Dmitry Tursunov

I practiced a few hours a day. My dad realized fairly early that I had a lot of potential. A lot of people criticize him for basically choosing that career for me. He understood that I didn’t have many options to make money and since he really liked tennis, he decided that I was to be a tennis player. It just happened that I was naturally good at it.

Tursunov retired from playing on the professional tour on 28 August 2017. He subsequently became the coach of WTA Tour tennis player Aryna Sabalenka.

In 2015, he won two men's doubles titles with different partners.

He then went 1–6 in his next six events only earning a victory over Gastão Elias at the Estoril Open. At the French Open, Tursunov lost to David Nalbandian after having a 2–0 set lead in the third round. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Queen's Club Championships losing to local hero Tim Henman and the first round of Nottingham Open losing to another local hero Andy Murray. He defeated then world No. 4, Ivan Ljubičić, in the third round of Wimbledon coming back from two sets to love, before losing in the next round, 9–7 in the fifth set to Jarkko Nieminen, after coming back two sets to love. After losing his serve in the fifth set to give Nieminen an 8–7 lead, he hit a ball at the chair umpire's chair. He was given a point penalty and later fined £4,000 ($7,500) for "unsportsmanlike conduct". He called the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy, an "idiot" in the news conference he had after the match.

Tursunov began 2011 by losing in the qualifying draw of the Brisbane International to Peter Luczak and the first round of the Australian Open to Victor Troicki. He then competed in the Singapore ATP Challenger as a wild card, which he won by dropping only one set in the tournament. In Rotterdam, Tursunov was able to qualify and beat Andrey Golubev in the first round, before losing to fourth seed Tomáš Berdych.

Dmitry missed most of the first part of 2010 due to the left ankle injury, and he had ankle surgery in February. He played his first tournament of the year at the French Open, falling to Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round. He then played on the Challenger tour. He fell in the first round in Wimbledon to Rainer Schüttler. He then fell in the second round of the qualifying draw in the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships and the Farmers Classic. He won his first ATP match of the year at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, defeating Teymuraz Gabashvili before falling to Tomáš Berdych. He again lost in the first round of the US Open to Jürgen Melzer in five sets. He then played in Bangkok, losing in the first round and quarterfinals of the Challenger events, and in the qualifying competition Thailand Open. At the Japan Open, Tursunov produced two upsets defeated world No. 25, Ernests Gulbis, and world No. 30, Richard Gasquet, before falling in the quarterfinals to the world No. 1 and eventual champion, Rafael Nadal.

The Russian began 2009 by losing his first three matches at the Qatar Open, Medibank International, and Australian Open. He then qualified for the Zagreb Indoors, but lost to Ernests Gulbis. He then fell in the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Open 13, and Dubai Tennis Championships, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Feliciano López, and Igor Andreev, respectively. He then reached the third round of the BNP Paribas Open to Rafael Nadal and the Sony Ericsson Open to Andy Roddick. He then missed the European clay-court season due to an ankle surgery.

Tursunov represented December 2009 in the Association of Tennis Professionals calendar.

Tursunov played his first tournament of 2008 at the Qatar Open falling to Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals. Medibank International in Sydney, Australia. He defeated Stan Wawrinka, top seed and No. 8 in the world Richard Gasquet, Sébastien Grosjean, and Fabrice Santoro. In the final, Tursunov defeated Australian Chris Guccione. This was his fourth career title. At the Australian Open, Tursunov beat Xavier Malisse in the first round in five sets, after being down two sets to love. However, he then lost his second-round match against Sam Querrey in four sets.

On 6 January 2007, Tursunov won the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, while representing Russia alongside Nadia Petrova. In the final, Tursunov defeated Tommy Robredo in straight sets, after teammate Petrova's victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues. Following this match was a proset mixed doubles between Russians Tursunov and Nadia Petrova and Spaniards Tommy Robredo and Anabel Medina Garrigues. This match was a clear show of the playful nature of Tursunov and the other players. The match was relaxed since the outcome of the mixed-doubles proset match did not matter. At one stage, Anabel Medina Garrigues switched with Tursunov so that Tursunov and Robredo were on one side, while Medina Garrigues and Petrova were on the other. The umpire assigned points to Spain regardless.

Tursunov was named in the four-man team that played the United States in the Davis Cup final in 2007, in Portland, Oregon, from 30 November to 2 December 2007. He lost the first rubber of the 2007 Davis Cup final against Roddick. Tursunov was on the verge of defeating James Blake, but Blake won in the fourth dead rubber, the USA having won the tie in the previous doubles match. In 2008, Tursunov lost both his matches in the first round tie against Serbia losing in doubles and in singles, however they still won the tie 3–2. In the semifinal tie against Argentina, he won his doubles match, playing with Igor Kunitsyn. In 2009, he sealed the victory for Russia in the first round tie against Romania defeating Victor Hănescu in five sets. In 2011, he won his singles match against Sweden, however Russia had already lost the tie by losing the first three matches.

Tursunov, an offensive baseliner with excellent groundstrokes from both sides, prefers to play on faster surfaces; he jokes about his lack of ability and success on clay courts. He is sponsored by Fila and Wilson. He helped the Russian Davis Cup team win the 2006 Davis Cup and reach the finals of the 2007 Davis Cup.

