Izak van der Merwe’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro South African tennis player
Is Athlete 
Tennis player 
From South Africa 
Type Sports 
Gender male
Birth 26 January 1984, Johannesburg, South Africa
Age: 36 years
Star sign Aquarius
Residence Stellenbosch, South Africa
Stats
Height: 196 cm
Weight: 88 kg
Education
Old Dominion University

Izak van der Merwe (born 26 January 1984) is a male South African tennis player.

Van der Merwe has a career high ATP singles ranking of 113 achieved on 1 August 2011.

Van der Merwe has represented South Africa at the Davis Cup.

He says he tried to base his play on the former Wimbledon champion, Pete Sampras.
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Tennis Career Highlights

2005-2007: Career Beginnings

Van der Merwe turned pro in 2005 and ended the year with a single ranking of 721. During this time Van der Merwe mainly played in the ITF Futures tour. In October 2005, Van der Merwe won his first ITF Futures single title in Zimbabwe F1.

In 2006 Van der Merwe reached 5 ITF Futures tour single finals, winning 1. In 2007 Van der Merwe won 3 ITF Futures tour titles.

2008: 1st Grand Slam Entry

In June 2008, van der Merwe qualified into the 2008 Wimbledon main draw, beating World No. 177 Miguel Ángel López Jaén, World No. 126 Kristian Pless, and World No. 246 Frédéric Niemeyer. He would then go on to lose to Guillermo García-López 7–5, 6–2, 6–2.

In August 2008 Van der Merwe also reached his first Challenger tour final at the
Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, where he lost to Brian Dabul.

2010: 1st ATP Challenger Title

In August 2010 Van der Merwe won his maiden ATP Challenger title at the
Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, when he defeated world number 88 Ricardo Mello.

2011: Second and Third ATP Challenger Titles

In February Van der Merwe reached his first main draw Semi-Finals on the ATP World Tour, when he reached the Semi-Finals of the SA Tennis Open (ATP 250 Event) in Johannesburg, South Africa. He went on to lose to world number 110 Somdev Devvarman.

In April Van der Merwe won his second ATP Challenger title at the Soweto Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, when he defeated countryman and world number 184 Rik De Voest. In November Van der Merwe won his third ATP Challenger title at the
Charlottesville Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, when he defeated world number 283 Jesse Levine.

2012

In July he reached the Quarter-Finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (ATP 250 event) in Newport, RI, U.S.A. .

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 17 (8 titles-9 runner-ups)

Titles by Surface
Legend (Singles)
ATP Challenger Tour (3-5)
ITF Futures (5–4)
Titles by Surface
Hard (8-16)
Clay (0-1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ATP Challenger Tour (3-5)
ITF Futures (5–4)
Hard (8-16)
Clay (0-1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Winner 1. 23 October 2005 Zimbabwe F1, Zimbabwe Hard Andrew Anderson 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Runner-up 2. 21 May 2006 USA F11, Tampa Clay Robert Yim 6-3, 4-6, 4-6
Runner-up 3. 2 July 2006 Thailand F3, Bangkok Hard Takahiro Terachi 7-6, 1-6, 4-6
Runner-up 4. 8 October 2006 USA F25, CA, U.S.A Hard Brian Wilson 7-6, 2-6, 4-6
Winner 5. 22 October 2006 USA F26, TX, U.S.A Hard Michael McClune 7-6, 6-4
Runner-up 6. 29 October 2006 USA F27, LA, U.S.A Hard Dudi Sela 7-5, 4-6, 3-6
Winner 7. 15 April 2007 USA F7, AL, U.S.A Hard Ryler DeHeart 6-1, 6-4
Winner 8. 22 July 2007 USA F18, MO, U.S.A Hard Andrey Kumantsov 6-3, 6-4
Winner 9. 28 October 2007 USA F27, LA, U.S.A Hard Carsten Ball 6-2, 7-6
Runner-up 10. 10 August 2008 Campos do Jordão, Brazil Hard Brian Dabul 5-7, 7–6, 3-6
Runner-up 11. 24 May 2009 Cremona, Italy Hard Benjamin Becker 5-7, 1-6
Runner-up 12. 18 April 2010 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Dustin Brown 6-7, 3-6
Winner 13. 8 August 2010 Campos do Jordão, Brazil Hard Ricardo Mello 7–6, 6–3
Runner-up 14. 15 August 2010 Brasilia, Brazil Hard Tatsuma Ito 4-6, 4-6
Winner 15. 17 April 2011 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Rik de Voest 6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Runner-up 16. 7 August 2011 Campos do Jordão, Brazil Hard Rogerio Dutra Silva 4-6, 7–6, 3-6
Winner 17. 6 November 2011 Charlottesville, United States Hard Jesse Levine 4–6, 6–3, 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (P) postponed; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

Current till 2013 US Open.

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A Q2 Q3 Q1 Q1 0-0
French Open A A A A Q2 Q1 A 0-0
Wimbledon A R1 Q1 Q1 Q1 Q3 A 0-0
US Open A Q1 Q2 Q1 Q1 Q1 A 0-0
Win–Loss 0–0 0-1 0-0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1
Career statistics
Titles–Finals
Year-End Ranking 269 304 272 174 113 214 1109

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