Jared Donaldson

Jared Donaldson

Donaldson at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Glocester, Rhode Island / Irvine, California
Born	(1996-10-09) October 9, 1996 (age 27) Providence, Rhode Island
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	2014
Retired	2021 (last match played in 2019)[1]
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$2,090,322
Singles
Career record	47–65 (42.0%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 48 (5 March 2018)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2017, 2018)
French Open	2R (2018)
Wimbledon	3R (2017)
US Open	3R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	1–6 (14.3%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 327 (2 February 2015)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (2017)
US Open	2R (2014)
Last updated on: 3 May 2021.

Jared Donaldson (born October 9, 1996) is an American former professional tennis player from Glocester, Rhode Island. Donaldson was the only American to qualify for the inaugural Next Generation ATP Finals at the end of 2017 as the fifth seed. He has won a Challenger title in singles as well as doubles, with both of them having come at the Royal Lahaina Challenger in 2015.

Junior career

Donaldson trained on the red clay in Buenos Aires for two years instead of following the conventional route of joining a tennis academy or USTA Player Development. His time there dramatically improved his consistency, movement and mental game. Having never claimed any prestigious junior crowns (Orange Bowl, Junior Grand Slams, Les Petits), Donaldson reached the final of the 2013 USTA Boys 18s National Championship at the age of 16, where he lost to Collin Altamirano in straight sets. Donaldson also attended the Gordon School and played middle school tennis there.^[2]

Professional career

Early years

At the 2013 US Open, Donaldson reached the final round of qualifying, beating two players in the Top 250.

He continued to play extensively in the Turkey and US Futures circuit until breaking through with three consecutive Futures titles in June 2014. Donaldson then qualified for his first ATP event in Washington, D.C. at the Citi Open. He made an official statement about turning pro instead of playing collegiate tennis on August 22, 2014, just short of his 18th birthday.^[3]

He received main draw wildcards into the singles and doubles tournaments at the 2014 US Open. Although he lost to Gaël Monfils in straight sets, he received high praise from many of the tennis elite.^[4]

In January 2015, he won his first Challenger title at the 2015 Royal Lahaina Challenger in Maui, allowing him to move into the top 200 of the ATP rankings. He also won the doubles title in Maui with partner Stefan Kozlov. The following month, he won his first ATP level match at the 2015 Memphis Open, this time defeating Kozlov.

2016: Top 100

Donaldson made it through qualifying at the US Open. He then recorded the biggest win of his career, knocking off 12th-seeded David Goffin in the first round. He then beat Viktor Troicki before losing to Ivo Karlović in the third round, which was enough to push him into the top 100 of the ATP rankings for the first time.^[5]

2017: First Masters 1000 quarterfinal, ATP Tour-level consistency, Top 50 debut

With a higher ranking and consistent success, Donaldson was able to play primarily in ATP Tour level events throughout the year. He solidified his position in the Top 100 by reaching the fourth round of the Miami Open as a qualifier,^[6] rising from No. 95 to No. 73 in the ATP rankings. After a relatively quiet clay court season, Donaldson continued his climb in the rankings by making it to the third round at Wimbledon.^[7] Later in the summer, he scored two of the biggest wins of his career over No. 18 Lucas Pouille and No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut^[8] in the first round at the 2017 Canada Open and 2017 Cincinnati Masters respectively, where in the latter he reached the quarterfinals at a Masters level event for the first time.^[9] These two successful runs helped to catapult Donaldson to a then career high ATP ranking of No. 50 in the world on 23 October 2017.

2018: First ATP semifinal

Donaldson's first big result of the year came at the Mexican Open, an ATP 500 event. He made it through to his first ATP semifinal to reach a new career high ranking of No. 48.^[10]

2019: Comeback & Career suspension

Donaldson came back at the 2019 Delray Beach Open^[11] but was forced later in the year to suspend his professional career after continuing struggles with Patellar tendinitis.^[12]

Playing style

Unlike many of his other top American contemporaries (such as John Isner and Jack Sock, among others) whose success relies on big serves and forehands, Donaldson's strength is in his return game. In the 2017 season, Donaldson was the 6th-highest ranked American (51st overall). He rated behind all five above him in serving, but was the best returner out of the group at 32nd on the tour, according to Infosys Nia Data.^[13]

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 7 (4–3)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Mar 2014	Turkey F7, Antalya	Futures	Clay	Jordi Samper Montaña	2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win	1–1	Jun 2014	Turkey F19, Bodrum	Futures	Clay	Nikola Milojević	6–3, 6–4
Win	2–1	Jun 2014	USA F15, Tulsa	Futures	Hard	Jarmere Jenkins	4–6, 6–3, 7–5
Win	3–1	Jun 2014	USA F17, Oklahoma City	Futures	Hard	Andrew Harris	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–1	Jan 2015	Maui, USA	Challenger	Hard	Nicolas Meister	6–1, 6–4
Loss	4–2	Oct 2015	Sacramento, USA	Challenger	Hard	Taylor Fritz	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss	4–3	Apr 2016	Savannah, USA	Challenger	Clay	Bjorn Fratangelo	1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 2 (1–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2014	USA F15, Tulsa	Futures	Hard	Farris Fathi Gosea	Dennis Novikov Eric Quigley	6–7(5–7), 3–6
Win	1–1	Jan 2015	Maui, USA	Challenger	Hard	Stefan Kozlov	Chase Buchanan Rhyne Williams	6–3, 6–4

Performance timelines

Singles

References

External links

• Jared Donaldson at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Jared Donaldson at the International Tennis Federation