Slovenian tennis player (born 1990)
Blaž Rola![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Rola_WM14_%2821%29_%2814620517756%29.jpg/220px-Rola_WM14_%2821%29_%2814620517756%29.jpg) |
Country (sports) | Slovenia |
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Residence | Ptuj, Slovenia |
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Born | (1990-10-05) 5 October 1990 (age 33) Ptuj, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia |
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Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
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Turned pro | 2013 |
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Plays | Left-handed (two-handed backhand) |
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College | Ohio State University |
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Prize money | $1,138,429 |
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Singles |
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Career record | 15–23 |
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Career titles | 0 |
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Highest ranking | No. 78 (5 January 2015) |
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Current ranking | No. 444 (15 January 2024) |
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Grand Slam singles results |
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Australian Open | 2R (2014) |
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French Open | 1R (2019) |
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Wimbledon | 2R (2014) |
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US Open | 1R (2014) |
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Doubles |
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Career record | 8–8 |
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Career titles | 1 |
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Highest ranking | No. 186 (22 August 2016) |
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Current ranking | No. 204 (15 January 2024) |
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Last updated on: 21 January 2024. |
Blaž Rola (born 5 October 1990) is a Slovenian tennis player.
His highest career ranking is No. 78 in singles and No. 186 in doubles. In his career, he has won one ATP 250 series doubles title, nine singles and six doubles ITF Futures tournaments and five ATP Challenger in singles and eight in doubles. He represents Slovenia on the Slovenia Davis Cup team. In the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey, he won gold in singles and doubles.[1][2]
Personal life
Rola was born in Ptuj, the oldest Slovenian town, to father Marijan Rola and mother Majda Rola. He was four years old when he started playing tennis and when he was six he joined the Tennis Club Terme Ptuj where he spent the most of his youth. He went to High school in Ptuj.[3] In 2010 he moved to the United States where he studied at and competed in tennis for Ohio State University until 2013. In January 2019 he and his fiancée Slovenian blogger Vanesa Rola, who was his long-term girlfriend, welcomed daughter Izabela. The same year he married Vanesa.
College career
He competed for Ohio State University from 2010 to 2013, winning the NCAA doubles championship in 2012 and the NCAA singles championship in 2013.
Professional career
2008–2013
In 2008 he began his professional career when he performed his first tournaments in ITF Futures and ATP Challenger Tour series.
In 2010 he represented Slovenia for the first time in Davis Cup and moved to study and play tennis in United States.
At 2013 Mediterranean Games he won 2 gold medals and made big progress when he reached Top 200 on ATP rankings for the first time in his career. In this period he won 9 Futures singles and 6 doubles titles and 1 title in doubles in Challenger series.
2014: Grand Slam and top 100 debut
Through qualifications he reached the main draw of Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the 2014 Australian Open. He lost in second round against Martin Kližan. With this result he became the fifth Slovene male player to reach the main draw of any Grand Slam.
In May he reached Top 100 in the ATP rankings and played in the qualifications for the 2014 French Open where her lost in the third round to James Ward.
In June he played his first ATP 250 series tournament on grass. At the 2014 Aegon Championships, London and the 2014 Aegon International, Eastbourne he lost in the first round on both occasions. He played in the main draw of 2014 Wimbledon Championships for the first time in his career and lost 1–6, 1–6, 0–6 in the second round against Andy Murray.[4]
2015: Career-high ranking
He reached a career-high ranking in singles of No. 78 on 5 January 2015.
2021: Fifth Challenger title
At the 2021 Zadar Open he won his seventh Challenger doubles title partnering his good friend Blaž Kavčič.
At the 2021 Split Open he defeated Kavčič to win his fifth Challenger singles title.[5]
2023: Maiden ATP title
At the 2023 Croatia Open Umag he won his first ATP title partnering with Nino Serdarušić.
