Eric Butorac


Eric Butorac, nicknamed Booty, is an American retired professional tennis player. He was a doubles specialist, and for a period of approximately six years was the No. 3 ranked American doubles player. His best result was reaching the 2014 Australian Open finals with partner Raven Klaasen. Their run to the final included a victory over the ATP number 1 ranked doubles players|World No. 1] team of Bob and Mike Bryan.
He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where he played on the men's tennis team for one year before transferring to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he graduated in 2003.

Early life

Butorac is of Croatian descent. Butorac's parents, Jan and Tim Butorac, are directors of the Rochester Tennis Connection in Rochester, Minnesota. His brother, Jeff, is a basketball coach at Century High School. Tim Butorac is a USPTA professional, teaching tennis at the Rochester Indoor Tennis Club during the winter and at the Kutzky/Rochester Outdoor Tennis Center during the summer months.

Career

College career

Eric Butorac played at Ball State University for one year before transferring to Gustavus Adolphus College. He has a long history with Gustavus: his father played for coach Steve Wilkinson, and, at age five, Eric attended tennis camp with Wilkinson. He closed out his senior season of 2003 by winning both the NCAA Division III singles and doubles championships, with Kevin Whipple as his partner.

Professional career

In July 2006, Butorac and Jamie Murray reached their first ATP Tour doubles final, in Los Angeles, losing in straight sets to the Bryan brothers, who were the world's top-ranked doubles team.
In early February 2007, the US-Scots pair claimed their first doubles title in a Challenger event in Dallas, and a week later they won their first ATP title at the SAP Open. They continued their winning run the following week when the unseeded pair defeated second seeds Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer, 7–5, 6–3, to capture the doubles title of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis.
In April, May, and June 2009, Butorac and American Scott Lipsky won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, the Estoril Open in Portugal, and a tournament in Nottingham, England.
In 2010, Butorac paired with Rajeev Ram to make the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He also won titles in Chennai, Tokyo and Stockholm. He was on the 2010 roster of the Boston Lobsters in the World Team Tennis pro league.
In 2011, Butorac had his best season reaching a career-high ranking of no. 17, and finishing as the no. 9 team in the world with partner Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands. They won three titles and made the semifinals of the Australian Open.
In 2012, Butorac made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and won the doubles title in São Paulo.
In 2013, Butorac made it to the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and won the doubles title in Kuala Lumpur with Raven Klaasen.
In 2014, Butorac started his year with reaching the final of the Australian Open. He then went on to win titles in Memphis and Stockholm. All of these were with partner Raven Klaasen.

Off court

Butorac was elected to the ATP Player Council in 2008. He became vice president starting in 2012, then was elected president in 2014, succeeding Roger Federer. He was later succeeded as president by Novak Djokovic on August 30, 2016.
In 2022, Butorac served as tournament director of the Cincinnati Open. In November 2025, he was announced as the US Open's new tournament director, replacing Stacey Allaster.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 29 (18 titles, 11 runners-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1[2006 Countrywide Classic – Doubles|]Los Angeles Open, United StatesInternationalHard

Doubles performance timeline

Current till 2016 US Open.