Kevin Anderson

At the 2020 Australian Open, Anderson defeated lost to Taylor Fritz in five-sets.

In the 2018 Wimbledon semifinals, Anderson reached his second major final by defeating American John Isner in the second-longest match in the history of major tournaments. The match, which lasted 6 hours and 36 minutes, was only beaten in length by the 2010 match between Isner and France's Nicolas Mahut.

Anderson began his year at the 2018 Maharashtra Open in Pune, India. He reached the final, but fell 6–7, 2–6 to Gilles Simon.

His next endeavor was at the 2018 Australian Open, where he lost his first match in five sets to eventual semifinalist Kyle Edmund, despite being two sets up to one.

The inaugural New York Open, his third tournament of the year, yielded his first tournament win of 2018. All of his matches went to three sets; his path to the final included beating American rising star Frances Tiafoe and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori. He defeated American Sam Querrey in three sets. The win propelled him back into the Top 10 since 2015 to be World No. 9, a new high.

Anderson started playing tennis at age 6 and was competitive in 800-metre races at school. On the eve of their meeting in the finals at the 2017 US Open, it emerged that as a 12-year old, Anderson regularly competed against future world number one Rafael Nadal on the juniors circuit.

2017 was a better year for Anderson, despite a slow start. He began the year at the Memphis Open in February, where he lost in the first round to Bosnian Damir Džumhur. He also lost in the first round of the Delray Beach Open to resurgent Juan Martín del Potro.

Anderson reached the quarterfinals at the 2017 US Open and defeated Sam Querrey in four sets. He defeated Pablo Carreño Busta in the semi-finals. In his first ever Slam final, he lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets.

Anderson, his wife Kelsey and former coach GD Jones launched a tennis instructional website in June 2016 entitled Realife Tennis. The site offers practice and lifestyle tips from traveling the world playing tennis, as well as courses for improving one's tennis game.

Following the US Open, Anderson traveled to Asia for the Japan Open, where he lost in the round of 32 to Gilles Müller. Despite this loss, he reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 on 12 October, the first South African tennis player in the top 10 in 18 years. He then traveled to Shanghai for the Shanghai Masters (tennis), where he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. This was followed by the Vienna Open, where he lost to Steve Johnson in the quarterfinals. Traveling to Basel next, he was defeated by yet another American in Donald Young in the Round of 16. He reached the third round in the 2015 BNP Paribas Masters, but failed to capitalise on a match point against Rafael Nadal.

In the Indian Wells Masters, Anderson reached the quarterfinals, after beating third seed Stan Wawrinka in three sets. He lost to Roger Federer in straight sets. At the 2014 Madrid Open, he beat Radek Štěpánek, before losing to Tomáš Berdych. He repeated his success of 2013 by again reaching the fourth round in the French Open, before losing to fifth seed David Ferrer in four sets.

Anderson also represented South Africa in the Beijing Olympics, defeating Komlavi Loglo before losing to Nicolas Kiefer 4–6, 7–6, 4–6 in the singles tournament and losing (with his partner Jeff Coetzee) to Nicolás Almagro and David Ferrer of Spain 6–3, 3–6, 4–6.

At the 2013 Australian Open, he defeated Fernando Verdasco in the third round, but lost to Tomáš Berdych in the fourth round. This was his career best in any Grand Slam event.

Anderson made the final in Memphis, losing to Kei Nishikori, but he made early exits in Estoril and Madrid. He then at Queen's Club made the final before being defeated by Andy Murray in straight sets. He again reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, where he led eventual champion Novak Djokovic two sets to love, taking both sets through tiebreakers. However, he was unable to sustain his form for the next three sets and eventually lost the match in five sets. Anderson became the champion of the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem, earning his third career singles title. Anderson's big moment came in the US Open, where he defeated Andy Murray, advancing to his first quarterfinals in a Grand Slam after seven attempts. He won the first two sets, then lost the third set via tiebreaker, but after a fourth set, Anderson pulled away, winning the tiebreaker 7–0 and captured the victory. He would next face Stan Wawrinka, whom he had beaten the last four times they played, including once that year. This was their eighth match overall, but the first at Grand Slam level. Wawrinka levelled the head to head at 4–4, beating Anderson in straight sets, including a bagel in the third.

