Malek Jaziri


Malek Jaziri is a professional Tunisian tennis player. He reached the final of Istanbul in 2018, the semifinals of Moscow in 2012, Winston-Salem in 2015, Dubai in 2018 and the quarterfinals of Dubai in 2014.

Career overview

Jaziri reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour of world no. 42 in January 2019. He appeared in the qualifying draw at the 2010 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Michał Przysiężny of Poland. He primarily plays on the Futures circuit and the Challenger circuit. Jaziri qualified for the 2011 US Open, defeating Brian Dabul, Michael Ryderstedt, and Guillaume Rufin in the qualifying draw. This was the first time Jaziri played in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. In the first round, Jaziri defeated world no. 159 Thiemo de Bakker in four sets. Jaziri lost to world no. 8 Mardy Fish in the second round. Jaziri has been coached by Tunisian legend Haythem Abid on and off throughout his career.
In 2012, he kicked off his year at the ATP 250 event in Doha and pushed world no. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to three sets in the first round. He fell in the first round of qualifying at the Australian Open to Tim Smyczek. He then reached three Challenger finals in Quimper, Kyoto, and Pingguo to break into the top 100 for the first time.
In his clay season, he made the semifinals in the Barletta Challenger and played his first Roland Garros main draw, winning his first-round match over German Philipp Petzschner before losing a tight second-round match to Spaniard Marcel Granollers, missing two match points.
On grass, he reached the second round in his Wimbledon debut and also the second round at the London Olympics.
He lost in the US Open first round, but later had his best result on the ATP World Tour when he reached the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow to become the first Tunisian male to reach the semifinals of an ATP event.
In 2013, Jaziri started off the year in Dubai, where he faced 17-time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer and lost in three tight sets.
Jaziri started off 2015 making his first appearance at the Australian Open main draw, and beating Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin, making him the first Arab male tennis player to make it to the third round of a Grand Slam in over a decade. Jaziri then lost in the third round to Australian teen Nick Kyrgios.
Jaziri has been a member of the Tunisia Davis Cup team since 2000, posting an 33–15 record in singles and a 10–14 record in doubles in 41 ties.

2018

In 2018 he played against Gilles Müller at the Australian Open.
At Dubai Tennis Championships, Jaziri stunned top seed and then world no. 4 Grigor Dimitrov to register his first win against a top-10 player. Jaziri made his first ATP final at the 2018 Istanbul Open, where he plays Japanese-American Taro Daniel, also in his maiden final.

Controversies

2013

Jaziri was embroiled in a controversial political incident, in which he withdrew from a tournament rather than play an Israeli player. In the October 2013 Tashkent Challenger, tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, he was slated to play Israeli Amir Weintraub in the quarterfinals. But the Tunisian tennis federation ordered Jaziri by email to withdraw from the match, and he did so.
Weintraub said that Jaziri is "a good friend," and that "he really wanted to play." Israel Tennis Association CEO Shlomo Glickstein said: "It is sad to me that these kinds of things still happen. I feel bad for the athletes who find themselves embroiled in such situations, which end up hurting their careers.”
Jaziri was cleared of wrongdoing by the ATP, but the International Tennis Federation found that the Tunisian Tennis Federation breached the ITF constitution by ordering him not to compete. The organization barred Tunisia from competing in the 2014 Davis Cup. ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said: "There is no room for prejudice of any kind in sport or in society. The ITF Board decided to send a strong message to the Tunisian Tennis Federation that this kind of action will not be tolerated by any of our members."

