Alexander Donski
Alexander Donski is a Bulgarian professional tennis player competing on the ATP Challenger Tour and the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. Donski holds the second highest-ever ATP doubles ranking by a Bulgarian, achieving a career-high of world No. 120 on 1 December 2025 and a singles ranking of ATP No. 525 achieved on 11 April 2022. Only Grigor Dimitrov has achieved a higher ATP doubles ranking for a Bulgarian player, reaching No. 66.
In doubles, Donski has won 2 ATP Challenger titles and 22 ITF titles. Donski is an active member of the Bulgarian Davis Cup Team and is regularly deployed in doubles rubbers.
YouTube Channel
In late 2016, Donski began a YouTube channel called Operation Liftoff that documented his progress at Futures tournaments on the ITF Pro Circuit as well as showcased some of the challenges and routines of a professional tennis player's life on tour.The channel was made in close collaboration with his cousin, Lazar Dokov, who traveled with and competed alongside him in Southeastern Europe until October 2017.
As of January 2025, the channel has 40 videos, over 6,000 subscribers, and more than 800,000 views in total.
ITF Junior Career
Donski reached a career-high ITF junior ranking of No. 92 on 24 October 2016.The highlights of his activity in singles on the ITF Junior Tour include the following:
- Reaching the final round of qualifying at the 2016 Junior US Open
- Two finals at Grade 2 events in Bulgaria and the Netherlands '' respectively
- One Grade 5 title in Bulgaria
Overall, in international junior competition, Donski compiled a cumulative win/loss record of 68-47 in singles and 33-40 in doubles.
Professional career
Donski officially turned pro in 2017, however, as early as 2014, he played a limited number of Futures tournaments on the ITF Pro Circuit to gain experience alongside his main activity on the ITF Junior Tour. As an amateur, he qualified twice for the main draw of a Futures tournament, once in the Dominican Republic in late 2015 and a second time in Greece a year later.2017: First ATP Points
In 2017, Donski acquired his first two ATP singles points that elevated him to the year-end ranking of No. 1575. Both points came in the summer at two $15K events held in Istanbul, for which he successfully qualified. As a qualifier in the main draw, he defeated a Turkish lucky loser to win the first ATP point, and then in the next event defeated a fellow qualifier, also from Turkiye, to win the second. Donski positioned himself to play for ATP points on 6 other occasions that same year, however he was unable to secure further points.Some of the more notable opposition he faced in 2017 who barred him from acquiring additional ATP points included Hubert Hurkacz, Botic van de Zandschulp, and Tallon Griekspoor.
Most of his first season as a professional player was well documented on his YouTube channel.
2018: ATP 250 Wildcard, Uphill Battles
Donski made his ATP main draw debut at the 2018 Diema Xtra Sofia Open, receiving a wildcard into both the singles and doubles tournament after winning the Bulgarian Men's Indoor National Championships, defeating the then Bulgarian singles No.3, Aleksandar Lazov 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Donski was defeated in straight sets by Martin Klizan in the first round of the singles draw before also falling in the first round of the doubles draw.In 2018, Donski only saw limited progress on the singles front. Despite competing in the main draw of Futures events another 6 times, he accumulated only 3 ATP points that year. He was unable to advance further than the second round of the main draw of any given singles event. In doubles, he fared better and reached his first final partnering Vasil Kirkov in Sozopol and made two other semifinal runs. He finished the year ranked No. 1431 in singles and No.1061 in doubles.
2019: First Futures Titles in Singles and Doubles
In 2019, Donski made significant progress on the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour in both singles and doubles. In singles, he captured his first Futures title in October at an M15 event in Pretoria, defeating Arthur Cazaux 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in the final. Prior to that victory, he managed to reach three other finals earlier in the year at the M15 events in Sozopol, Telavi, and Johannesburg.In doubles, Donski reached five finals and converted on two occasions. He won his first title at an M15 in Telavi and then another in Pretoria later in the year, where he also won his first singles title. These strong showings in both singles and doubles afforded him the year-end ATP rankings of No.585 and No.429 respectively.
