J.J. Wolf
Jeffrey John "J.J." Wolf (born December 21, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 120 in September 2020. Wolf played collegiately at The Ohio State University. Wolf began playing semi-pro tennis in 2016 and three years later, in July 2019, signed with Topnotch Management to play professionally. Early years. Wolf was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and attended Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill, Ohio. He is the grandson of NBA basketball coach Charley Wolf. In 2016, as the nation's third ranked recruit, he committed  to playing collegiate tennis for the Ohio State Buckeyes. On the junior tour, Wolf has a career-high ranking of No. 18 achieved on 16 May 2016. College. In his first season, at Ohio State University, Wolf was named 2017 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and First-Team All Big Ten. As of April 23, 2019 Wolf was the No. 1 ranked college player in the U.S. In 2019, Wolf had a combined record of 45–3 between singles and doubles. On April 25, 2019, Wolf was named Big Ten Men's Tennis Athlete of the Year. Career. 2016–2017: Grand  Slam doubles debut. Wolf made his Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2016 US Open in the doubles event, partnering with John McNally. He received a wildcard to play in the men's singles qualifying competition for the 2017 US Open, but did not win a set. 2018: First top 100 win. On August 12, 2018, Wolf defeated world No. 85 Jozef Kovalik in the first round of qualifying at the 2018 Western and Southern Open in Mason, Ohio. Wolf won the match 7–6, 7–6. This upset marked Wolf's first win against an ATP top 100 player. 2019 : Turning professional. Wolf turned professional in July 2019 and signed with Topnotch Management. He turned pro after going 35–2 and earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors as a junior at Ohio State. On September 22, Wolf made it to the finals of the Columbus 3 Challenger event, losing to Peter Polansky. He beat fellow rising American Michael Mmoh in the round of 16 and top seed Emilio Gómez in the semifinals. Wolf reached a career-high of No. 189 in the ATP singles rankings on November 18, 2019 after winning the 2019 Champaign Challenger, defeating Sebastian Korda in  a tight two-and-a-half hour match. In January 2020 he started the year by winning the ATP Challenger Tour final in Nouméa, defeating Yuichi Sugita in the final. 2020: Top 150 and Grand Slam singles debut and first two ATP tour level wins, US Open third round. As of August 2020, Wolf won four Challenger titles and was victorious in three of his last five events dating back to the previous season. He was 14–2 with two titles during the first two months of 2020 before play was suspended due to the pandemic and made his top 50  debut on March 2, 2020 at World No. 144. He qualified for the Western & Southern Open and was awarded a wildcard to the main draw at the 2020 U.S. Open. At the U.S. Open, Wolf defeated 29th-seeded Guido Pella of Argentina 6–2, 0–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the first round. Wolf went on to defeat Spain’s Roberto Carballés Baena 6–2, 6–4, 6–3 in round two, before losing in the third round to Russian Daniil Medvedev 6–3, 6–3, 6–2. Wolf is only the third Ohio State Buckeye to reach the third round at the US Open after Francisco González in  1980 and Roger Smith in 1994. 2021: Hernia operations and tennis hiatus. In early 2021, Wolf underwent two hernia operations and could not compete for seven months. 2022: Injuries, out of top 200. Ranked 209th at the 2022 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Wolf reached the second round as a qualifier after defeating World No. 21 Lorenzo Sonego. It was his first ATP win since the 2020 US Open and only the third of his career. At his next tournament in Indian Wells, Wolf, having qualified for the tournament again, beat Hugo Gaston in straight sets before losing in three  sets to 15th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, despite having a match point in the third set. Wolf then reached the semifinals at the Phoenix Challenger, losing to eventual champion Denis Kudla. Wolf then qualified for Miami, and beat Daniel Altmaier in the first round. He lost in three sets to 3rd seed and world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Performance timeline. Singles. "Current through the 2022 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships."