Eric Butorac (born May 22, 1981), nicknamed Booty, 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.
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.
Early life
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.
Career College career Eric Butorac played at Ball State University for one year before transferring to Gustavus Adolphus College. He has a long history with Gustavus: his father played for coach Steve Wilkinson, and, at age five, Eric attended tennis camp with Wilkinson. He closed out his senior season of 2003 by winning both the NCAA Division III singles and doubles championships, with Kevin Whipple as his partner.
Professional career
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.
In early February 2007, the US-Scots pair claimed their first doubles title in a Challenger event in Dallas,"Jamie Murray wins doubles title" and a week later they won their first ATP title at the SAP Open."San Jose Continues To Be Kind To Murray" (last paragraph) 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 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.
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 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 2012, Butorac made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and won the doubles title in São Paulo (with Bruno Soares).
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 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.
Off court Butorac was elected to the ATP Player Council in 2008. He became vice president starting in 2012, then was elected president in 2014, succeeding Roger Federer. He was later succeeded as president by Novak Djokovic on August 30, 2016.
In 2022, Butorac served as tournament director of the Cincinnati Open. In November 2025, he was announced as the US Open's new tournament director, replacing Stacey Allaster.
Major finals Grand Slam finals Doubles: 1 (runner-up) Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner OpponentsScoreLoss2014Australian OpenHard Raven Klaasen Łukasz Kubot Robert Lindstedt3–6, 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 surfaceHard (12–9)Clay (5–2)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Los Angeles Open, United StatesInternationalHard Jamie Murray Bob Bryan Mike Bryan2–6, 4–6Win1–1Pacific Coast Championships, United StatesInternationalHard (i) Jamie Murray Chris Haggard Rainer Schüttler7–5, 7–6(8–6)Win2–1U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United StatesIntl. GoldHard (i) Jamie Murray Jürgen Melzer Julian Knowle7–5, 6–3Win3–1Nottingham Open, United KingdomInternationalGrass Jamie Murray Joshua Goodall Ross Hutchins4–6, 6–3, [10–5]Win4–1Los Angeles Open, United StatesInternationalHard Rohan Bopanna Travis Parrott Dušan Vemić7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–5)Win5–1Chennai Open, India250 SeriesHard Rajeev Ram Jean-Claude Scherrer Stan Wawrinka6–3, 6–4Win6–1Estoril Open, Portugal250 SeriesClay Scott Lipsky Martin Damm Robert Lindstedt6–3, 6–2Win7–1Thailand Open, Thailand250 SeriesHard (i) Rajeev Ram Guillermo García López Mischa Zverev7–6(7–4), 6–3Loss7–2Bavarian International Tennis Championships, Germany250 SeriesClay Michael Kohlmann Oliver Marach Santiago Ventura7–5, 3–6, [14–16]Loss7–3Los Angeles Open, United States (2)250 SeriesHard Jean-Julien Rojer Bob Bryan Mike Bryan7–6(8–6), 2–6, [7–10]Win8–3Japan Open, Japan500 SeriesHard Jean-Julien Rojer Andreas Seppi Dmitry Tursunov6–3, 6–2Win9–3Stockholm Open, Sweden250 SeriesHard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Johan Brunström Jarkko Nieminen6–3, 6–4Loss9–4U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United States500 SeriesHard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Max Mirnyi Daniel Nestor2–6, 7–6(8–6), [3–10]Win10–4Estoril Open, Portugal (2)250 SeriesClay Jean-Julien Rojer Marc López David Marrero6–3, 6–4Win11–4Open de Nice Côte d'Azur, France250 SeriesClay Jean-Julien Rojer Santiago González David Marrero6–3, 6–4Win12–4Malaysian Open, Malaysia250 SeriesHard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer František Čermák Filip Polášek6–1, 6–3Loss12–5Valencia Open, Spain500 SeriesHard (i) Jean-Julien Rojer Bob Bryan Mike Bryan4–6, 6–7(9–11)Win13–5Brasil Open, Brazil250 SeriesClay Bruno Soares Michal Mertiňák André Sá3–6, 6–4, [10–8]Loss13–6Thailand Open, Thailand250 SeriesHard (i) Paul Hanley Lu Yen-hsun Danai Udomchoke3–6, 4–6Loss13–7Brisbane International, Australia250 SeriesHard Paul Hanley Marcelo Melo Tommy Robredo 6–4, 1–6, [5–10]Loss13–8Bavarian International Tennis Championships, Germany250 SeriesClay Marcos Baghdatis Jarkko Nieminen Dmitry Tursunov 1–6, 4–6Win14–8Malaysian Open, Malaysia (2)250 SeriesHard (i) Raven Klaasen Pablo Cuevas Horacio Zeballos6–2, 6–4Loss14–9Australian Open, AustraliaGrand SlamHard Raven Klaasen Łukasz Kubot Robert Lindstedt3–6, 3–6Win15–9U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, United States250 SeriesHard (i) Raven Klaasen Bob Bryan Mike Bryan6–4, 6–4Win16–9Stockholm Open, Sweden (2)250 SeriesHard (i) Raven Klaasen Treat Huey Jack Sock6–4, 6–3Loss16–10Winston-Salem Open, United States250 SeriesHard Scott Lipsky Dominic Inglot Robert Lindstedt2–6, 4–6Win17–10Valencia Open, Spain250 SeriesHard (i) Scott Lipsky Feliciano López Max Mirnyi7–6(7–4), 6–3Loss17–11Auckland Open, New Zealand250 SeriesHard Scott Lipsky Mate Pavić Michael Venus5–7, 4–6Win18–11Estoril Open, Portugal (3)250 SeriesClay Scott Lipsky Łukasz Kubot Marcin Matkowski 6–4, 3–6, [10–8]
Doubles performance timeline
Current till 2016 US Open. Tournament2007200820092010201120122013201420152016SRW-LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian Open2R3R1RQFSFQF3RF3R2R0 / 1023–10French Open1R1R1R1R1R3R2R2R1R3R0 / 106–10Wimbledon3R2R2R1R2R2R1R3R2RA0 / 99–9US Open2R1R1R1R2R2R2RQF3R1R0 / 109–10Win–loss4–43–41–43–46–47–44–411–45–43-30 / 3947–39
References
External links
Eric Butorac's Minnesota Tennis Challenge