Filip Krajinović


Filip Krajinović is a Serbian professional tennis player who achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26 on 23 April 2018. He made his ATP World Tour debut at the 2009 Serbia Open, losing in the first round. His best individual result has been a Masters 1000 final. He played a Davis Cup semifinal with the Serbian national team. He holds ATP main-draw victories over former or current top-10 players such as Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev, Tomáš Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Fernando Verdasco, David Goffin, Marcos Baghdatis, John Isner, Fabio Fognini and Pablo Carreño Busta and has a victory in a Masters qualifying round over former top-5 player Gastón Gaudio.

Career

Junior career

Krajinović started playing tennis in local tennis clinic TK Žak. In 2006, he reached the fourth round of 2006 Orange Bowl, losing to Bernard Tomic. Soon after, in 2007, he signed a contract with prestigious Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The same year, Krajinović won four junior singles titles — Pančevo, Atlanta, Texas, and Boca Raton.
In 2008, Krajinović won a junior title in Loverval. He reached the third round of 2008 French Open, losing to Evgeny Donskoy. At the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, he reached his first junior Grand Slam semifinal, losing to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets. Krajinović also lost to Devin Britton in the semifinals of 2008 US Open.
Throughout his junior career, Krajinović compiled a singles win/loss record of 54–9, reaching as high as No. 6 in the junior combined world rankings in February 2009.

Professional career

2008–09: Early Career

Krajinović made his professional debut at the Futures event in 2008 at Miami Beach, Florida, but lost in the first round. He played at several more Futures and Challengers, his best result being the semifinals in Knoxville, Tennessee, when he retired from his semifinals match against Bobby Reynolds due to a foot injury. In Knoxville, he had a large group of supporters, mostly Serbian students attending the University of Tennessee.
In February 2009, Krajinović played qualifications for SAP Open, but lost to Somdev Devvarman in the first round. In March Krajinović was invited by Serbia Davis Cup team captain Bogdan Obradović to be with the team for their 2009 Davis Cup World Group first round tie against Spain, but didn't play in an official match. In April he reached the quarterfinals of 2009 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships qualifications in Houston, Texas, losing in straight sets to Michael Russell. Krajinović received a wild card into the Serbia Open main draw, losing to Marcel Granollers in three sets in the first round. In the summer, he reached the finals of three events — Futures in Chico, California and Rochester, New York, and a Challenger in San Sebastián.

2010: Breaking the top 200

In February 2010, he took part in Challenger tournament GEMAX Open in Belgrade, defeating Somdev Devvarman in the first round but losing to Alex Bogdanovic. Krajinović played the qualifications for the BNP Paribas Open. He defeated former French Open champion Gastón Gaudio in three sets in the first round, but then lost to Tim Smyczek in the second. During the tournament, Krajinović practiced along with world No. 1 player Roger Federer. Upon losing to Harel Levy in the second round of Challenger in Sunrise qualifying, he was awarded with a wild card for Sony Ericsson Open main draw, where he lost to former world No. 4 player James Blake in three sets in the first round. Krajinović then earned a wild card for 2010 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, where he lost to Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round. Receiving a wild card for 2010 Serbia Open, Krajinović collected his first ATP World Tour victory over Evgeny Donskoy. He then defeated Horacio Zeballos in the second round and won the first set against the first seed and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals when Djokovic retired. Krajinović lost to the third seed and eventual tournament winner Sam Querrey in the semifinals. He then joined Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimonjić in the team of Serbia at the World Team Cup in Düsseldorf, Germany. Krajinović also made the second Challenger final of his career in Kosice, Slovakia.

2011: Injury

He missed first four months of 2011 due to a shoulder injury from previous year. He returned to tour for four tournaments during May and June; however, on 14 July, Krajinović took the option of having an operation to fix the persistent injury.

2012: Return to Futures circuit, Grand Slam debut

Starting from scratch with a ranking of 1403, Krajinović returned to the ITF Futures circuit and to the ATP Challenger Tour. In May, he made his Roland Garros debut, defeating three opponents, all of whom were ranked several hundred places above him, in the qualifying round and returning to the top 500 in the process. In November, he began training at Piatti Tennis Team camp where he was coached by Riccardo Piatti and Ivan Ljubičić among others.

