Eric Butorac

Eric Butorac (born May 22, 1981) is an American retired professional tennis player. He was a doubles specialist, and for a period of approximately six years was the No. 3 ranked American doubles player. His best result was reaching the 2014 Australian Open finals with partner Raven Klaasen. Their run to the final included a victory over the World No. 1 team of Bob and Mike Bryan.

Eric Butorac
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceCambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Born (1981-05-22) May 22, 1981
Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Turned pro2003
Retired2016
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeBall State Cardinals
Gustavus Adolphus College
Prize money$1,728,454
Singles
Career record0–0
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 935 (January 16, 2006)
Doubles
Career record269–242 (in ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles18
Highest rankingNo. 17 (August 29, 2011)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenF (2014)
French Open3R (2012, 2016)
Wimbledon3R (2007, 2014)
US OpenQF (2014)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open1R (2011, 2012, 2015)
French OpenSF (2014)
Wimbledon3R (2013, 2014)
US Open2R (2016)
Last updated on: December 13, 2016.

He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where he played on the men's tennis team for one year before transferring to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where he graduated in 2003.

Family

Butorac is of Croatian descent. Butorac's parents, Jan and Tim Butorac, are directors of the Rochester Tennis Connection (Indoor & Outdoor site) in Rochester, Minnesota. His brother, Jeff, is a basketball coach at Century High School. Tim Butorac is a USPTA Professional, teaching tennis at the Rochester Indoor Tennis Club during the winter and at the Kutzky/Rochester Outdoor Tennis Center during the summer months.

College career

Eric played at Ball State University for one year before transferring to Gustavus Adolphus College. Eric has a long history with Gustavus: his father played for coach Steve Wilkinson, and Eric attended tennis camp with Steve starting at age 5. Eric closed out his senior season of 2003 by winning both the NCAA Division III singles and doubles championships, with Kevin Whipple as his partner.[1]

Recent activity

In 2014, Butorac started his year with reaching the final of the Australian Open. He then went on to win titles in Memphis and Stockholm. All of these were with partner Raven Klaasen.

In 2013, Butorac made it to the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and won the doubles title in Kuala Lumpur with Raven Klaasen.

In 2012, Butorac made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and won the doubles title in São Paulo (with Bruno Soares).

In 2011, Butorac had his best season reaching a career-high ranking of no. 17, and finishing as the no. 9 team in the world with partner Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands. They won three titles and made the semifinals of the Australian Open.

In 2010, Butorac paired with Rajeev Ram to make the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He also won titles in Chennai (with Ram), Tokyo and Stockholm (with Rojer). He was on the 2010 roster of the Boston Lobsters in the World Team Tennis pro league.

In April, May, and June 2009, Butorac and American Scott Lipsky won the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, the Estoril Open in Portugal, and a tournament in Nottingham, England.[2]

In early February 2007, the US-Scots pair claimed their first doubles title in a Challenger event in Dallas,[3] and a week later they won their first ATP title at the SAP Open.[4] They continued their winning run the following week when the unseeded pair defeated second seeds Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer, 7–5, 6–3, to capture the doubles title of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis.

In July 2006, Butorac and Jamie Murray reached their first ATP Tour doubles final, in Los Angeles, losing in straight sets to the Bryan brothers, who were the world's top-ranked doubles team.

Off court

Butorac was the president of the ATP Player's Council. He succeeded Roger Federer as president (whom he served under as VP for the previous term). He was succeeded by Novak Djokovic on August 30 2016.

Starting in 2010, Butorac has been the volunteer assistant coach at Harvard University. He is one of only three players from the NCAA Division III ranks to ever make a living on the tour.

In 2009 Butorac started the Minnesota Tennis Challenge, a charity event to benefit St. Paul Urban Tennis. Participants included Bob and Mike Bryan, Justin Gimelstob, Rajeev Ram, Melanie Oudin, and Somdev Devvarman. Butorac is a regular speaker at coaching conventions and USTA showcases around the country.

Major finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 2014 Australian Open Hard Raven Klaasen Łukasz Kubot
Robert Lindstedt		 3–6, 3–6

