Jiří Veselý


Jiří Veselý is a Czech professional tennis player.

Tennis career

Juniors

In 2011, Veselý won the boys' singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Australian Luke Saville in straight sets. He also won the boys' doubles titles at the Australian Open, partnering Filip Horanský of Slovakia; they defeated Ben Wagland and Andrew Whittington of Australia in the final. The same year he reached the finals of the US Open singles and the Wimbledon doubles.
Veselý reached the No. 1 junior combined world ranking in January 2011, compiling a singles win/loss record of 125–45.

Pro tour

Veselý made his Davis Cup debut for Czech Republic in February 2013, and to date has nine singles titles on the ITF Futures circuit to his name and three Challengers.
Veselý qualified into the 2013 French Open for his first appearance into the main draw of a grand slam. Vesely was, at the time, the youngest player in the world's top 100 at 20 years and 3 months old. In 2014, Veselý reached the 3rd round of the BNP Paribas Open where he lost to Andy Murray in three sets.
Veselý won a match at the 2014 French Open, then the following month reached the third round of Wimbledon as a wildcard. He beat Gaël Monfils in five sets in the second round, before being defeated by fellow wildcard Nick Kyrgios in four sets. He also won his first doubles title at ATP World Tour in doubles with countryman František Čermák.
Veselý reached two singles finals at ATP World Tour, winning his first title at Auckland, after defeating Adrian Mannarino. He also reached 3rd round at US Open, after victory over Ivo Karlović.

2016: Two ATP top 10 wins

Veselý represented the Czech Republic at the 2016 Hopman Cup alongside Karolína Plíšková. He recorded a singles win over Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, however was defeated by Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine and Jack Sock of the United States.
At the Monte Carlo, he beat world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a stunning second-round upset. It was the first time Djokovic had lost at a Masters tournament prior to the final since the 2014 Shanghai Masters, and his earliest exit from any tournament in three years. However, he lost to Gaël Monfils in straights sets in the third round. Veselý made it to the third round of the 2016 Istanbul Open – Singles before losing to Grigor Dimitrov. At the Nice Open, he lost to Leonardo Mayer in the first round. Veselý made it to the second round of the 2016 French Open by beating Rajeev Ram in the first round. He lost to Nicolás Almagro.
Veselý started his grass court season at 2016 Aegon Championships by losing to Kevin Anderson in qualifying, but earned the Lucky Loser spot. He beat Jérémy Chardy in the first round before falling to Milos Raonic in the second round. He next competed at the 2016 Nottingham Open. He beat Horacio Zeballos, but lost to 8th seeded Gilles Müller in the second. At the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, Jiří pushed through 3 consecutive tie-broken sets, besting world No. 8 Dominic Thiem, to move through to the third round. It was his second top 10 win of his career after beating Novak Djokovic earlier in the season. He defeated the 31st seed João Sousa in the third round. Jiří lost to fellow countryman Tomáš Berdych in a hard-fought five set match.
Veselý next competed at the 2016 Davis Cup representing his country. He lost both of his matches to the French.
Jiří was seeded 8th at the 2016 Croatia Open. In the first round, he won in straight sets, but was forced to retire in the second round against Carlos Berlocq due to injury. He next competed at the 2016 Western & Southern Open where he lost in the first round to Marcel Granollers. The 2016 Winston-Salem Open proved dreadful for him as he was forced to retire again during his match in the third round to Andrey Kuznetsov. He was able to Compete at the 2016 US Open. He beat Saketh Myneni in the first round and set up a rematch of Monte Carlo with world number one Novak Djokovic. However, Veselý pulled out before the match was set to begin because of a left arm injury.
His first tournament since the US Open was the 2016 Shenzhen Open, where he was seeded 8th. He won his first two matches in straight sets, but lost to his idol and countryman Tomáš Berdych in three sets. He finished his season by competing at the 2016 Japan Open. Jiří won his first round match against Kevin Anderson in three sets before losing to David Goffin in the second round.

2020: First singles title since 2015

Veselý started off his year by playing challenger tours, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2020 Bangkok Challenger II, before losing to eventual champion Federico Gaio in straight sets. He then entered the main draw in 2020 Maharashtra Open. He opened his campaign by defeating wildcard Arjun Kadhe, then beat 7th seed Salvatore Caruso in straight sets, before saving a match point in the final tiebreak to defeat Ilya Ivashka in 3 tight sets. In the semifinals, he once again required 3 sets, saving 4 match points to defeat Ričardas Berankis, to advance to his first tour-level final since April 2015. He defeated Egor Gerasimov in 3 sets to win the title.

Coaching

Veselý's coaches are Jaroslav Navrátil and Michal Navrátil. In December 2015 Veselý began to work with Tomáš Krupa, formerly the longtime coach of Tomas Berdych.

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2020 Davis Cup.

