Dušan Lajović
Dušan Lajović (; born 30 June 1990) is a Serbian professional tennis player. Lajović has won one singles and two doubles titles on the ATP Tour. On 29 April 2019, Lajović reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 23. On 8 June 2015, he peaked at No. 104 in the doubles rankings. He is best known for his clay-court game, powerful serve and strong flowing groundstrokes, especially his one-handed backhand. In recent years, he has played for the Serbian Davis Cup team, contributing to their achieving one final, one semifinal, and three quarterfinals. He won  his first tournament at the 2019 Croatia Open and reached his first Masters 1000 final at the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters. Tennis career. For a long time, Lajović primarily played on the Futures circuit and the Challenger circuit. In 2011 he qualified for the Kremlin Cup, and lost in the first round of the main draw. In the 2011 St. Petersburg Open, he reached the quarterfinals for the first time in his career. In 2012, he began working with a new coach, Boris Bošnjaković, played in the Davis Cup for the first time, reached the finals of 2012 Orbetello Challenger  and won the 2012 Samarkand Challenger. Replacing an injured Janko Tipsarevic, he played two live rubbers in the 2013 Davis Cup final, including the deciding rubber against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. He was defeated comfortably in both but was praised by team-mate Novak Djokovic for how he coped with the big occasion. 2014: French Open fourth round. His first appearance in the main draw of a grand slam was at Australian Open and he reached second round where he lost to Kei Nishikori. He bettered this at the French Open by reaching the fourth round where he  was beaten in straight sets by then-world number one and eventual champion Rafael Nadal. 2015: First ATP doubles title & second Davis Cup quarterfinal. Partnered with Radu Albot, they won the Istanbul doubles title, marking the first ATP doubles title for the Serb. At the French Open he lost to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round in four sets. 2016: Third Davis Cup quarterfinal. At the Argentina Open, Lajović reached quarterfinals defeating world No. 12 John Isner en route. He reached semifinals of the Brasil Open after beating top seed and world No. 20 Benoît Paire in the  second round, that was his first tour-level semifinal appearance after losing all eight prior quarterfinals matches before in his career. This was followed by semifinal appearances at the Generali Open & Los Cabos Open. 2017: Masters round of 16 & Davis Cup semifinal. In Indian wells, the Serbian defeated five opponents to reach the fourth round eventually losing to Pablo Carreno Busta. His contributions in successful Davis Cup ties against Russia & Spain, resulted in Serbia making the semifinal where he defeated Lucas Pouille but lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. 2018: Masters quarterfinal. At the Australian Open Lajović lost in five sets  to US Open quarterfinalist Diego Schwartzman in his opening match. His next match was a five set loss to Miami Masters champion John Isner in a Davis Cup tie. A temporary return to the Challenger Tour resulted in winning the Open Region Guadeloupe. After qualifying for the Monte-Carlo Masters, he faced 12 time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, losing in straight sets. At the Madrid Masters, he defeated former top ten player Richard Gasquet in the second round, followed by a victory over world No. 6 Juan Martín del Potro, before falling to world No. 8 Kevin Anderson in  the quarterfinals. This clay-court season was topped off with a semifinal appearance at the Lyon Open and a five-set loss at the French Open to world No. 3 Alexander Zverev. Lajović's first-round match at Wimbledon was against defending champion & world No. 2 Roger Federer, he would lose in three quick sets. At the China Open he was able to secure his second victory over a top 10 player, defeating world No. 7 Grigor Dimitrov. On 15 October, Lajović reached the top 50 ranking for the first time in his career. 2019: Top 25; Masters final, maiden  title. In January 2019, Lajović scored his 100th career victory and reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 45. Lajović secured his third top-ten victory in Miami defeating world No. 6 Kei Nishikori. At the Monte-Carlo Masters, he reached his maiden ATP Tour final without dropping a set. En route to the final, Lajović defeated former top 10 player David Goffin, reigning French Open finalist, world No. 5 Dominic Thiem, and world No. 14 Daniil Medvedev. His run ended in the final against Fabio Fognini in straight sets. Lajović climbed to a new career-high ranking  of No. 24 at the conclusion of the tournament. Lajović won his first ATP Tour singles title at the Croatian Open in Umag, defeating Hungarian Attila Balázs in the final. 2020: ATP Cup champion. At the inaugural ATP Cup, Lajović assisted Serbia in making history as the first nation to win Davis, World Team and ATP Cups, winning four of six matches. At the Australian Open he defeated 2018 semifinalist Kyle Edmund in straight sets before losing to world no. 14 Diego Schwartzman in the third round. 2021: Australian Open fourth round. Lajović started his 2021 season representing Serbia at  the ATP Cup. He lost to Milos Raonic of Canada and Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. Despite winning last year, Serbia failed to defend the title. Seeded 23rd at the Australian Open, he reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for a second time in his career; he was defeated by 6th seed Alexander Zverev. Seeded third at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, Lajović was eliminated in the second round by Dennis Novak. At the Rotterdam Open, he stunned top seed and world No. 3, Daniil Medvedev, in the first round. With this win, Lajović was able  to stop Medvedev from reaching number two in the ATP rankings. He was beaten in the second round by Borna Ćorić. 2022. Lajović started his 2022 season by representing Serbia at the ATP Cup as the No. 1 player after the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic. He lost to Casper Ruud of Norway, Cristian Garín of Chile via retirement, and Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. In the end, Serbia ended 3rd in Group A. Style of playing. Lajović plays his best games on clay courts, with a strong baseline game capable of creating decent pace on both wings. He can create  heavy kick on his serve, especially effective on clay. Personal life. Lajović was born 30 June 1990 in Belgrade, Serbia to parents Marina and Dragiša Lajović. He started playing tennis when he was seven years old in T.K. Stara Pazova and later continued in T.K. Partizan Belgrade. He is in longtime relationship with Serbian doctor Lidija Mikic. He lives in Stara Pazova, Serbia where he owns a coffee shop. Performance timelines. Singles. "Current through the 2022 Estoril Open."