Greg Jones (born 1989) is a former Australian professional tennis player.
Early life
Born in Sydney, Jones is an only child. He is the son of Russell Jones, a quantity surveyor, and Donna Jones, a teacher's aide. He competed in the Sydney GPS Schools tennis competition representing the Shore school, before eventually forgoing his school education to pursue his tennis career.
Jones competed in a number of high-profile events throughout his junior career including all four of the junior grand slams, most notably making the final of the 2007 French Open.
In 2007, Jones, having reached the finals of the junior event at the French Open, a semifinal at Wimbledon and a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open, was very hopeful for a win at the last US Open Junior event, which was his last match in the International Tennis Federation Junior Competition.
Jones had a Junior career high ranking of 4 and won 191 out of 219 matches.
Professional career
Jones began playing professional tournaments in 2006. In his fourth ever professional event he made the final of the Burnie challenger in Tasmania, before spending time overseas in future events in an attempt to improve his ranking. Jones finished 2007 ranked 386, given his youth and ranking he was given wildcards into the 2008 Adelaide International qualifying draw, the 2008 Medibank International (which was his first ATP Tour main draw eventJones learns a lifetime of lessons in 75 minutes) and the 2008 Australian Open qualifying draw. The highlight of 2008 for Jones was winning his first futures title in USA and he finished the year ranked 434.
2009 saw Jones compete in all the Australian ATP events again in January, but he was unable to qualify for any of the main draw in either Brisbane, Sydney or the Australian Open. Jones won his second future tournament of his career in April 2009 in Australia, before heading overseas to play in both Challengers and Futures tournaments, which was highlighted by a Challenger semifinal in Russia.
2010 started slowly for Jones, who once again was unable to qualify for Brisbane, Sydney or the Australian Open. In February he was able to make a second finals appearance at the challenger tournament in Burnie, going down to rising star Bernard Tomic in the final, Jones continued his good form with a finals showing in an Australian futures tournament two weeks later. On 10 October 2010, Jones won silver for Australia in the Men's Tennis in the Commonwealth Games 2010 at Delhi, losing to India's Somdev Devvarman in the gold medal match played at the R.K. Khanna tennis stadium.
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 13 (3–10) LegendATP Challenger (0–5)ITF Futures (3–5)Finals by surfaceHard (1–6)Clay (2–1)Grass (0–3)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Tasmania, AustraliaChallengerHard Nathan Healey5–7, 4–6Win1–1USA F10, Orange ParkFuturesClay Clinton Thomson5–7, 4–6Loss1–2Great Britain F10, Frinton on SeaFuturesGrass Michel Koning4–6, 3–6Loss1–3Australia F10, Happy ValleyFuturesHard Marinko Matosevic1–6, 6–73–7Loss1–4Australia F3, BundabergFuturesClay Jose Statham 6–4, 4–6, 1–6 Win2–4Australia F4, IpswichFuturesClay Jose Statham 6–4, 4–6, 1–6 Loss2–5Burnie, AustraliaChallengerHard Bernard Tomic6–4, 6–2Loss2–6Australia F2, BerriFuturesGrass John Millman6–1, 4–6, 4–6 Loss2–7Fergana, UzbekistanChallengerHard Dudi Sela 2–6, 1–6 Loss2–8Caloundra, AustraliaChallengerHard Marinko Matosevic0–6, 2–6 Loss2–9Manta, EcuadorChallengerHard Michael Russell6–4, 0–6, 5–7 Win3–9Australia F9, SydneyFuturesHard Jordan Thompson3–6, 7–5, 6–1Loss3–10Australia F2, MilduraFuturesGrass Dayne Kelly4–6, 2–6
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Doubles: 12 (4–8) LegendATP Challenger (0–3)ITF Futures (4–5)Finals by surfaceHard (2–5)Clay (1–3)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Kuwait F1, MeshrefFuturesHard Mohammad Ghareeb Aisam Qureshi Purav Raja6–2, 5–7, 2–6Loss0–2Australia F8, TraralgonFuturesHard Andrew Coelho Brydan Klein Matthew Ebden6–7(6–8), 1–6Win1–2Australia F7, GympieFuturesHard Adam Hubble Haydn Lewis Mikal Statham7–6(8–6), 6–7(4–7), [10–5]Loss1–3Australia F9, SaleFuturesClay Andrew Gregory Dane Propoggia Matt ReidwalkoverLoss1–4Italy F11, ParmaFuturesClay Antal van der Duim Juan-Martín Aranguren Walter Trusendi2–6, 3–6Win2–4Great Britain F8, FelixstoweFuturesGrass Robert Smeets Tristan Farron-Mahon Andreas Siljeström6–2, 6–4Loss2–5Aptos, United StatesChallengerHard Adam Feeney Carsten Ball Chris Guccione1–6, 3–6Loss2–6West Lakes, AustraliaChallengerHard James Duckworth Matt Reid Sam Groth2–6, 4–6Loss2–7Tallahassee, United StatesChallengerClay Peter Polansky Austin Krajicek Tennys Sandgren6–1, 2–6, [8–10]Win3–7USA F26, IrvineFuturesHard Gregory Ouellette Carsten Ball Junior Alexander Ore6–2, 4–6, [10–5]Win4–7Australia F3, MorningtonFuturesClay Andrew Whittington Gavin Van Peperzeel Bradley Mousley6–3, 6–2Loss4–8USA F17, CharlottesvilleFuturesHard Jose Statham Thai-Son Kwiatkowski Mac Styslinger4–6, 1–6
Junior Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss2007French OpenClay Uladzimir Ignatik3–6, 4–6
Performance timeline
Singles Tournament20072008200920102011201220132014SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenQ1Q2Q1Q1Q31RAQ10 / 10–1French OpenAAAQ1AQ3AA0 / 00–0WimbledonAAAQ2Q2AAA0 / 00–0US OpenAAAQ2Q3AQ1A0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–10–00–00 / 10–1ATP Tour Masters 1000Indian Wells MastersAAAAQ2Q1AA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–00 / 00–0
References
External links