Doubles

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–02015 Heineken Open – Singles|Auckland Open, New Zealand250 SeriesHard Adrian Mannarino6–3, 6–2
Loss1–12015 BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy – Singles|Romanian Open, Romania250 SeriesClay Guillermo García López6–7, 6–7
Win2–1Feb 2020Maharashtra Open, India250 SeriesHard Egor Gerasimov7–6, 5–7, 6–3

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 21 (16 titles, 5 runner–ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0ITF Teplice, Czech Republic F1FuturesClay Norbert Gombos3–6, 7–6, 6–1
Win2–0ITF Shenzhen, China F1FuturesHard Austin Krajicek6–4, 7–5
Win3–0ITF Prostějov, Czech Republic F4FuturesClay Dominic Thiem6–4, 6–4
Win4–0ITF Prague, Czech Republic F5FuturesClay Norbert Gombos6–4, 6–0
Loss4–1ITF Liberec, Czech Republic F6FuturesClay Adam Pavlásek6–3, 6–7, 0–6
Win5–1ITF Wels, Austria F5FuturesClay Marc Rath6–2, 6–2
Win6–1ITF Espinho, Portugal F4FuturesClay Henri Laaksonen6–2, 6–4
Win7–1ITF Eilat, Israel F1FuturesHard Guillermo Olaso6–1, 6–2
Win8–1ITF Eilat, Israel F2FuturesHard James McGee6–2, 6–4
Win9–1ITF Harlingen, USA F6FuturesHard Bjorn Fratangelo5–7, 7–6, 6–3
Win10–12013 Mersin Cup – Singles|Mersin Cup, TurkeyChallengerClay Simon Greul6–1, 6–1
Win11–12013 Prosperita Open – Singles|Prosperita Open, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Steve Darcis6–4, 6–4
Loss11–22013 UniCredit Czech Open – Singles|Czech Open Prostějov, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Radek Štěpánek4–6, 2–6
Loss11–32013 Sparkassen Open – Singles|Sparkassen Open, GermanyChallengerClay Florian Mayer6–4, 2–6, 1–6
Win12–32013 Svijany Open – Singles|Svijany Open, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Federico Delbonis6–7, 7–6, 6–4
Win13–32014 UniCredit Czech Open – Singles|Czech Open Prostějov, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Norbert Gombos6–2, 6–2
Loss13–42014 Prague Open – Singles|Prague Open, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Lukáš Rosol6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Win14–42015 UniCredit Czech Open – Singles|Czech Open Prostějov, Czech Republic ChallengerClay Laslo Đere6–4, 6–2
Win15–42017 UniCredit Czech Open – Singles|Czech Open Prostějov, Czech Republic ChallengerClay Federico Delbonis5–7, 6–1, 7–5
Loss15–52018 Heilbronner Neckarcup – Singles|Heilbronn Neckarcup, GermanyChallengerClay Rudolf Molleker6–4, 4–6, 5–7
Win16–52019 Challenger Eckental – Singles|Challenger Eckental, GermanyChallengerCarpet Steve Darcis6–4, 4–6, 6–3

Doubles: 10 (6–4)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1ITF Opava, Czech Republic F5FuturesCarpet Radim Urbanek Michal Konečný
Daniel Lustig		6–7, 2–6
Loss0–22012 Prosperita Open – Doubles|Prosperita Open, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Adam Pavlásek Radu Albot
Teymuraz Gabashvili		5–7, 7–5,
Win1–2ITF Most, Czech Republic F2FuturesClay Jaroslav Pospíšil Érik Chvojka
Marek Michalička		6–1, 6–4
Win2–2ITF Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic F3FuturesClay Jaroslav Pospíšil Peter Luczak
Blake Mott		7–5, 6–4
Win3–2ITF Prostějov, Czech Republic F4FuturesClay Adam Pavlásek Riccardo Bellotti
Dominic Thiem		7–6, 6–3
Win4–2ITF Eilat, Israel F1FuturesHard Roman Jebavý Jaime Pulgar-García
Andoni Vivanco-Guzmán		6–3, 6–1
Win5–2ITF Eilat, Israel F2FuturesHard Roman Jebavý Matteo Fago
Claudio Grassi		6–4, 7–5
Win6–22014 Prague Open – Doubles|Prague Open, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Roman Jebavý Lee Hsin-han
Zhang Ze		6–1, 6–3
Loss6–32018 Città di Caltanissetta – Doubles|Città di Caltanissetta, ItalyChallengerClay Blaž Rola Federico Gaio
Andrea Pellegrino		6–7, 6–7
Loss6–42019 Moneta Czech Open – Doubles|Czech Open Prostějov, Czech RepublicChallengerClay Jiří Lehečka Filip Polášek
Philipp Oswald		4–6, 6–7

Wins over top 10 players