Anderson did not play again on tour until May at the Madrid Open. He lost in the first round against 13th seed Gaël Monfils. Anderson then played in Rome as the 16th seed. Anderson won his first-round match against Feliciano López, but lost in the second round to Juan Mónaco, despite winning the first set. Anderson then competed in Nice as the third seed. He defeated qualifier Diego Schwartzman, before losing to fifth seed João Sousa. Anderson then played at the French Open as the 18th seed, where he lost in the first round to Stéphane Robert. Anderson started his grass season at Queen's Club. Since he entered late, he had to go through qualifying. Anderson defeated Edward Corrie and Jiří Veselý, both in straight sets, to enter the main draw. He then lost to Bernard Tomic in the first round of the main draw. Anderson then played at Nottingham as the top seed. He defeated Ivan Dodig and 14th seed Fernando Verdasco to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to sixth seed and eventual champion Steve Johnson. Anderson then played at Wimbledon as the 20th seed. He lost in the first round to Denis Istomin, despite winning the first two sets.

This was followed up by his participation in the Mexican Open at Acapulco, where he beat Hyeon Chung in the quarterfinals. He reached the final but lost 4–6, 4–6 to Juan Martín del Potro. He reached the quarter-finals at the first two Masters 1000 events of the year, Miami and Indian Wells, losing to Borna Coric and Pablo Carreño Busta respectively, both times in a third set tiebreak.

At Wimbledon, Anderson was seeded eighth. He defeated Norbert Gombos, Andreas Seppi, 25th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Gaël Monfils to reach his first quarterfinal at the tournament, where he faced eight-time champion, defending champion, and top seed Roger Federer. Federer dominated the match early, quickly claiming the first two sets and holding match points in the third. However, Anderson came back to upset Federer in what became a four-hour, five-set epic, winning 13–11 in the fifth set.

He then faced John Isner in the semifinals, in what became the second longest match in Grand Slam history and the third longest men's singles match ever, lasting 6 hours and 36 minutes, ending 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 26–24. This was also the longest semifinal match in Grand Slam history. By reaching the final, Anderson became the first South African player to reach the Wimbledon men's singles final since Kevin Curren in 1985. He then lost to Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets. However, with this run to the final, he rose to a new career high of world #5.

Anderson opened 2012 with a third-round loss at the 2012 Australian Open. He followed it up with a win in Delray Beach, defeating qualifier Marinko Matosevic in the final.

Anderson played at the Citi Open as the ninth seed. He lost in the second round to Malek Jaziri, despite winning the first set. Anderson then played in the Rogers Cup. He won his first-round match against Viktor Troicki. He then defeated sixth seed Dominic Thiem because Thiem had to retire. He then reached the quarterfinals after he defeated 12th seed Bernard Tomic for the first time. Anderson, however, lost to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. The US Open saw his best performance in a Grand Slam for the year, defeating both Yoshihito Nishioka and Vasek Pospisil in straight sets, before bowing out to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round, also in straight sets.

On 6 February 2011, he defeated Somdev Devvarman in his hometown of Johannesburg to capture the South African Open title for his first ATP-level event title. His second ATP title came at the Delray Beach Open in 2012 when he defeated Marinko Matosevic. Anderson won his third ATP 250 championship in 2015 at the Winston-Salem Open with a victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert. His fourth ATP Tour title came in February 2018 at the New York Open. Anderson made his Grand Slam final debut at the 2017 US Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. He ended 2017 winning the Abu Dhabi hosted World Tennis Championship.

He began the 2011 season by advancing to the semifinals of the Brisbane International Tournament, before losing to Andy Roddick in three sets. He then went on to lose in the first round of the Australian Open to Blaž Kavčič.