2013: Continued rise

He was runner-up at four Futures tournaments and finished the year ranked 226.

2014: Breaking the top 100

Krajinović won his first professional title on 6 April 2014 at the ITF tournament in Harlingen. He followed that up with another Futures title and his first Challenger final, in which he lost to Nick Kyrgios. Later that year, he won two Challenger titles on Italian clay courts, qualified for the US Open main draw, and entered the top 100.

2015–16: Davis Cup quarterfinals

Krajinović earned his first direct-entry into the main draw of a major at the 2015 Australian Open; his first win at a major came at the US Open to Alejandro Gonzalez, before losing to David Ferrer in the second round. In both 2015 and 2016, Krajinović's efforts contributed to the Serbian team finishing two consecutive years in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. In 2016, he once again spent several months sidelined with injury, first in May and June, then ending his season in early September; as a result, he dropped out of the top 200.

2017: Masters final and Davis Cup semifinal

In 2017, he won five Challenger Tour titles, all on clay: the Neckar Cup, Marburg Open, Thindown Challenger Biella, BFD Energy Challenger in Rome, and the Almaty Challenger. Krajinović broke into the top 75, after reaching the second round of Moscow as a qualifier. He made an unexpected late-season run at the Paris Masters, qualifying for only his second ATP main draw of the year. After defeating Yūichi Sugita, Sam Querrey and Nicolas Mahut, his quarterfinal opponent, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, withdrew from their match due to injury. He then beat John Isner to reach the final, becoming the first qualifier to reach the final at Masters level since Jerzy Janowicz in 2012 and the lowest ranked player to compete in a Masters 1000 final since world No. 98 Mardy Fish in Indian Wells in 2008. He lost to Jack Sock, but as the runner-up reached a then career-high ranking of world No. 33.

2018: Top 30 and injuries

After an early exit in Qatar and missing the Australian Open due to injury, he found solid form making the final 16 in Rotterdam, losing a tight match to world No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov and a quarterfinal appearance at the Open 13. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, he made his first ATP 500 semifinal allowing him to reach the top 30. In Indian Wells, he ran into world No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round, losing in straight sets. He achieved a career-high No. 26 in ATP rankings on 23 April. He did not compete at the French Open and his season was shortened to seven tournaments in the opening seven months of season due to left foot, left ankle and hand injuries. In August, he retired in US Open first round due to cramps while trailing Matthew Ebden 4–1 in the fifth set.

2019: Two finals and return to top 40

At the Australian Open, he defeated world No. 18 and French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato in five sets to earn his first Grand Slam match victory since 2015. He assisted Serbia to qualify for the Davis Cup Finals in November. In Indian Wells, he defeated David Goffin and Daniil Medvedev before losing to Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. In Miami he defeated three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka before losing to Roger Federer in the third round.

2020

In February Krajinović reached the semifinals of the Rotterdam Open after besting the tournament's 7th seed Russia's Andrey Rublev in straight sets in the quarterfinals.  He then lost in straight sets to the tournament's eventual champion, Gaël Monfils of France, in the semis.

Playing style and endorsements

With hard court as his favourite and double-handed backhand as a favourite shot, Krajinović is often compared to Andre Agassi, for which was named Agassi of Sombor. In a 2008 article published by The Independent, Nick Bollettieri himself compared him to younger Agassi.
After signing a contract with prestigious Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Krajinović also signed a sponsorship deal with Nike. In 2009, he signed with Wilson Sporting Goods. He is currently managed by Olivier van Lindonk of IMG and coached by Petar Popovic.

Personal life

Krajinović was born on 27 February 1992 to Vera and Stjepan Krajinović in Sombor, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia. He has a brother Damir and sister Katarina, and started playing tennis at age five. Currently he is sponsored by Lacoste.

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships.
1 2008: ATP ranking–901, tournaments–0, win/loss 0–0.

Doubles

12010: ATP Ranking–743, Tournaments–0, Win–Loss 1–0.
2013: ATP Ranking–1266, Tournaments–0, Win–Loss 0–0.