ATP career finals
Doubles: 1 (1 title)
Legend | Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) | ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) | ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) | ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–0) | | Finals by surface | Hard (0–0) | Clay (1–0) | Grass (0–0) | | Finals by setting | Outdoor (1–0) | Indoor (0–0) | |
Challenger and Futures finals
Singles: 29 (15–14)
Legend (singles) | ATP Challenger Tour (5–8) | ITF Futures Tour (10–6) | | Titles by surface | Hard (4–2) | Clay (11–12) | Grass (0–0) | Carpet (0–0) | |
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
Loss | 0–1 | May 2010 | Slovenia F1, Kamnik | Futures | Clay | Marcel Zimmermann | 6–3, 2–6, 4–6 |
Win | 1–1 | Jun 2010 | Slovenia F3, Maribor | Futures | Clay | György Balázs | 2–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
Loss | 1–2 | Jul 2010 | Italy F18, Modena | Futures | Clay | Matteo Viola | 1–6, 6–4, 1–6 |
Win | 2–2 | Aug 2010 | Austria F3, Bad Waltersdorf | Futures | Clay | Pascal Brunner | 7–5, 6–3 |
Win | 3–2 | Jul 2012 | USA F17, Innisbrook | Futures | Clay | Luis David Martínez | 6–2, 6–1 |
Loss | 3–3 | Jul 2012 | Austria F1, Telfs | Futures | Clay | Marc Rath | 6–2, 3–6, 2–6 |
Win | 4–3 | Jul 2012 | Austria F3, Bad Waltersdorf | Futures | Clay | Nicolas Reissig | 6–3, 6–2 |
Loss | 4–4 | Aug 2012 | Croatia F7, Čakovec | Futures | Clay | Peter Heller | 4–6, 0–6 |
Win | 5–4 | Aug 2012 | Croatia F8, Vinkovci | Futures | Clay | Toni Androić | 6–2, 6–2 |
Win | 6–4 | Sep 2012 | Austria F9, Vogau | Futures | Clay | Andreas Haider-Maurer | 6–2, 7–6(7–5) |
Win | 7–4 | Jun 2013 | Mexico F12, Quintana Roo | Futures | Hard | José Pereira | 7–6(8–6), 6–4 |
Loss | 7–5 | Aug 2013 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Challenger | Clay | Agustín Velotti | 3–6, 4–6 |
Win | 8–5 | Aug 2013 | Poland F5, Bytom | Futures | Clay | Filip Krajinović | w/o |
Win | 9–5 | Oct 2013 | Armenia F2, Yerevan | Futures | Clay | Boy Westerhof | 6–2, 6–4 |
Loss | 9–6 | Oct 2013 | Croatia F11, Dubrovnik | Futures | Clay | Janez Semrajc | 4–6, 7–5, 3–6 |
Win | 10–6 | Mar 2014 | Guangzhou, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard | Yūichi Sugita | 6–7(4–7), 6–4, 6–3 |
Loss | 10–7 | Mar 2014 | Panama City, Panama | Challenger | Clay | Pere Riba | 5–7, 7–5, 2–6 |
Loss | 10–8 | Apr 2014 | São Paulo, Brazil | Challenger | Clay | Rogério Dutra Silva | 4–6, 2–6 |
Loss | 10–9 | Jul 2014 | Poznań, Poland | Challenger | Clay | David Goffin | 4–6, 2–6 |
Win | 11–9 | Apr 2015 | Santos, Brazil | Challenger | Clay | Germain Gigounon | 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Loss | 11–10 | Jun 2016 | Perugia, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Nicolás Kicker | 6–2, 3–6, 0–6 |
Win | 12–10 | Apr 2017 | Tallahassee, USA | Challenger | Clay | Ramkumar Ramanathan | 6–2, 6–7(6–8), 7–5 |
Loss | 12–11 | Mar 2018 | Quijing, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard | Malek Jaziri | 6–7(5–7), 1–6 |
Loss | 12–12 | Apr 2018 | Panama City, Panama | Challenger | Clay | Carlos Berlocq | 2–6, 0–6 |
Loss | 12–13 | Oct 2018 | Las Vegas, USA | Challenger | Hard | Thanasi Kokkinakis | 4–6, 4–6 |
Win | 13–13 | Apr 2019 | León, Mexico | Challenger | Hard | Liam Broady | 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 |
Win | 14–13 | Apr 2021 | Split, Croatia | Challenger | Clay | Blaž Kavčič | 2–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
Win | 15–13 | Apr 2023 | M15 Monastir, Tunisia | World Tennis Tour | Hard | Adrien Gobat | 7–6(7–4), 6–2 |
Loss | 15–14 | May 2024 | M15 Celje, Slovenia | World Tennis Tour | Clay | Joao Eduardo Schiessl | 6–4, 6–7(4–7), 1–6 |