2015

In February 2015, Jaziri was again embroiled in a controversial political incident when he withdrew from a tournament before facing Israeli players. He withdrew from both the singles and doubles events at the Open Sud de France, citing an elbow injury, after winning his first set in his singles match against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Had Jaziri won, he would have been scheduled to face Israeli Dudi Sela in the next round. In the doubles event, he and Spanish partner Marc López would have faced Israeli opponent Jonathan Erlich and František Čermák of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
The ATP said that they had confirmed with on-site medical staff that Jaziri's elbow injury was genuine, but opened an inquiry, stating: "Given a previous incident involving the player's national federation in 2013, we are looking into any wider circumstances of his withdrawal as a matter of prudence." On February 10, the ATP closed its investigation after extensive discussions with Jaziri and medical staff, saying it was satisfied that Jaziri had a legitimate medical reason to retire from the event.

ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–12018 Istanbul Open – Singles|Istanbul Open, Turkey250 SeriesClay Taro Daniel6–7, 4–6

Future and Challenger finals

Singles: 35 (17–18)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1Tunisia F2, TunisFuturesClay Dimitri Lorin6–0, 0–6, 6–7
Loss0–2Tunisia F4, SfaxFuturesHard Ilija Bozoljac5–7, 6–3, 5–7
Loss0–3Italy F13, GrottaglieFuturesClay Andrey Golubev3–6, 6–7
Win1–3Tunisia F3, NabeulFuturesClay Petar Popović1–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss1–4Iran F1, TehranFuturesClay Philipp Müllner3–6, 6–7
Loss1–5Iran F2, TehranFuturesClay Benjamin Balleret4–6, 0–3 RET
Loss1–6France F2, FeucherollesFuturesHard Slimane Saoudi7–5, 6–7, 3–6
Win2–6Tunisia F7, MégrineFuturesHard Blaž Kavčič4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss2–7Kuwait F1, MeshrefFuturesHard Mohammad Ghareeb4–6, 4–6
Loss2–8Kuwait F2, MeshrefFuturesHard Mohammad Ghareeb3–6, 6–7
Loss2–9Tunisia F1, HammametFuturesClay Reda El Amrani0–6, 3–6
Win3–9Tunisia F3, KelibiaFuturesHard Mohamed Haythem Abid7–6, 5–7, 7–6
Win4–9Georgia F2, TbilisiFuturesClay David Savić4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss4–10Italy F2, RomeFuturesClay Andreas Haider-Maurer3–6, 5–7
Loss4–11Tunisia F1, TunisFuturesClay Sergio Gutiérrez Ferrol4–6, 2–6
Win5–11Tunisia F2, SfaxFuturesHard Laurent Rochette6–4, 6–3
Win6–11Spain F36, CórdobaFuturesHard Pablo Carreño Busta6–4, 5–7, 6–4
Loss6–12Colombia F1, CartagenaFuturesHard Gastão Elias3–6, 3–6
Win7–12Great Britain F7, NewcastleFuturesClay Yannick Mertens6–3, 6–4
Win8–12Great Britain F8, ManchesterFuturesGrass Rudy Coco7–6, 4–6, 6–2
Win9–12Kazakhstan F4, AlmatyFuturesHard Denys Molchanov6–3, 6–2
Loss9–132011 Samarkand Challenger – Singles|Samarkand, UzbekistanChallengerClay Denis Istomin6–7, 0–0 RET
Win10–132011 IPP Trophy – Singles|Geneva, SwitzerlandChallengerHard Mischa Zverev4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss10–142012 Open BNP Paribas Banque de Bretagne – Singles|Quimper, FranceChallengerHard Igor Sijsling3–6, 4–6
Loss10–152012 All Japan Indoor Tennis Championships – Singles|Kyoto, JapanChallengerCarpet Tatsuma Ito7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss10–162012 Green World ATP Challenger – Singles|Pingguo, ChinaChallengerHard Go Soeda1–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win11–162013 Geneva Open Challenger – Singles|Geneva, SwitzerlandChallengerHard Jan-Lennard Struff6–4, 6–3
Loss11–172014 Challenger of Dallas – Singles|Dallas, United StatesChallengerHard Steve Johnson4–6, 4–6
Loss11–182014 Türk Telecom İzmir Cup – Singles|İzmir, TurkeyChallengerHard Borna Ćorić1–6, 7–6, 4–6
Win12–182015 Open de Rennes – Singles|Rennes, FranceChallengerHard Igor Sijsling5–7, 7–5, 6–4
Win13–182016 Jalisco Open – Singles|Guadalajara, MexicoChallengerHard Stéphane Robert5–7, 6–3, 7–6
Win14–182016 Open de Guadeloupe – Singles|Le Gosier, GuadeloupeChallengerHard Stefan Kozlov6–2, 6–4
Win15–182016 Amex-Istanbul Challenger – Singles|Istanbul, TurkeyChallengerHard Dudi Sela1–6, 6–1, 6–0
Win16–182017 Amex-Istanbul Challenger – Singles|Istanbul, TurkeyChallengerHard Matteo Berrettini7–6, 0–6, 7–5
Win17–182018 Qujing International Challenger – Singles|Qujing, ChinaChallengerHard Blaž Rola7–6, 6–1

