Sam Querrey


Samuel Austin Querrey is an American former pickleball player and former tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve, Querrey holds the record for consecutive service aces in a match with 10. He was also a capable doubles player, with five ATP doubles titles and a career-high doubles ranking of No. 23 achieved on May 17, 2010. His best performance in a Grand Slam singles event was at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the semifinals after defeating world No. 1 Andy Murray in the quarterfinals to become the first American man to reach the last four of a Grand Slam in eight years. At the same tournament the previous year, he defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the quarterfinals, ending his Grand Slam win streak of 4 in a row. Other career highlights for Querrey include defeating former world number one Rafael Nadal in the Acapulco final of 2017, reaching the quarterfinals at the 2017 US Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, and, in the 2015 US Open, reaching the mixed doubles final with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the men's doubles semifinals with Steve Johnson. He also reached the semifinals of the Davis Cup three times with the United States team, in 2008, 2012, and 2018.

Early life

Querrey was born in San Francisco and attended Thousand Oaks High School, graduating in 2006. Querrey turned down a scholarship offer from the University of Southern California to turn pro. His father Mike Querrey recommended that his son try making it in tennis, as he often regretted his own decision to attend the University of Arizona rather than play baseball for the Detroit Tigers, who had drafted him. Querrey said that going pro was "one of the toughest decisions of my life. I'd play a match and want to go pro. I'd lose and want to go to college."

Career

2006: Grand Slam debut and first win

On June 11, 2006, Querrey became the first player to win a challenger event in his pro debut. He won in the Yuba City and Winnetka challengers. He won his first-round match at the Indian Wells Masters tournament over Bobby Reynolds, before falling to James Blake in three sets. He defeated American Vince Spadea at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles. At the 2006 US Open, Querrey received a wildcard and defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets, before falling to Gastón Gaudio in the second round.

2007: Australian Open third round, top 50 debut

At the 2007 Australian Open, he advanced to the third round. He defeated José Acasuso, the 27th seed, in the first round. In the second round, he defeated Frenchman Florent Serra in straight sets, but in the third round lost to 7th seed Tommy Robredo in four sets.
At the 2007 Indianapolis Tennis Championships, he hit 10 consecutive aces when he defeated James Blake in the quarterfinals. This is believed to be an Open Era record.
At the 2007 Western & Southern Open, he defeated thirteenth seed Mikhail Youzhny and advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating Argentina's Juan Mónaco, who had defeated Rafael Nadal in the previous round. He lost to No. 9 seed James Blake, but made his top 50 debut at No. 47 afterwards. At this time, Querrey was the third-ranked American behind Andy Roddick and Blake.
In August 2007 at the US Open, Austrian Stefan Koubek defeated Querrey in the first round.

2008: First ATP World Tour title

In January 2008 at the Australian Open, Querrey defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus in the first round. In the second round, he then beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov. He lost in the third round to the eventual champion, Serbian Novak Djokovic.
In March, Querrey won his first ATP level tournament at the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. In the final, Querrey defeated qualifier Kevin Anderson of South Africa in three sets. The next month, at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Querrey reached the quarterfinals, defeating former French Open champion Carlos Moyá, Andreas Seppi, and No. 7 seeded Richard Gasquet.
Querrey played tennis for the US at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008. He advanced to the fourth round of the US Open by defeating 14th seed Ivo Karlović of Croatia, where he was defeated in four sets by world No. 1 Rafael Nadal.
Querrey was tapped to play for the US in the Davis Cup semifinals against Spain as a replacement for James Blake, who had withdrawn citing exhaustion. In Querrey's first-ever Davis Cup match, he lost to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in four sets.

