he played his first Challenger event in Champaign, qualifying and beating
no.
192 Jan-Michael Gambill in the first round.
He finished the year ranked no.
766.
In 2005, Anderson played his first pro tournaments of the year in June, again in the United States,
reaching the finals of USA F13 and F21.
He returned to Champaign again in November, beating no.
107 Kevin Kim to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal.
He finished the year ranked no.
517.
In doubles, he won a pair of USA Futures back to back in June and finished the year ranked
no.
530.
In 2006, Anderson again waited until June to play his first tournaments.
He repeated as a finalist in USA F12, and then won USA F13 before qualifying two weeks
later in the Winnetka Challenger and reaching the final to push his ranking to no.
310.
He recorded his first win over a top-100 opponent in the qualifying for the ATP tournament in
New Haven, beating no.
88 Chris Guccione, before losing in the main draw to no.
41 Arnaud Clément.
Anderson's most interesting result in 2007 was in September in the Challenger in New
Orleans.
He needed to qualify to make the main draw in both singles and doubles, and won all 13
matches that week to take the singles and doubles titles, beating four top-200 singles
players and the top three seeded doubles teams.
His Challenger success in New Orleans helped him to career-high rankings at the end of
2007 of no.
221 in singles and no.
398 in doubles. 2008
Anderson began 2008 with a bit of success, reaching the quarters of the Challenger in
New Caledonia before qualifying in his first Grand Slam attempt in Australia.
He lost in the main draw first round to #84 Alejandro Falla in 5 sets, but his efforts
got his ranking to a career high of #190.
At the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas, as a qualifier, he managed to defeat sixth
seed Michaël Llodra in straight sets, 6–2, 7–6.
In the second round he beat giant John Isner 7–6, 7–5.
He beat Evgeny Korolev in his first ever ATP quarter-final 6–2, 6–0.
In the semi-finals he won in straight sets against Robby Ginepri to reach his first ever
ATP tour final.
In the final, he fell to Sam Querrey in 3 sets.
In the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, he beat Novak Djokovic
7–6, 3–6, 6–4 for his first ever win against a top 10 player.
At Wimbledon, Anderson and partner Robert Lindstedt of Sweden reached the quarter-finals
before losing to the eventual tournament champions, Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić.
Anderson also represented South Africa in the Beijing Olympics, defeating Komlavi Loglo
before losing to Nicolas Kiefer 4–6, 7–6, 4–6 in the singles tournament and losing
to Nicolás Almagro and David Ferrer of Spain 6–3, 3–6, 4–6.
2009 After a slow start to the year, he won the
San Remo, Italy Challenger in May, beating Blaž Kavčič in the final in three sets.
At the Aegon Championships, Anderson won three matches to qualify, and then defeated no.
57 Fabio Fognini in the first round of the main draw, before losing to no.
46 Sam Querrey in the second round.
2010 At Wimbledon, he was narrowly defeated by
No. 7 seed Nikolay Davydenko after winning the first two sets, 6–3, 7–6, 6–7, 5–7,
7–9.
Anderson advanced to the semifinals of the 2010 Atlanta Tennis Championships in July,
upsetting 5th seeded Janko Tipsarević in the first round.
He qualified and reached the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, beating Leonardo
Mayer and Sam Querrey before losing to #1 ranked Rafael Nadal.
He then won his first Grand Slam match at the US Open over Somdev Devvarman in straight
sets, and backed it up with a five set win over th 26th seed Thomaz Bellucci.
2011 He began the 2011 season by advancing to the
semifinals of the Brisbane International Tournament before losing to Andy Roddick in three sets,
2–6, 6–4, 2–6.
He then went on to lose in the 1st round of the Australian Open to Blaž Kavčič.
On 6 February 2011, at the SA Open,, he went on to claim his maiden ATP Tour title, by
beating Indian Somdev Devvarman 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 elevating him 19 positions in the ATP
rankings to a career high of #40.
On 4 April 2011, he reached a career high of World No. 33 after making the quarterfinals
of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open.
At the Atlanta Tennis Championships, Anderson reached the quarter finals as the 2nd seed,
defeating Michael Russell before losing in straight sets to Gilles Müller.
Next at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Anderson defeated Chris Guccione in the second round
before being defeated by Victor Troicki 3–6, 3–6 in the third round.
At the 2011 Rogers Cup, he defeated Andújar in straight sets before shocking an out-of-sorts
Andy Murray in the second round, easily winning 6–3, 6–1.
He was defeated in the third round by Stanislas Wawrinka 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 in a tight contest.
2012 Anderson opened up 2012 with a third-round
loss at the 2012 Australian Open.
He followed it up with a win in Delray Beach, defeating qualifier Marinko Matosevic in the
final.
At the French Open, he reached a career best third round, where he was defeated by seventh
seed Tomáš Berdych after winning the second and third sets.
2013 Anderson started the year at the Sydney International,
where he reached the final but lost to Australian Bernard Tomic in three sets.
At the 2013 Australian Open, he defeated Fernando Verdasco, 4–6, 6–3, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2,
in the third round but lost to Tomáš Berdych in the fourth round, 3–6, 2–6, 6–7.
This was his career-best in any Grand Slam event.
He played at Indian Wells, where he knocked out fourth seed David Ferrer.
He reached the quarterfinals there, before losing to Tomáš Berdych.
He reached the fourth round of the French Open, before falling to Ferrer in straight
sets.
At Wimbledon, he lost in the third round to Berdych.
He reached the final in Atlanta in July, but lost his third final of the year in three
tiebreaks to John Isner. 2014
Anderson started the year by reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open, before
being knocked out in straight sets by Tomáš Berdych.
He then reached the final at Delray Beach, before losing to Marin Čilić in two tiebreaks.
At the Mexican Open held in Acapulco, he again reached the final, losing to Grigor Dimitrov
in three sets, with tiebreaks in the first and third sets.
In the Indian Wells Masters, he reached the quarterfinals, after beating third seed Stan
Wawrinka in a hard-fought upset in three sets.
He lost to Roger Federer in straight sets.
At the 2014 Madrid Open, he beat Radek Štěpánek, before losing to Tomáš Berdych.
He repeated his success of 2013 by again reaching the fourth round in the French Open, before
losing to fifth seed David Ferrer in four sets.
He then reached the quarterfinals of the AEGON Championships held at the Queen's Club, London,
before losing to Radek Štěpánek.
Anderson made it to the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 event in Toronto, but had a disappointing
first-round, straight-set exit in Cincinnati at the hands of John Isner.
Equipment Kevin currently wears Lotto and uses Srixon
for his rackets.
His racket of choice is the Srixon 2.0 tour.
Personal Anderson started playing tennis at age 6 and
was competitive in 800m races at school.
Anderson is in the midst of applying for United States permanent residency status.
Anderson married his college girlfriend, golfer Kelsey O'Neal, in 2011.
ATP career finals Singles: 8
Doubles: 3 Singles performance timeline
Key Won tournament; or reached Final; Semifinal;
Quarter-final; Round 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a Round Robin stage; lost in Qualification
Round; absent from tournament event; played in a Davis Cup Zonal Group or Play-off; won
a bronze, silver or gold medal at the Olympics; a downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament;
or a tournament that was Not Held in a given year.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion
of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.
Current till 2014 Wimbledon Championships.
Men's doubles performance timeline Top-10 wins per season
Wins over top-10 players per season Ranking
References
External links Kevin Anderson at the Association of Tennis
Professionals Anderson Recent Match Results
Anderson World Ranking History Anderson College Profile