Doubles: 23 (15–8)
Legend (doubles) | ATP Challenger Tour (9–5) | ITF Futures Tour (6–3) | | Titles by surface | Hard (4–4) | Clay (10–4) | Grass (0–0) | Carpet (1–0) | |
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
Win | 1–0 | Oct 2009 | Croatia F9, Dubrovnik | Futures | Clay | Martin Rmuš | Morgan Phillips
Antonio Šančić | 6–3, 7–6(9–7) |
Loss | 1–1 | May 2010 | Bosnia & Herzegovina F3, Doboj | Futures | Clay | Martin Rmuš | Michael Linzer
Herbert Wiltschnig | w/o |
Win | 2–1 | Jun 2010 | Slovenia F3, Maribor | Futures | Clay | Martin Rmuš | Javier Martí
Sergio Pérez Pérez | 6–3, 6–3 |
Loss | 2–2 | Aug 2011 | Croatia F7, Vinkovci | Futures | Clay | Mislav Hižak | Tomislav Brkić
Marin Franjičević | 6–3, 3–6, [7–10] |
Win | 3–2 | Jul 2012 | USA F17, Innisbrook | Futures | Clay | Chase Buchanan | Keith-Patrick Crowley
Joshua Zavala | 6–4, 6–2 |
Win | 4–2 | Jul 2012 | Austria F1, Telfs | Futures | Clay | Tomislav Ternar | Stefan Hirn
Sebastian Stiefelmeyer | 6–2, 7–5 |
Loss | 4–3 | Aug 2012 | Croatia F7, Čakovec | Futures | Clay | Tomislav Ternar | Thibault Venturino
Janoš Žibrat | 3–6, 4–6 |
Win | 5–3 | Aug 2012 | Croatia F8, Vinkovci | Futures | Clay | Mislav Hižak | Tomislav Brkić
Aldin Šetkić | 6–4, 7–6(7–3) |
Win | 6–3 | Sep 2012 | Austria F9, Vogau | Futures | Clay | Ruben Gonzales | Lukas Jastraunig
Tristan-Samuel Weissborn | 6–2, 6–2 |
Loss | 6–4 | Jul 2013 | Portorož, Slovenia | Challenger | Hard | Aljaž Bedene | Marin Draganja
Mate Pavić | 3–6, 6–1, [5–10] |
Win | 7–4 | Nov 2013 | Toyota, Japan | Challenger | Carpet (i) | Chase Buchanan | Marcus Daniell
Artem Sitak | 4–6, 6–3, [10–4] |
Loss | 7–5 | Jan 2014 | Nouméa, New Caledonia | Challenger | Hard | Ante Pavić | Austin Krajicek
Tennys Sandgren | 6–7(4–7), 3–6 |
Loss | 7–6 | Feb 2014 | Chennai, India | Challenger | Hard | Sriram Balaji | Yuki Bhambri
Michael Venus | 4–6, 6–7(3–7) |
Win | 8–6 | May 2015 | São Paulo, Brazil | Challenger | Clay | Chase Buchanan | Guido Andreozzi
Sergio Galdós | 6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 9–6 | Sep 2015 | Cary, USA | Challenger | Hard | Chase Buchanan | Austin Krajicek
Nicholas Monroe | 6–4, 6–7(5–7), [10–4] |
Win | 10–6 | Sep 2015 | Columbus, USA | Challenger | Hard (i) | Chase Buchanan | Mitchell Krueger
Eric Quigley | 6–4, 4–6, [19–17] |
Win | 11–6 | Oct 2017 | Lima, Peru | Challenger | Clay | Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela | Gonçalo Oliveira
Grzegorz Panfil | 7–5, 6–3 |
Loss | 11–7 | Jun 2018 | Caltanissetta, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Jiří Veselý | Federico Gaio
Andrea Pellegrino | 6–7(4–7), 6–7(5–7) |
Win | 12–7 | Nov 2019 | Charlottesville, USA | Challenger | Hard | Mitchell Krueger | Sekou Bangoura
Blaz Kavcic | 6–4, 6–1 |
Win | 13–7 | Mar 2021 | Zadar, Croatia | Challenger | Clay | Blaž Kavčič | Lukáš Klein
Alex Molčan | 2–6, 6–2, [10–3] |
Win | 14–7 | Nov 2021 | Knoxville, USA | Challenger | Hard (i) | Malek Jaziri | Hans Hach Verdugo
Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela | 3–6, 6–3, [10–5] |
Loss | 14–8 | Jan 2022 | Bendigo, Australia | Challenger | Hard | Enzo Couacaud | Ruben Bemelmans
Daniel Masur | 6–7(2–7), 4–6 |
Win | 15–8 | Sep 2023 | Tulln an der Donau, Austria | Challenger | Clay | Zdenek Kolar | Piotr Matuszewski
Kai Wehnelt | 6–4, 4–6, [10–6] |
Singles performance timeline
Key W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
- * As of 26 May 2022[update]
Record against other players
Rola's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10. Players who have been No. 1 are in boldface
- * As of 26 May 2021[update].
