Alex Kuznetsov
Alex Kuznetsov (born February 5, 1987) is a retired American professional tennis player. He is a former hitting partner of Maria Sharapova Personal life. Kuznetsov was born in Ukraine. His family moved to the United States when he was 3 years old, settling just outside Philadelphia. He resides in Tampa, Florida, where he trains at Saddlebrook Resort Club. He trains with John Isner and Tim Smyczek. He is married and enjoys playing golf in his spare time. Kuznetsov is not related to Russian tennis players Svetlana Kuznetsova or Andrey Kuznetsov. Tennis career. Juniors. Kuznetsov was coached by Jason  Katzer during his youth. As a junior Kuznetsov compiled a singles win–loss record of 67–27 (50-21 in doubles), reaching a combined junior world ranking of No. 4 in July 2004. Junior Slam results – Singles: Australian Open: - French Open: F (2004) Wimbledon: 2R (2004) US Open: 3R (2005) Nike offered Alex a 1 million dollar sponsorship contract as soon as he turned pro which he accepted. He was involved in a serious car accident soon after. Projected to take a full year to recover from breaking his femur due to his car accident, he returned to tennis just 6  months later after having a titanium rod inserted into his right thigh. 2006. In July 2006 Alex played in the Comerica Challenger in Aptos, defeating Go Soeda for the 2006 singles title. At the 2006 US Open, he lost to 14th seed Tommy Haas. 2006 also saw Kuznetsov appear in the video game Top Spin 2 as an up-and-coming star. 2007. Kuznetsov reached the second round of the 2007 Australian Open, defeating Australian Peter Luczak before losing to fellow American James Blake, 6–4, 6–1, 6–2. Kuznetsov gave Blake an early scare by breaking Blake's first two service  games. In April 2007, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 158. In the 2007 US Open he played doubles with American Jesse Levine. They won their first round match over Dominik Hrbatý of Slovakia and Harel Levy of Israel, 6–1, 6–4, and their second round match, upsetting 7th-seeded Frenchmen Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–6(5), 6–4, before losing in the third round to 9th-seeded Czechs Lukáš Dlouhý and Pavel Vízner, 6–4, 7–5. In December, Kuznetsov, Levine, and Wayne Odesnik were invited by the USTA to play off in a round-robin for the wild -card berth in the Australian Open. Levine won the wild card. Performance timelines. Singles. "Current through 2015 Australian Open. Doubles. "Current till US Open.