# Darian King

Darian King (born 26 April 1992 in Bridgetown) is a Barbadian tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 106 achieved on 8 May 2017, and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 156 achieved on 21 October 2019. He has represented Barbados at the Davis Cup and at the 2016 Olympics. His first Grand Slam appearance came at the 2017 US Open, where he lost to fourth seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets.

## Personal life

King was born on April 26, 1992, in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he currently resides. His father played field hockey and his mother played net ball and died of pancreatic cancer in 2010. He has 3 siblings; 2 brothers and 1 sister. One of the brothers, Christopher, is King's current head coach. He is good friends with many tennis players Frances Tiafoe, Dustin Brown, Noah Rubin, Taylor Townsend, and Sloane Stephens. His favorite athlete is Usain Bolt.

## Career
### Junior career

King began playing tennis at the age of 8 and grew up idolizing Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Dustin Brown (now good friends with King). He played his first junior match in April 2006 at the age of 13 at a grade 4 tournament in Barbados. During his junior career, King made both the singles and doubles draw in 3 of the 4 boys grand slams in 2010 where he failed to make it past the first round once in the singles and made it to the second round twice in the doubles. In one tournament, he defeated future world No. 3 and 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem. He ended his junior career with a high ranking of 47 in both the singles and the doubles (both attained on January 4, 2010) and a record of 78–47 in singles and 81–35 in doubles.
Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: A (-) French Open: 1R (2010) Wimbledon: 1R (2010) US Open: 1R (2010)
Junior Grand Slam results – Doubles:
Australian Open: A (-) French Open: 2R (2010) Wimbledon: 2R (2010) US Open: 1R (2010)

### Professional career

King officially turned pro in 2010 at the age of 17. He was considering on playing college tennis at UCLA but made the decision to turn pro instead. Between 2011 and 2016, King would go on to make 22 ITF futures finals, winning 13 of them. These results would continuously improve his year-end ranking.
In 2014 at the Charlottesville Challenger, King threw his racket at a lineswoman which got him defaulted. The incident went widespread throughout the tennis community and internet.
In 2015 at the Citi Open, King became the first Barbadian to qualify for an ATP event. He lost to Go Soeda in the first round in straight sets.
In 2016, King made his first challenger final at the 2016 Milo Open Cali. In the final, he defeated top seed Víctor Estrella Burgos in three sets to win his first challenger title. Two weeks later, he won another challenger title at the 2016 Levene Goulding and Thompson Tennis Challenger defeating Mitchell Krueger in the final in straight sets. Two months later, he would win his third challenger title of the year at the 2016 Tiburon Challenger defeating Michael Mmoh in the final in straight sets. This would also be the year that King played in the 2016 Summer Olympics having been invited to play in the main draw in the singles. He lost to eventual quarterfinalist Steve Johnson in the first round in straight sets.
In 2017, King became the first Barbadian to win an ATP match at the Memphis Open when he won against 5th seed Bernard Tomic in straight sets. He would then follow this up with back to back second round appearances at Indian Wells and the Miami Open, losing to his idol Gaël Monfils in Indian Wells in three sets and to David Goffin in Miami both in straight sets. He reached his career high-ranking of 106 on May 8, 2017. He then went into the 2017 Wimbledon qualifying as 8th send and made it to the qualifying competition before being eliminated by Lukáš Rosol in 4 sets. He qualified for the 2017 US Open for his first and only grand slam. He lost to 4th seed Alexander Zverev in very close straight sets. He finished 2017 with a fourth challenger final at the 2017 Stockton Challenger where he lost to Cameron Norrie in straight sets.
Throughout 2018–2021 his ranking would slowly start to decline. He made two more challenger finals at the 2018 Indian Wells Challenger and the 2019 Orlando Open but lost both. He also made three more qualifying competitions at Grand Slams. Twice at the Australian Open (2018), (2019) and once at the US Open (2019). He would once again lose every single one. He did have some success in doubles, however. In the doubles, he would make 26 ITF futures finals and win 18 of them. In the challenger tour, he made seven challenger finals and won four of them. He's also known for partnering with Peter Polansky on numerous occasions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, King underwent wrist surgery which would keep him inactive until February 2021.

### Davis Cup

King made his Davis Cup debut in 2009 at the age of 16. During his time with the Barbadian Davis Cup team, he posted a win–loss record of 29–11 in singles, 11–11 in doubles, and 40–22 overall.

