# Brian Battistone

Brian Battistone (born August 10, 1979) is an American professional tennis player. He was born in Santa Barbara, California and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. 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 (the others being his brother Dann Battistone and Tennyson Whiting) to use a two-handled tennis racket.

## 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.
Sometime during his childhood, Battistone moved from Santa Barbara to Palm Desert.

## 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 and 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. He turned pro in 2007. His ranking started to improve. He 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. He lost his singles rankings, and he began to play ITF qualifying matches by the time 2012 came.

### Doubles

Battistone played his first doubles match in 1998, and he got his first ATP ranking of 1366 in 1999. His career took a big leap after turning pro in 2007. Battistone won 4 ATP Challenger titles and 2 ITF Futures titles, between 2007 and 2015. He won his first Futures tournament in 2007 with his brother. He won 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, with his brother Dann. His doubles success earned him a wildcard spot into the 2010 US Open, with Ryler DeHeart. He won his first ATP Men's Doubles match, in October of 2010, with Andreas Siljeström as his partner, in the 2010 Stockholm Open. This victory helped to push him to his highest doubles ranking of 88 on November 1, 2010. He returned to the US Open in 2012 in the mixed doubles category, with Nicole Melichar, as his partner. He won his first doubles title in five years, in 2015, at an ITF event, with Boris Nicola Bakalov. Battistone has been most notable for having the following partners: his brother Dann, Ryler Deheart, Andreas Silijeström, Nicholas Monroe, and Treat Huey.

## Playing style

Battistone is known for having an unorthodox style of play. He uses a volleyball-style jump serve. He jumps into the court, he switches the racket hand in mid-air, and he hits the ball before landing on the tennis court. He is a serve-and-volley player, which means that he volleys the ball as soon as it is returned to him after his serve. Battistone has a tendency to switch his backhand shot 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, that was designed by his coach Lionel Burt, of the Natural Tennis racquet factory. Brian and Dann have tried to advertise Burt's racket design. They have tried to make it more widespread, but the design did not attract 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] |