Significant finals

ATP Masters 1000 finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12017 Rolex Paris Masters – Singles|Paris Masters, FranceMasters 1000Hard Jack Sock7–5, 4–6, 1–6
Loss0–22019 Hungarian Open – Singles|Hungarian Open Budapest, Hungary250 SeriesClay Matteo Berrettini6–4, 3–6, 1–6
Loss0–32019 Stockholm Open – Singles|Stockholm Open, Sweden250 SeriesHard Denis Shapovalov4–6, 4–6

ATP Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 25 (12 titles, 13 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1ITF Chico, USA F14FuturesHard Ryan Harrison3–6, 4–6
Loss0–2ITF Rochester, USA F15FuturesClay Vasilis Mazarakis2–6, 0–6
Loss0–32009 Concurso Internacional de Tenis – San Sebastián – Singles|San Sebastián International, SpainChallengerClay Thiemo de Bakker2–6, 3–6
Loss0–42010 Košice Open – Singles|Košice Open, SlovakiaChallengerClay Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo3–6, 2–6
Loss0–5ITF Bytom, Poland F5FuturesClay Blaž Rolaw/o
Loss0–6ITF Agadir, Morocco F4FuturesClay Lamine Ouahab1–6, 6–7
Loss0–7ITF Taroudant. Morocco F5FuturesClay Lamine Ouahab7–6, 4–6, 1–6
Loss0–8ITF Budapest, Hungary F2FuturesClay Piotr Gadomski4–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win1–8ITF Harlingen, USA F10FuturesHard Daniel Smethurst6–2, 6–4
Win2–8ITF Little Rock, USA F11FuturesHard Daniel Smethurst6–1, 7–6
Loss2–92014 Sarasota Open – Singles|Sarasota Open, United StatesChallengerClay Nick Kyrgios6–7, 4–6
Win3–92014 Internazionali di Tennis Città di Vicenza – Singles|Vicenza International, ItalyChallengerClay Norbert Gombos6–4, 6–4
Win4–92014 International Tennis Tournament of Cortina – Singles|Cortina International, ItalyChallengerClay Federico Gaio2–6, 7–6, 7–5
Win5–92015 Sparkassen Open – Singles|Sparkassen Open, GermanyChallengerClay Paul-Henri Mathieu6–2, 6–4
Win6–92015 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Singles|Cordenons International, ItalyChallengerClay Adrian Ungur5–7, 6–4, 4–1 ret.
Loss6–102015 BFD Energy Challenger – Singles|Rome Challenger, ItalyChallengerClay Federico Delbonis6–1, 3–6, 4–6
Loss6–112016 Garden Open – Singles|Garden Open, ItalyChallengerClay Kyle Edmund6–7, 0–6
Loss6–122016 Antonio Savoldi–Marco Cò – Trofeo Dimmidisì – Singles|Manerbio International, ItalyChallengerClay Leonardo Mayer6–7, 5–7
Win7–122017 Heilbronner Neckarcup – Singles|Heilbronn Neckarcup, GermanyChallengerClay Norbert Gombos6–3, 6–2
Win8–122017 Marburg Open – Singles|Marburg Open, GermanyChallengerClay Cedrik-Marcel Stebe6–2, 6–3
Win9–122017 Thindown Challenger Biella – Singles|Biella Challenger, ItalyChallengerClay Salvatore Caruso6–3, 6–2
Win10–122017 BFD Energy Challenger – Singles|Rome Challenger, ItalyChallengerClay Daniel Gimeno Traver6–4, 6–3
Win11–122017 Almaty Challenger – Singles|Almaty Challenger, KazakhstanChallengerClay Laslo Đere6–0, 6–3
Loss11–132019 Verrazzano Open – Singles|Verrazzano Open, FranceChallengerClay Dustin Brown3–6, 5–7
Win12–132019 Heilbronner Neckarcup – Singles|Heilbronn Neckarcup, GermanyChallengerClay Arthur de Greef6–3, 6–1

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–02015 Tennis Napoli Cup – Doubles|Napoli Cup, ItalyChallengerClay Ilija Bozoljac Nikoloz Basilashvili
Aliaksandr Bury		6–1, 6–2

Record against other players

Record against top-10 players

Including ATP World Tour main draw and qualifying, Grand Slam, Davis Cup, Challenger and Futures matches

Record against top-20 players

Top 10 wins

Krajinovic has a 1–13 record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
Season200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019Total
Wins0010000000001