2009: Second ATP title

Querrey participated in the 2009 Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand in January, where he was the sixth seed. Querrey made it to the final, where he was defeated in straight sets by top-seed Juan Martín del Potro.
In the 2009 Australian Open, Querrey lost in his opening round to Philipp Kohlschreiber. In the SAP Open in San Jose, Querrey beat Cypriot wildcard Marcos Baghdatis in the opening match. Querrey then beat Denis Gremelmayr, in 52 minutes.
In the 2009 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, No. 3 seeded Querrey advanced to the final against compatriot and first-time finalist and lucky loser Rajeev Ram, who had entered the main draw when top seed Mardy Fish had to take Andy Roddick's place in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Querrey lost the match. Querrey was seeded No. 3 for the 2009 Indianapolis Tennis Championships, where he made his second final in as many tournaments. However, Querrey fell to unseeded American Robby Ginepri.
Querrey defeated No. 1 seeded Tommy Haas to advance to the final of the LA Tennis Open. He defeated qualifier Carsten Ball in the final for his only title of the year. Querrey next played at the ATP Tour 500 event in Washington, where he lost to top seed Andy Roddick, in the round of 16. He also played at the Cincinnati Masters losing in the third round to Lleyton Hewitt. By reaching the quarterfinals in New Haven, he won the 2009 US Open Series, qualifying for the accompanying bonus following the 2009 US Open. Querrey reached the final in New Haven, before losing to Fernando Verdasco. In the 2009 US Open, Querrey lost in the third round to Robin Söderling in four sets.
Querrey's year was ended prematurely by a potentially career-threatening accident in which a glass table he was sitting on collapsed, impaling his arm and requiring emergency surgery; the location of injury just missed causing nerve damage, which could have ended his tennis career. Querrey finished the year ranked a career-high No. 25, and as the No. 2 American behind Andy Roddick.

2010: First ATP 500 title

Although seeded at the Australian Open, Querrey lost in the first round to 2003 Australian Open finalist Rainer Schüttler. Querrey then reached the semifinals of the SAP Open, where he lost to Andy Roddick in singles.

2011: First masters doubles title

Querrey struggled with injury during this year. He reached the quarterfinals of two tournaments, both ATP 500 series. The first in Memphis in February, where he lost to Mardy Fish, and the second in Valencia, where he was beaten in straight sets by Juan Martín del Potro.
He was eliminated in the second round of the 2011 French Open by Ivan Ljubičić, and did not play at Wimbledon or the US Open, due to an elbow injury that required surgery.

2012: Seventh ATP title

Ar the Australian Open, Querrey made it to the second round, where he was defeated by Bernard Tomic in four sets.
Querrey reached the semifinals of the Aegon Championships, losing to Marin Čilić. Querrey progressed to the third round of Wimbledon, only to once again lose to Čilić. This was the second-longest match played in Wimbledon history, clocking in at 5 hours and 31 minutes, second only to the Isner-Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.
At the Farmers Classic, Querrey defeated Ričardas Berankis for his third Los Angeles title in four years. Querrey then went on to making the third round at the US Open, losing to Tomáš Berdych. At the BNP Paribas Masters, Querrey defeated Novak Djokovic in the second round.

2013: 200 career wins

Early in the year, Querrey made the semi-finals in Auckland and San Jose. He exited in the fourth round of Indian Wells and Miami, losing to Novak Djokovic and Tomáš Berdych, respectively.
In Davis Cup competition in Boise, he won his first rubber against Viktor Troicki, but lost the deciding rubber against Djokovic, despite the fact that Djokovic suffered an ankle injury early in the match.
Querrey was eliminated in the first round in Madrid, Rome, and Wimbledon. He did not have a good summer on the North American hard-court swing and consequently slipped out of the top 20, ceding his place as top American player to his friend John Isner.
The year was not very successful, since Querrey failed to make a single final for the first time since 2011.

2014: Australian Open third round, loss of form

Querrey also struggled early in 2014, being eliminated in the first round in Brisbane and Sydney. However, he made it to the third round of the Australian Open, defeating Santiago Giraldo and Ernests Gulbis, before succumbing to Fabio Fognini. He lost both of his ties in the Davis Cup against Great Britain in San Diego in January and was eliminated in the first round in Memphis and Delray Beach. He made it into the second round in Indian Wells and Miami, losing to Andreas Seppi and Nicolás Almagro, respectively. He had his best showing of the year thus far in Houston, where he made the semifinals of the clay-court event. However, there he again lost to Almagro.
Querrey failed to qualify in Rome and Nice, continuing his frustrating year. He also lost his first match in the second round in Nice to Albert Montañés. At the French Open, Sam defeated Filippo Volandri in the first round, but went down to Dmitry Tursunov in the second in straight sets. His form picked up at the Queen's Club grass tournament, where he defeated Jérémy Chardy and Denis Kudla in the first two rounds. He lost in the third round to eventual semifinalist Stanislas Wawrinka. Sam made it to the semifinals of the Aegon International in Eastbourne, England, but fell to eventual champion Feliciano López.