- published: 22 Jun 2010
- views: 3966
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (Russian: Дми́трий И́горевич Турсу́нов (help·info); born December 12, 1982, in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian professional male tennis player. He was 12 years old when he came to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player.
Tursunov is an offensive baseliner with excellent groundstrokes from both sides[citation needed], and prefers to play on faster surfaces; he jokes about his lack of ability and success on clay courts. He is sponsored by Fila and Wilson.
Tursunov helped the Russian Davis Cup team win the 2006 Davis Cup, and reach the finals of the 2007 Davis Cup.
Tursunov began tennis in Moscow when his father made him play a few hours a day at 5. He came to the United States to train with Vitaly Gorin.
I practiced a few hours a day. My dad realized fairly early that I had a lot of potential. A lot of people criticize him for basically choosing that career for me. He understood that I didn’t have many options to make money and since he really liked tennis, he decided that I was to be a tennis player. It just happened that I was naturally good at it.