## Challenger and Futures finals
### Singles: 32 (18–14)

* Legend (singles)
* ATP Challenger Tour (3–3)
* ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour (15–11)
* Titles by surface
* Hard (10–14)
* Clay (8–0)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Sep 2011 | USA F23, Claremont | Futures | Hard | Steve Johnson | 2–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Jul 2012 | USA F20, Joplin | Futures | Hard | Sébastien Boltz | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 1–2 | Sep 2012 | Mexico F9, Manzanillo | Futures | Hard | Alexandre Schnitman | 6–4, 5–0 ret. |
| Win | 2–2 | Sep 2012 | Mexico F11, Manzanillo | Futures | Hard | Yoshihito Nishioka | 6–0, 6–1 |
| Loss | 2–3 | May 2013 | Mexico F6, Puebla | Futures | Hard | Miguel Gallardo Valles | 6–3, 3–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 3–3 | Jul 2013 | USA F20, Joplin | Futures | Hard | Alexander Sarkissian | 6–3, 7–6$^{(7–3)}$ |
| Loss | 3–4 | Oct 2013 | Mexico F16, Quintana Roo | Futures | Hard | David Souto | 6–4, 4–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 3–5 | Nov 2013 | Mexico F17, Quintana Roo | Futures | Hard | Michael Quintero | 5–7, 6–0, 2–6 |
| Win | 4–5 | Mar 2014 | USA F7, Sunrise | Futures | Clay | Marc Rath | 6–7$^{(2–7)}$, 7–5, 6–1 |
| Win | 5–5 | Aug 2014 | Romania F11, Iași | Futures | Clay | Filip Horanský | 7–6$^{(10–8)}$, 6–0 |
| Win | 6–5 | Aug 2014 | Netherlands F6, Rotterdam | Futures | Clay | Julien Obry | 2–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
| Loss | 6–6 | Nov 2014 | Mexico F12, Huatulco | Futures | Hard | Agustín Velotti | 1–6, 6–4, 5–7 |
| Win | 7–6 | Feb 2015 | Panama F1, Panama City | Futures | Clay | Bastian Trinker | 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 7–7 | Apr 2015 | USA F13, Little Rock | Futures | Hard | Jason Jung | 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
| Win | 8–7 | May 2015 | USA F15, Orange Park | Futures | Clay | Stefan Kozlov | 6–2, 3–6, 6–0 |
| Win | 9–7 | May 2015 | Mexico F4, Córdoba | Futures | Hard | Ernesto Escobedo | 7–5, 5–7, 6–4 |
| Win | 10–7 | Jun 2015 | USA F19, Tulsa | Futures | Hard | Noah Rubin | 2–6, 7–5, 6–0 |
| Win | 11–7 | Nov 2015 | Venezuela F3, Margarita Island | Futures | Hard | Peđa Krstin | 6–3, 1–0 ret. |
| Win | 12–7 | Nov 2015 | El Salvador F2, La Libertad | Futures | Hard | Marcelo Arévalo | 7–6$^{(8–6)}$, 6–4 |
| Win | 13–7 | May 2016 | Mexico F1, Córdoba | Futures | Hard | Adam El Mihdawy | 6–1, 6–4 |
| Loss | 13–8 | May 2016 | Mexico F2, Pachuca | Futures | Hard | Marcelo Tomás Barrios Vera | 1–6, 6–7$^{(3–7)}$ |
| Loss | 13–9 | Jun 2016 | USA F18, Winston-Salem | Futures | Hard | Sekou Bangoura | 3–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 14-9 | Jul 2016 | Cali, Colombia | Challenger | Clay | Víctor Estrella Burgos | 5–7, 6–4, 7–5 |
| Win | 15-9 | Jul 2016 | Binghamton, USA | Challenger | Hard | Mitchell Krueger | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Win | 16-9 | Oct 2016 | Tiburon, USA | Challenger | Hard | Michael Mmoh | 7–6$^{(7–2)}$, 6–2 |
| Loss | 16-10 | Oct 2017 | Stockton, USA | Challenger | Hard | Cameron Norrie | 1–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 16-11 | Mar 2018 | Indian Wells, USA | Challenger | Hard | Martin Kližan | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 16-12 | Jan 2019 | Orlando, USA | Challenger | Hard | Marcos Giron | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 16-13 | Nov 2022 | M15 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | World Tennis Tour | Hard | Bernard Tomic | 3–6, 6–4, 3–6 |
| Loss | 16-14 | Jan 2023 | M15 Ithaca, USA | World Tennis Tour | Hard | Radu Mihai Papoe | 6–1, 4–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 17-14 | Jul 2023 | M15 Rochester, USA | World Tennis Tour | Clay | Ignacio Monzón | 6–0, 7–6$^{(7–2)}$ |
| Win | 18-14 | Jul 2023 | M15 Pittsburgh, USA | World Tennis Tour | Clay | Juan Carlos Aguilar | 4–6, 6–3, 6–3 |