ATP career finals

Doubles: 29 (18 titles, 11 runners-up)
Legend ( Doubles)
Grand Slam tournaments (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (2–2)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (16–8)
Titles by Surface
Hard (12–9)
Clay (5–2)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 2006 Los Angeles Open, United States International Hard Jamie Murray Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		 2–6, 4–6
Win 1–1 Feb 2007 Pacific Coast Championships, United States International Hard (i) Jamie Murray Chris Haggard
Rainer Schüttler		 7–5, 7–6(8–6)
Win 2–1 Feb 2007 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United States Intl. Gold Hard (i) Jamie Murray Jürgen Melzer
Julian Knowle		 7–5, 6–3
Win 3–1 Jun 2007 Nottingham Open, United Kingdom International Grass Jamie Murray Joshua Goodall
Ross Hutchins		 4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Win 4–1 Aug 2008 Los Angeles Open, United States International Hard Rohan Bopanna Travis Parrott
Dušan Vemić		 7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–5)
Win 5–1 Jan 2009 Chennai Open, India 250 Series Hard Rajeev Ram Jean-Claude Scherrer
Stan Wawrinka		 6–3, 6–4
Win 6–1 May 2009 Estoril Open, Portugal 250 Series Clay Scott Lipsky Martin Damm
Robert Lindstedt		 6–3, 6–2
Win 7–1 Oct 2009 Thailand Open, Thailand 250 Series Hard (i) Rajeev Ram Guillermo García López
Mischa Zverev		 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Loss 7–2 May 2010 Bavarian International Tennis Championships, Germany 250 Series Clay Michael Kohlmann Oliver Marach
Santiago Ventura		 7–5, 3–6, [14–16]
Loss 7–3 Aug 2010 Los Angeles Open, United States (2) 250 Series Hard Jean-Julien Rojer Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		 7–6(8–6), 2–6, [7–10]
Win 8–3 Oct 2010 Japan Open, Japan 500 Series Hard Jean-Julien Rojer Andreas Seppi
Dmitry Tursunov		 6–3, 6–2
Win 9–3 Oct 2010 Stockholm Open, Sweden 250 Series Hard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Johan Brunström
Jarkko Nieminen		 6–3, 6–4
Loss 9–4 Feb 2011 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United States 500 Series Hard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Max Mirnyi
Daniel Nestor		 2–6, 7–6(8–6), [3–10]
Win 10–4 May 2011 Estoril Open, Portugal (2) 250 Series Clay Jean-Julien Rojer Marc López
David Marrero		 6–3, 6–4
Win 11–4 May 2011 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur, France 250 Series Clay Jean-Julien Rojer Santiago González
David Marrero		 6–3, 6–4
Win 12–4 Oct 2011 Malaysian Open, Malaysia 250 Series Hard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer František Čermák
Filip Polášek		 6–1, 6–3
Loss 12–5 Nov 2011 Valencia Open, Spain 500 Series Hard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		 4–6, 6–7(9–11)
Win 13–5 Feb 2012 Brasil Open, Brazil 250 Series Clay Bruno Soares Michal Mertiňák
André Sá		 3–6, 6–4, [10–8]
Loss 13–6 Oct 2012 Thailand Open, Thailand 250 Series Hard (i) Paul Hanley Lu Yen-hsun
Danai Udomchoke		 3–6, 4–6
Loss 13–7 Jan 2013 Brisbane International, Australia 250 Series Hard Paul Hanley Marcelo Melo
Tommy Robredo		 6–4, 1–6, [5–10]
Loss 13–8 May 2013 Bavarian International Tennis Championships, Germany 250 Series Clay Marcos Baghdatis Jarkko Nieminen
Dmitry Tursunov		 1–6, 4–6
Win 14–8 Sep 2013 Malaysian Open, Malaysia (2) 250 Series Hard (i) Raven Klaasen Pablo Cuevas
Horacio Zeballos		 6–2, 6–4
Loss 14–9 Jan 2014 Australian Open, Australia Grand Slam Hard Raven Klaasen Łukasz Kubot
Robert Lindstedt		 3–6, 3–6
Win 15–9 Feb 2014 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United States 250 Series Hard (i) Raven Klaasen Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan		 6–4, 6–4
Win 16–9 Oct 2014 Stockholm Open, Sweden (2) 250 Series Hard (i) Raven Klaasen Treat Huey
Jack Sock		 6–4, 6–3
Loss 16–10 Aug 2015 Winston-Salem Open, United States 250 Series Hard Scott Lipsky Dominic Inglot
Robert Lindstedt		 2–6, 4–6
Win 17–10 Nov 2015 Valencia Open, Spain 250 Series Hard (i) Scott Lipsky Feliciano López
Max Mirnyi		 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Loss 17–11 Jan 2016 Auckland Open, New Zealand 250 Series Hard Scott Lipsky Mate Pavić
Michael Venus		 5–7, 4–6
Win 18–11 May 2016 Estoril Open, Portugal (3) 250 Series Clay Scott Lipsky Łukasz Kubot
Marcin Matkowski		 6–4, 3–6, [10–8]

Doubles performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (P) postponed; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current till 2016 US Open.

Tournament2007200820092010201120122013201420152016SRW-L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open 2R 3R 1R QF SF QF 3R F 3R 2R 0 / 10 23–10
French Open 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 3R 2R 2R 1R 3R 0 / 10 6–10
Wimbledon 3R 2R 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R 3R 2R A 0 / 9 9–9
US Open 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R QF 3R 1R 0 / 10 9–10
Win–Loss 4–4 3–4 1–4 3–4 6–4 7–4 4–4 11–4 5–4 3-3 0 / 39 47–39

References
  1. Patton, Mark. "Gustavus Adolphus, Division III Tennis the Right Choice for Eric Butorac".
  2. "Tennis Players – Scott Lipsky". ATP World Tour. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  3. "Jamie Murray wins doubles title"
  4. "San Jose Continues To Be Kind To Murray" Archived March 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (last paragraph)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.