He reached a career-high of world no. 33 after making the quarterfinals of the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open. At the Atlanta Tennis Championships, Anderson reached the quarterfinals as the second seed, defeating Michael Russell, before losing in straight sets to Gilles Müller. Next at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Anderson defeated Chris Guccione in the second round, before being defeated by Victor Troicki in the third round.

At the 2011 Rogers Cup, he defeated Pablo Andújar in straight sets before beating an out-of-sorts Andy Murray in the second round with an easy victory. He was defeated in the third round by Stanislas Wawrinka in a tight three set contest.

Anderson married his college girlfriend, golfer Kelsey O'Neal, in 2011, and they bought a home in Delray Beach, Florida. His daughter, Keira, was born in September 2019. He is a permanent resident of the United States.

Anderson advanced to the semifinals of the 2010 Atlanta Tennis Championships in July, upsetting fifth seed Janko Tipsarević in the first round.

He became the top-ranked male South African player on 10 March 2008 after making the final at the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. He achieved his career-high ranking of world No. 5 on 16 July 2018. He was the first South African to be ranked in the top 5 since Kevin Curren was No. 5 on 23 September 1985.

Anderson began 2008 with a bit of success, reaching the quarters of the Challenger in New Caledonia before qualifying in his first Grand Slam attempt in Australia. He lost in the main draw first round to No. 84 Alejandro Falla in 5 sets, but his efforts got his ranking to a career high of No. 190.

At the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas, as a qualifier, he managed to defeat sixth seed Michaël Llodra in straight sets, 6–2, 7–6. In the second round he beat giant John Isner 7–6, 7–5. He beat Evgeny Korolev in his first ever ATP quarter-final 6–2, 6–0. In the semi-finals he won in straight sets against Robby Ginepri to reach his first ever ATP tour final. In the final, he fell to Sam Querrey in 3 sets.

In 2007, Anderson led Illinois to a runner-up team finish, losing to host Georgia on their home courts. In the championship dual match, Anderson lost at #1 singles to future ATP top-ten player, John Isner. During the singles tournament, Anderson lost in the semifinals to eventual two-time national champion, Somdev Devvarman of Virginia. In doubles, Anderson and partner, Ryan Rowe, fell short of repeating as champions, losing in the championship match to Marco Born and Andreas Siljeström of Middle Tennessee State in three sets, after having a couple match points.

In September 2007 in the Challenger in New Orleans, he needed to qualify to make the main draw in both singles and doubles, and won all 13 matches that week to take the singles and doubles titles, beating four top-200 singles players and the top three seeded doubles teams. His Challenger success in New Orleans helped him to career-high rankings at the end of 2007 of No. 221 in singles and No. 398 in doubles.

In 2006, Anderson again waited until June to play his first tournaments. He repeated as a finalist in USA F12, and then won USA F13 before qualifying two weeks later in the Winnetka Challenger and reaching the final to push his ranking to No. 310. He recorded his first win over a top-100 opponent in the qualifying for the ATP tournament in New Haven, beating No. 88 Chris Guccione, before losing in the main draw to No. 41 Arnaud Clément.

Anderson played three seasons of college tennis in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time All-American in doubles. During his sophomore year (2005–06), he won the national doubles championships with playing partner Ryan Rowe.

In 2005, Anderson played his first pro tournaments of the year in June, again in the United States, reaching the finals of USA F13 and F21. He returned to Champaign again in November, beating No. 107 Kevin Kim to reach his first Challenger quarterfinal. He finished the year ranked No. 517. In doubles, he won a pair of USA Futures back to back in June and finished the year ranked No. 530.

Kevin Anderson (born 18 May 1986) is a South African professional tennis player who is ranked world No. 91 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as of 04 November 2019.

Anderson saw a strong start to the hard court season at the Rogers Cup, defeating fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals before losing in three close sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals. At the US Open, he was seeded fifth, defeating Ryan Harrison, Jeremy Chardy, and 28th seed Denis Shapovalov, being defeated by ninth seed Dominic Thiem in straight sets in the fourth round.

He then won his first Grand Slam match at the US Open over Somdev Devvarman in straight sets and backed it up with a five-set win over 26th seed Thomaz Bellucci.