Doubles 17 (11–6)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Nigeria F1, Benin CityFuturesHard Walid Jallali Andrew Anderson
Willem-Petrus Meyer		3–6, 6–4 RET
Win2–0Morocco F1, AgadirFuturesClay Walid Jallali Julien Couly
Sunil Kumar Sipaeya		7–6, 6–2
Win3–0France F3, BressuireFuturesHard Issam Jellali Eric Butorac
Petar Popović		6–1, 7–6
Win4–0Tunisia F6, MégrineFuturesHard Mohamed Haythem Abid Boštjan Ošabnik
Grega Žemlja		7–6, 6–3
Win5–0Tunisia F1, TunisFuturesClay Mohamed Haythem Abid Colin Fleming
Alexander Satschko		6–4, 6–2
Loss5–1Tunisia F2, HammametFuturesClay Mohamed Haythem Abid Wael Kilani
Fares Zaier		2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Win6–1Tunisia F1, SousseFuturesClay Walid Jallali Frédéric de Fays
Germain Gigounon		5–7, 7–6,
Win7–1France F15, PlaisirFuturesHard Rabie Chaki Thomas Oger
Alexandre Penaud		6–4, 7–6
Win8–1Morocco F2, RabatFuturesClay Lamine Ouahab Omar Erramy
Younès Rachidi		6–1, 6–3
Loss8–2Morocco F2, RabatFuturesClay Lamine Ouahab David Savić
Denis Zivkovic		4–6, 1–6
Win9–2Great Britain F7, NewcastleFuturesClay Carles Poch Gradin Pablo Martín-Adalia
Morgan Phillips		6–1, 7–6
Loss9–3Great Britain F8, ManchesterFuturesGrass Albano Olivetti Chris Eaton
Josh Goodall		4–6, 6–7
Win10–32011 Penza Cup – Doubles|Penza, RussiaChallengerHard Arnau Brugués-Davi Sergei Bubka
Adrián Menéndez Maceiras		6–7, 6–2,
Loss10–42011 President's Cup – Men's Doubles|Astana, KazakhstanChallengerHard Arnau Brugués-Davi Konstantin Kravchuk
Denys Molchanov		6–7, 7–6,
Win11–42013 Fergana Challenger – Men's Doubles|Fergana, UzbekistanChallengerHard Farrukh Dustov Ilija Bozoljac
Roman Jebavý		6–3, 6–3
Loss11–52014 Türk Telecom İzmir Cup – Doubles|İzmir, TurkeyChallengerHard Alexander Kudryavtsev Ken Skupski
Neal Skupski		1–6, 4–6
Loss11–62015 Türk Telecom İzmir Cup – Doubles|İzmir, TurkeyChallengerHard Denys Molchanov Saketh Myneni
Divij Sharan		6–7, 6–4, RET

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.

Doubles

Record against top-10 players

Jaziri's record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with active players in boldface.

Wins over top 10 players

Season2003 - 201720182019Total
Wins0303