### Doubles: 33 (22–11)

* Legend (doubles)
* ATP Challenger Tour (4–3)
* ITF Futures Tour (18–8)
* Titles by surface
* Hard (17–8)
* Clay (5–3)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Mar 2011 | Canada F1, Montreal | Futures | Hard (i) | Haydn Lewis | Maxime Authom Adrien Bossel | 6–4, 2–6, [10–5] |
| Loss | 1–1 | May 2011 | Venezuela F3, Caracas | Futures | Hard | Armando Javier Boschetti | Piero Luisi Román Recarte | 6–3, 2–6, [8–10] |
| Win | 2–1 | May 2011 | Mexico F3, Mexico City | Futures | Hard | Haydn Lewis | Christopher Díaz Figueroa Miguel Gallardo Valles | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2–2 | May 2011 | Mexico F4, Guadalajara | Futures | Hard | Haydn Lewis | Luis Díaz Barriga Antonio Ruiz-Rosales | 6–7$^{(7–9)}$, 4–6 |
| Loss | 2–3 | Sep 2011 | Canada F5, Toronto | Futures | Clay | Sekou Bangoura | Maciek Sykut Denis Zivkovic | 2–6, 1–6 |
| Win | 3–3 | May 2012 | Mexico F5, Celaya | Futures | Hard | Devin Britton | Ben Wagland Marious Zelba | 2–6, 6–4, [10–4] |
| Win | 4–3 | May 2012 | Mexico F6, Guadalajara | Futures | Hard | Devin Britton | Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela Bruno Rodríguez | 6–3, 5–7, [10–4] |
| Win | 5–3 | Jun 2012 | USA F16, Indian Harbour Beach | Futures | Clay | Ruben Gonzales | Kevin King Juan Carlos Spir | 6–2, 3–6, [10–4] |
| Loss | 5–4 | Jul 2012 | USA F20, Joplin | Futures | Hard | Yuri Bezeruk | Harrison Adams Shane Vinsant | 3–6, 6–2, [11–13] |
| Loss | 5–5 | Sep 2012 | Mexico F10, Manzanillo | Futures | Hard | Christopher Díaz Figueroa | Marcelo Arévalo Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela | 1–6, 5–7 |
| Win | 6–5 | Nov 2012 | Mexico F14, Mérida | Futures | Hard | Yuri Bezeruk | Mauricio Astorga Marvin Barker | 6–3, 6–1 |
| Win | 7–5 | Jan 2013 | Mexico F1, Ixtapa | Futures | Hard | Chris Letcher | Theodoros Angelinos Antoine Benneteau | 6–3, 6–1 |
| Loss | 7–6 | May 2013 | Mexico F6, Puebla | Futures | Hard | Alex Llompart | Miguel Gallardo Valles Alan Núñez Aguilera | 4–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 7–7 | Jun 2013 | Greece F9, Thessaloniki | Futures | Clay | Dominik Schulz | Konstantinos Economidis Alexandros Jakupovic | 1–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 8–7 | Oct 2013 | Mexico F14, Pachuca | Futures | Hard | Christopher Díaz Figueroa | Dean O'Brien Juan Carlos Spir | 6–4, 2–6, [10–8] |
| Loss | 8–8 | Feb 2014 | USA F6, Boynton Beach | Futures | Clay | Daniel Garza | Collin Altamirano Deiton Baughman | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 9–8 | Feb 2015 | USA F7, Sunrise | Futures | Clay | Cătălin Gârd | Li Yuanfeng Wil Spencer | 6–2, 6–1 |
| Win | 10–8 | Feb 2015 | USA F8, Plantation | Futures | Clay | Cătălin Gârd | Juan Ignacio Galarza Patricio Heras | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Win | 11–8 | Feb 2015 | Panama F1, Panama City | Futures | Clay | Julio Peralta | Iván Endara Eduardo Agustín Torre | w/o |
| Win | 12–8 | Mar 2015 | USA F10, Bakersfield | Futures | Hard | Sekou Bangoura | Mitchell Krueger Connor Smith | 6–4, 4–6, [10–7] |
| Win | 13–8 | Jul 2015 | USA F21, Wichita | Futures | Hard | Sanam Singh | Gonzales Austin Max Schnur | 6–3, 6–3 |
| Win | 14–8 | Nov 2015 | Venezuela F3, Margarita Island | Futures | Hard | Luis Fernando Ramírez | Christopher Díaz Figueroa Franco Feitt | 6–2, 3–6, [10–7] |
| Win | 15–8 | Nov 2015 | El Salvador F2, La Libertad | Futures | Hard | Emilio Gómez | Marcelo Arévalo Christopher Díaz Figueroa | 6–3, 7–6$^{(12–10)}$ |
| Win | 16–8 | Apr 2016 | Greece F3, Heraklion | Futures | Hard | Ricardo Rodríguez | Daniel Appelgren Christian Samuelsson | 7–6$^{(8–6)}$, 6–1 |
| Win | 17–8 | May 2016 | Mexico F2, Pachuca | Futures | Hard | Ruben Gonzales | José Daniel Bendeck Alejandro Moreno Figueroa | 6–7$^{(2–7)}$, 7–6$^{(7–3)}$, [10–4] |
| Win | 18–8 | Jul 2016 | USA F23, Wichita | Futures | Hard | Sekou Bangoura | Nicolas Meister Eric Quigley | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Win | 1–0 | Jul 2017 | Medellín, Colombia | Challenger | Clay | Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela | Nicolás Jarry Roberto Quiroz | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1–1 | Jul 2018 | Gatineau, Canada | Challenger | Hard | Peter Polansky | Robert Galloway Bradley Klahn | 6–7$^{(4–7)}$, 6–4, [8–10] |
| Win | 2–1 | Oct 2018 | Stockton, USA | Challenger | Hard | Noah Rubin | Sanchai Ratiwatana Christopher Rungkat | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2–2 | Mar 2019 | Indian Wells, USA | Challenger | Hard | Hunter Reese | JC Aragone Marcos Giron | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 3–2 | July 2019 | Winnipeg, Canada | Challenger | Hard | Peter Polansky | Adil Shamasdin Hunter Reese | 7–6$^{(10–8)}$, 6–3 |
| Loss | 3-3 | Sep 2019 | Tiburon, USA | Challenger | Hard | JC Aragone | Robert Galloway Roberto Maytín | 2-6, 5-7 |
| Win | 4–3 | Oct 2019 | Fairfield, Canada | Challenger | Hard | Peter Polansky | Sem Verbeek André Göransson | 6–4, 3–6, [12–10] |