2020: Obstacles - Pandemic and ITF Adjustments
In 2020, along with many other players, Donski struggled to adapt to the challenges of traveling and competing at professional events under the changing realities and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. He dedicated a video on Operation Liftoff to describing his experience of the disruptions that emerged.In singles, out of a truncated schedule of just 10 events that year, including a Davis Cup match in Costa Rica, Donski won only 3 matches in total and never managed to pass the second round at any event. The most competitive singles match he played that year came in November at the second round of an M15 event in Antalya, where he clashed with recent ITF Junior No.1, Holger Rune. Rune defeated Donski 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles, Donski also found little success, making just a single semifinal appearance in October at an M15 event in Sharm El Sheikh.
Despite these setbacks, his year-end ATP ranking for singles did not change substantially, as two temporary special provisions across the tour were in place at the time. One was a freeze of ATP points won in 2019 to account for disruptions in the regular event calendar by the pandemic, while the other was related to ongoing experimental structural changes in the ranking system by the ITF. Donski's year-end doubles ranking, however, did drop by more than 240 spots to No.671 because of the timing of the acquisition of previous points.
2021: Rebuilding Momentum
Donski did not win any singles titles in 2021, however he did regain some of the form lost in the uncertainty of the previous year. He reached at least the quarterfinals of four separate events and advanced to the semifinals of two of those events, one in Monastir and the other in Sozopol.In late September 2021, Donski scored his first singles win at the ATP level at the 2021 Sofia Open, where he received another wild card for the singles qualifying draw. He pulled an upset win over eighth seed Jurij Rodionov 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 before losing in the final round to the Italian veteran, Andreas Seppi. He also played in the doubles competition at his home ATP tournament with Dimitar Kuzmanov, but the Bulgarian duo lost in a third set tiebreaker to eventual champions Jonny O'Mara and Ken Skupski. Cumulatively, however, these results could not prevent his singles ranking from dipping to ATP No. 659 by end of the year.
The Bulgarian fared better on the doubles scene and resumed building up his ranking during the 2021 season. Donski seized three more ITF titles, securing a victory at the M15 event in Sozopol with Billy Harris and following it up with triumphs at the M25 events in Saint-Dizier and Villers-lès-Nancy with Petros Tsitsipas. He also made it to the final of an M25 event in Říčany partnering Colin Sinclair, but the pair came up short. Donski finished the year ranked No. 505 in doubles.
2022: Second ITF Singles Title, Strong Season in Doubles
In late January 2022, Donski ended a two-year stretch of failing to reach the final of an ITF singles event, by winning four consecutive matches in the main draw of an M15 event in Monastir. He was only defeated in the championship round in three sets 0-6, 6-3, 5-7 by Laurent Lokoli of France. One month and a half later, however, Donski would return to Monastir to compete at another M15 event and this time would indeed emerge victorious, picking up only his second ever ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour singles title. He defeated another Frenchman, Terence Atmane, in the final round 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.Despite Donski’s surging form in singles in the beginning of the year, this momentum would not carry through the spring or the summer. It was not until October 2022 when he would once again string together multiple consecutive matches. He reached a further three semifinals in the M15 category before the year’s end. Ultimately, 2022 was actually a rather stagnant year in terms of singles rankings progress for Donski. His results only allowed him to improve his ranking to ATP No.628, only 31 spots higher than the year before.
In contrast to his performance in singles, Donski continued to push the front in doubles and reached new heights. In 2022, Donski reached six finals and, of those finals, captured four titles. Interestingly enough, Donski accomplished this with six different partners reinforcing his claim as a highly adaptable player in the game of doubles.
This versatility also manifested itself in a strong 6-3, 7-6 victory over the South African team of Raven Klaasen and Lleyton Cronje Davis Cup competition in September back in Bulgaria. In addition, Donski made good use of another wildcard at the ATP 250 event in Sofia by defeating the team of Fabrice Martin and Aisam Qureshi 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 alongside his countryman, Alexandar Lazarov. Donski and Lazarov were defeated in the next round by the top seeded team of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
This success catapulted him to a then career-high ATP doubles ranking of No.248, which he achieved in October 2022. His final year-end ranking, however, was slightly lower at No.259.