Davis Cup
Group membership | World Group (0–0) | Group I (7–4) | Group II (2–3) | Group III (0–0) | Group IV (0–0) | | Matches by surface | Hard (4–2) | Clay (5–5) | Grass (0–0) | Carpet (0–0) | | Matches by Location | Outdoor (5–3) | Indoor (4–4) | | Matches by Type | Singles (6–4) | Doubles (3–3) | |
Davis Cup results |
Rubber outcome | No. | Rubber | Match type (partner if any) | Opponent nation | Opponent player(s) | Score |
5–0; 9–11 July 2010; TK Krka Otočec, Otočec, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group II Second Round; Clay |
Victory | 1. | IV (dead rubber) | Singles | Bulgaria | Valentin Dimov | 6–0, 6–1 |
4–1; 13–15 Sep 2013; Park Tivoli, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I First Round Play-Off; Clay |
Victory | 2. | I | Singles | South Africa | Rik de Voest | 6–1, 6–1, 6–4 |
Victory | 3. | III | Doubles (with Blaž Kavčič) | Raven Klaasen / Nicolaas Scholtz | 7–5, 6–1, 7–6(7–4) |
Defeat | 4. | V (dead rubber) | Singles | Nicolaas Scholtz | 3–2 ret. |
1–3; 4–6 Apr 2014; ŠRC Marina Portorož, Portorož, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I Second Round; Clay |
Victory | 5. | II | Singles | Israel | Dudi Sela | 6–3, 6–4, 6–4 |
Defeat | 6. | III | Doubles (with Grega Žemlja) | Jonathan Erlich / Andy Ram | 6–7(7–9), 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 3–6 |
5–0; 30 Oct – 1 Nov 2015; Teniski klub Triglav Kranj, Kranj, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group I Second Round Play-Off; Hard (i) |
Victory | 7. | II | Singles | Lithuania | Laurynas Grigelis | 7–6(8–6), 6–2, 6–2 |
Victory | 8. | III | Doubles (with Blaž Kavčič) | Laurynas Grigelis / Lukas Mugevičius | 6–4, 7–6(7–1), 6–4 |
Victory | 9. | IV (dead rubber) | Singles | Lukas Mugevičius | 6–2, 6–2 |
1–4; 4–6 Mar 2016; Sala Sporturilor, Arad, Romania; Europe/Africa Group I First Round; Hard (i) |
Defeat | 10. | I | Singles | Romania | Marius Copil | 5–7, 3–6, 6–7(5–7) |
Defeat | 11. | III | Doubles (with Grega Žemlja) | Florin Mergea / Horia Tecău | 3–6, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(3–7) |
Defeat | 12. | II | Singles | Adrian Ungur | 6–3, 6–4 |
2–3; 3–4 Feb 2018; Lukna Sports Hall, Maribor, Slovenia; Europe/Africa Group II First Round; Hard (i) |
Victory | 13. | II | Singles | Poland | Kamil Majchrzak | 4–6, 2–6 |
Defeat | 14. | III | Doubles (with Aljaž Bedene) | Mateusz Kowalczyk / Marcin Matkowski | 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 4–6 |
3–1; 13–14 Sep 2019; Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo, Egypt; Europe/Africa Group I First Round; Clay |
Defeat | 15. | II | Singles | Egypt | Mohamed Safwat | 4–6, 6–1, 6–7(4–7) |
Victory | 16. | III | Doubles (with Aljaž Bedene) | Sherif Sabry / Mohamed Safwat | 7–5, 6–3 |
References
- ^ "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Singles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
- ^ "Mersin 2013 Tennis Men's Doubles Final" (PDF). mersin2013.gov.tr. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2013.
- ^ "Interview: Caffe Invitation, guest: Blaž Rola (Slovene)". Ptuj television PeTV. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
- ^ "Andy Murray demolishes Blaz Rola for loss of two games to reach third round of Wimbledon 2014". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
- ^ "Blaž Rola Wins ATP Challenger Split Open Title!". Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
External links