Brian Battistone

Brian Battistone (born August 10, 1979)[1] is an American professional tennis player. He was born in Santa Barbara, California and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.[2] Throughout his career, Battistone has reach a career high ranking of 853 in singles and 88 in doubles. Battistone is one of only three people (his brother Dann Battistone and Tennyson Whiting) to use a two-handled tennis racket.

Brian Battistone
Brian Battistone at 2012 US Open
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceLas Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Born (1979-08-10) August 10, 1979
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro2007
PlaysRight-handed (switches between two-handed backhand and left-handed forehand)
CoachMark Battistone
Lionel Burt
Prize moneyUS$77,358
Singles
Career record0–0
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 853 (16 November 2009)
Doubles
Career record2–9 (18.2%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 88 (1 November 2010)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open1R (2010)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US Open1R (2012)
Last updated on: August 2021.

Personal life

Battistone was born on August 10, 1979 in Santa Barbara, California, United States. His father, Mark, serves as Battistone's current head coach along with Lionel Burt. Besides his mother tongue English he also speaks Portuguese after his years as a missionary for the LDS church in Brazil. His brother, Dann Battistone, also plays tennis and has played doubles many times with Brian.

Career

It is unknown when exactly Battistone took up tennis. It is known that he and his brother played for a championship tennis team at Palm Desert High School in 1995. Battistone did not have a junior career as he decided to instead play higher level men's tournaments as a teenager. He played his first match in 1997 and took various breaks between 1997-2006 before officially turning pro in 2007 at the age of 27.

Singles

Battistone played his first singles match in 1997 and got his first ATP ranking of 1346 in 2001. When he turned pro in 2007, he started to improve his ranking and achieved a singles high ranking of 853 on November 16, 2009. He received a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells in 2010 which remains his only ATP qualifying draw appearance. He took the first set against 24th seed Jesse Witten but lost the next two sets to lose the match. His success started to die down and he lost his singles rankings and began to play ITF qualifying matches by the time 2012 came.

Doubles

Battistone played his first doubles match in 1998 and got his first ATP ranking of 1366 in 1999. His career took a big leap after turning pro in 2007. Between 2007-2015, Battistone would win 4 ATP Challenger titles and 2 ITF Futures titles. He won his first futures tournament in 2007 with his brother and his first challenger title in 2009 also with his brother. He made his ATP main draw debut at the 2008 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships partnering his brother Dann. His doubles success earned him a wildcard spot into the 2010 US Open parterning Ryler DeHeart. In October 2010 he won his first ATP Men's Doubles match, partnering Andreas Siljeström in the 2010 Stockholm Open which would help push him to his highest doubles ranking of 88 on November 1, 2010. He would return to the US Open in 2012 in the mixed doubles partnering Nicole Melichar. He won his first doubles title in five years in 2015 at an ITF event partnering Boris Nicola Bakalov. Throughout his doubles career, Battistone has been most notable for partnering with Ryler Deheart, Andreas Silijeström, Nicholas Monroe, Treat Huey, and his brother Dann.

Playing style

Battistone is known for having an unorthodox style of play. He uses a volleyball-styled jump serve where he jumps in on court, switches racket hand in mid-air and hits the ball before landing on court. He is also a serve-and-volleyer which means that he will volley the ball as soon as it’s returned to him after his serve. Battistone also has a tendency to switch his backhand from a two-handed grip to a left-handed forehand grip.

Two-handled racket

Brian and his brother Dann are famous for using a two-handled racquet designed by his coach Lionel Burt of Naturaltennis racquet factory.[3] Brian and Dann have tried to advertise Burt's racket design to make it more widespread but the design did not catch much attention.

Titles and finals

Doubles: 17 (6–11)

Legend (doubles)
ATP Challenger Tour (4–7)
ITF Futures Tour (2–4)
Titles by surface
Hard (4–8)
Clay (2–3)
Outcome No. Date (Final) Tournament Type Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 2007 Laguna Niguel, California, United States Futures Hard Dann Battistone Justin Diao Natale
Levar Harper-Griffith
1–6, 7–5, [7–10]
Win 1–1 Oct 2007 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States Futures Hard Dann Battistone Carsten Ball
Rylan Rizza
6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss 1–2 Jan 2008 Boca Raton, Florida, United States Futures Hard Dann Battistone Uladzimir Ignatik
Andrey Kumantsov
5–7, 4–6
Loss 1–3 Mar 2008 Harlingen, Texas, United States Futures Hard Dann Battistone Nicholas Monroe
Phillip Simmonds
3–6, 1–6
Loss 1–4 Jun 2008 Shingle Springs, California, United States Futures Hard Dann Battistone Rylan Rizza
Kaes Van't Hof
7–5, 6–7(2–7), [9–11]
Loss 1–5 Aug 2008 Binghamton, New York, United States Challenger Hard Dann Battistone Carsten Ball
Travis Rettenmaier
3–6, 4–6
Win 2–5 Oct 2008 Sacramento, California, United States Challenger Hard Dann Battistone John Isner
Rajeev Ram
1–6, 6–3, [10–4]
Win 3–5 Nov 2009 Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, United States Challenger Hard Dann Battistone Treat Huey
Harsh Mankad
7–5, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 3–6 Apr 2010 Saint-Brieuc, France Challenger Clay Ryler DeHeart Uladzimir Ignatik
David Marrero Santana
6–4, 4–6, [5–10]
Win 4–6 May 2010 Sarasota, Florida, United States Challenger Clay Ryler DeHeart Gero Kretschmer
Alex Satschko
5–7, 7–6(7–4), [10–8]
Win 5–6 May 2010 Carson, California, United States Challenger Hard Nicholas Monroe Artem Sitak
Leonardo Tavares
5–7, 6–3, [10–4]
Loss 5–7 Jul 2010 Pozoblanco, Spain Challenger Hard Filip Prpic Marcel Granollers
Gerard Granollers-Pujol
4–6, 6–4, [4–10]
Loss 5–8 Aug 2010 Segovia, Spain Challenger Hard Harsh Mankad Thiago Alves
Franco Ferreiro
2–6, 7–5, [8–10]
Loss 5–9 Aug 2010 Istanbul, Turkey Challenger Hard Andreas Siljeström Leoš Friedl
Dušan Vemić
6–7(6–8), 6–7(3–7)
Loss 5–10 Aug 2010 San Sebastián, Spain Challenger Clay Andreas Siljeström Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo
Santiago Ventura
4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss 5–11 Sep 2010 Genova, Italy Challenger Clay Andreas Siljeström Andre Begemann
Martin Emmrich
6–1, 6–7(3–7), [7–10]
Win 6–11 Nov 2015 Niceville, Florida, United States Futures Clay Boris Nicola Bakalov Nick Chappell
Dane Webb
7–6(7–5), 5–7, [10–6]

References

  1. Archived September 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Brian Battistone – Tennis Players - Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  3. Starritt, Alex (October 22, 2008). "Two-handled tennis racquet developed in US". Telegraph. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
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