## Performance timelines

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |

### Singles

Current through the 2022 Davis Cup.
| Tournament | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | SR | W–L | Win % |
| Grand Slam tournaments ||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q3 | Q1 | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | 0% |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | Q1 | Q1 | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | 0% |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q2 | Q3 | Q1 | Q1 | NH | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | 0% |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | Q2 | 1R | Q1 | Q3 | A | A | | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | Q1 | Q1 | NH | A | | 0 / 1 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Miami Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | Q1 | NH | A | | 0 / 2 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Italian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | A | A | | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | 0% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | 40% |
| National representation ||||||||||||||||||
| Summer Olympics | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | A | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | A | | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Davis Cup | Z3 | A | Z3 | Z2 | Z2 | Z2 | Z1 | Z1 | Z2 | Z1 | Z1 | PO | PO | | 0 / 0 | 31–12 | 72% |
| Win–loss | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 6–0 | 5–1 | 2–2 | 6–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0 / 1 | 31–13 | 70% |
| Career statistics ||||||||||||||||||
| | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Career | Career | Career |
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Overall win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 6–0 | 5–2 | 2–2 | 9–4 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 29–18 | 29–18 | 29–18 |
| Win % | 0% | 0% | 0% | 50% | 75% | 100% | 71% | 50% | 69% | 0% | 33% | 0% | 100% | | 61.7% | 61.7% | 61.7% |
| Year-end ranking | – | 1675 | 721 | 490 | 486 | 314 | 226 | 152 | 173 | 198 | 166 | 285 | 383 | | $ 629,778 | $ 629,778 | $ 629,778 |

## Record against other players

King's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been ranked No. 1 in boldface. ATP Tour matches and qualifying matches, ATP Challenger Tour matches and qualifying matches, ITF Tour matches and qualifying matches, and Davis Cup all count on record.
* Marcos Baghdatis 1–1
* David Goffin 0–1
* Jürgen Melzer 0–1
* Gaël Monfils 0–1
* Alexander Zverev 0–1
* Lucas Pouille 0–2
    * As of 21 August 2021.