2006 was a successful year for Tursunov as he achieved his highest ever ranking thus far, he began by reaching the quarterfinals of Qatar Open and Medibank International losing to eventual finalists Gaël Monfils and Igor Andreev respectively. He then reached the second round of Australian Open to Tommy Robredo. At the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships he lost in the quarterfinals to Tommy Haas. He then won a Challenger event in Sunrise, Florida defeating Alberto Martín. At the NASDAQ-100 Open he was able to reach the fourth round of a Master Series for the first time losing to world No. 1, Roger Federer.

As Tursunov's form started to improve and he came into calculation for selection in the Russia Davis Cup team, the problems he was having obtaining United States citizenship became apparent. He had attempted over several years' time to become a United States citizen, but the process has stalled and Tursunov travels with a Russian passport and an American visa. In his own words "It's frustrating, but what can you do?" In spite of this, Tursunov was selected for Russia in the Davis Cup semi final against Croatia and won his dead rubber match against Ivo Karlović. In 2006 in the first round tie against Netherlands, he won both his matches against Raemon Sluiter and Melle van Gemerden. He defeated Richard Gasquet in five sets in the fourth rubber of the quarterfinal; consequently sending the Russians into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup. For the second time in 2006, Tursunov sealed victory for Russia in the Davis Cup; this time in the semi-final where he defeated Andy Roddick of the United States in a match that lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes, ending 17–15 in the last set. By virtue of this victory, he earned Russia the spot in the Davis Cup final against Argentina, which took place in December. Despite, earning the winning match in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Tursunov only played doubles partnering with Marat Safin, which they won to give Russia a 2–1 lead. Marat Safin later sealed the 2006 Davis Cup win for Russia with his victory over José Acasuso.

He came back at the 2005 Indian Wells Masters tournament losing to Agustín Calleri. In his next tournaments he reached the second rounds of French Open and Stella Artois Championships, and the first round of Nottingham Open. At Wimbledon, Tursunov achieved his best ever performance in a Grand Slam tournament by making the fourth round. In his second-round match against then world No. 9, Tim Henman, he had to play in a Wimbledon club shirt as two of his shirts were stolen from the locker room before the match. He eventually defeated the local hope in five sets, earning his first top-ten win of his career. He eventually lost in the fourth round to Sébastien Grosjean in another five-setter. It was the first time Tursunov had ever lost a five-set match, having previously compiled a 5–0 record in five-set matches.

Tursunov started the season of 2004 losing in the first rounds of Chennai Open and Australian Open, but won Waikoloa Challenger over Alejandro Falla. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Cellular South Cup losing to Mardy Fish. He then played in his first Masters event but lost in the first rounds of Pacific Life Open and NASDAQ-100 Open. He then reached the quarterfinals of U.S. Clay Court Championships losing to eventual champion Tommy Haas. He then lost in the first round in his next three ATP Tour in the Torneo Godó, French Open, and Stella Artois Championships. However, he rebounded in the Wimbledon Championships upsetting 19th seed and compatriot Marat Safin in the first round and eventually fell to ninth seed Carlos Moyá in the third round. At the TD Waterhouse Cup, he was able to reach his first ATP Tour semifinals retiring against Lleyton Hewitt. After the US Open loss to Fabrice Santoro in the second round, Tursunov was forced out of tennis again for seven months with a broken vertebra suffered in a boating accident.

After making two finals on the ATP Challenger Tour in Aptos losing to Jeff Salzenstein and in the Bronx, New York to Ivo Karlović, Tursunov qualified for his first Grand Slam event at the US Open defeating former world number one and then world No. 14, Gustavo Kuerten, in five sets, earning his first top-20 win before losing in the third round to Xavier Malisse. Continuing on after the US Open, he won two consecutive Challenger titles: in Mandeville, Louisiana over Jan Hernych, and in San Antonio, Texas over Sébastien de Chaunac, and then the semifinals of his next two Challenger tournaments. At the end of 2003, he finished the year ranked in the top 100 for the first time in his career.

In 2001, Tursunov won the Futures event in Boca Raton over Jeff Morrison, then the Dallas Challenger defeating Justin Bower. After these two lower-level tournament successes, Tursunov qualified for his first ATP event in 2001 Kroger St. Jude International and made the quarterfinals, earning his first top-100 win over then world No. 51, Greg Rusedski along the way, before losing to eventual champion Mark Philippoussis. He continued playing on the Challenger circuit, reaching three quarterfinals, but his form suffered after his impact in Memphis because of what doctors believed was a bulging disk in his back. He returned after two months away, and then suffered a stress fracture in his leg. As the back pain continued, Tursunov went to see a doctor in Sacramento, California and the extent of his injury problems were misdiagnosed as he was suffering from not one, but two fractures in his L–2 vertebrae. Tursunov was forced to miss six months and did not come back to tennis until June 2002, That year, he won another title on the United States Futures circuit and reached a Challenger semifinal and two quarterfinals.

Tursunov played his first match in June 1998 against Chris Groer in a Futures event in Los Angeles and won, but lost in the following round. In 1999, the Russian played in the Futures events in Philippines and United States and was able to reach two semifinals and a quarterfinal. In 2000, he broke a leg in January, which forced him to miss four months of the season. When he came back, he continued playing in Futures events in the United States. He reached his first Futures final in Haines City, Florida, but lost to Australian Jaymon Crabb. He then won his first Futures title the following week, defeating another Australian Peter Luczak. He reached another final in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, losing to Scott Barron and won two more Futures events in Malibu, California over José de Armas and in Scottsdale, Arizona over Stefan Wauters.

Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (Russian: Дми́трий И́горевич Турсу́нов​  (help ·info ) ; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. He was 12 years old when he arrived to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 20, achieved in October 2006.