Janko Tipsarević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јанко Типсаревић, Serbian pronunciation: [jâːŋkɔ tipsǎːrɛʋit͡ɕ]) (born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10.

In his career, he has won two ATP tour championships, two Futures and nine tournaments in the ATP Challenger Series. Tipsarevic has also won the 2001 Australian Open Junior title.

Tipsarević has achieved two victories over a World No. 1 player, having defeated compatriot Novak Djokovic twice. He also has twelwe (12) victories against other players from the top 10, consisting of four wins against Tomáš Berdych, two against Andy Roddick, and one against Fernando González, Mikhail Youzhny, David Ferrer, James Blake, Gaël Monfils, and Andy Murray. He also has wins against former World No. 1 players, Carlos Moyá, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt, and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Arguably his most notable matches to date are his third-round match at the 2008 Australian Open, where he lost to Roger Federer 7–6, 6–7, 7–5, 1–6, 8–10, & reaching the quarter-finals at the 2011 US Open, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets. He has also defeated former top-ten players Andy Roddick and Fernando González at Grand Slam level.

Tomáš Berdych (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtomaːʃ ˈbɛrdɪx]; born September 17, 1985, in Valašské Meziříčí) is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His most notable achievements are reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and the semi-finals of the 2010 French Open. He defeated the Croatian player Ivan Ljubičić in five sets to win the Paris Masters (which is a part of the ATP Masters 1000) in 2005. He has since reached the finals of the Miami Masters in 2010 and the Madrid Open in 2012, losing to Andy Roddick and Roger Federer, respectively. He reached a career high of World No. 6 on October 18, 2010.

Berdych turned pro in 2002, winning two Futures events, both in his country of the Czech Republic, in Czech F8 defeating Pavel Šnobel in the finals 6–2, 6–3, and in Czech F5 defeating Ladislav Chramosta 6–4, 6–3.

In 2003, Berdych won three Futures events in Great Britain F5 over Peter Clarke 6–1, 6–4, in the Challenger in Budaors, Hungary over Ivaylo Traykov 6–2, 6–3, and Challenger of Graz, Austria Julian Knowle 6–4, 5–7, 6–2. He also reached the final of Great Britain F1, losing to Wesley Moodie 6–7, 6–7. He also reached six other semifinals. He won his first ATP Tour match in the 2003 US Open over Tomas Behrend 5–7, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3, but lost in the next round to Juan Ignacio Chela 6–2, 1–6, 4–6, 3–6.

Denis Istomin (born September 7, 1986 in Orenburg, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a professional Uzbekistani tennis player. His career high rank is #39, achieved on August 30, 2010. He is coached by his mother.

Born in Orenburg, Istomin, whose father is Uzbekistani, moved to Tashkent at age 3 months old. His tennis playing mother introduced him to the sport at an early age.

Istomin broke into the top–200 late in 2005 and finished the year at #196. This year, he also wins his first Challenger tournament, in Bukhara.

Istomin received the Asian Wildcard into the 2006 Australian Open where he played world number one Roger Federer. Federer won in three straight sets, 6–2, 6–3, 6–2. He spent much of 2006 in the top–200, reaching a career-high of #186 on May 1, and finished the year at #200 in singles.

Istomin was slightly less successful in 2007, spending the entire year outside the top–200 in singles, but rallying towards the end of the year to finish at #230, again claiming the Asian Wild Card entry spot for the 2008 Australian Open. In any case, he won two Challenger titles, namely Karshi and, for a second time, Bukhara.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (Михаил Михайлович Южный [mixaˈil ˈjuʒnɨj] ( listen); born 25 June 1982, in Moscow, Russia, is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years.

The highest singles world ranking of his career was number eight, achieved 28 January 2008 and again on 18 October 2010.

Mikhail began playing tennis at six with his older brother, Andrei, a pro futures player in 1998–2000. At 13, he was a ballboy for the Russia – U.S. Davis Cup matches.

Youzhny has a unique backhand, in which he mainly hits one-handed, but also has somewhat of a hybrid reminiscent to that of Björn Borg. Youzhny at times will follow through his backhand with both hands, but with only his right hand on his racket. Even so, many consider his backhand to be his best shot. From both sides, Youzhny hits the ball on the rise, achieving a flatter trajectory. He has a good court sense and often makes use of dropshots.

Youzhny has a reputation for engaging the crowd, subsequently taking inspiration from it to attempt high-risk winners, especially when facing matchpoints. After each big victory Youzhny gives a military style salute to the spectators. He does it by holding the tennis racquet above his head with his left hand and saluting with his right hand. The racquet imitates a hat, since according to Russian military tradition one must wear a hat to give proper salute.

Roger Federer (German pronunciation: [ˈfeːdəʁɐ]) (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP No. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks from 2 February 2004 to 18 August 2008. Federer has occupied the #1 ranking for 285 overall weeks, one week short of the record 286 weeks held by Pete Sampras. As of 28 May 2012, he is ranked World No. 3. Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times and also the final at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam tournament finals, including a men's record ten in a row, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2012 Australian Open, he reached a record 31st consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. During the course of his run at the 2012 French Open in Roland Garros, Federer eclipsed Jimmy Connors long standing record of 233 match wins in Grand Slam tournaments when he defeated Adrian Ungur in a second round match.