Izak van der Merwe

Country (sports)	South Africa
Residence	Stellenbosch, South Africa
Born	(1984-01-26) 26 January 1984 (age 40) Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	2005
Retired	2014
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$430,017
Singles
Career record	16–16
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 113 (1 August 2011)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q3 (2011)
French Open	Q2 (2011)
Wimbledon	1R (2008)
US Open	Q2 (2009)
Doubles
Career record	8–8
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 94 (18 July 2011)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	A
French Open	A
Wimbledon	2R (2012)
US Open	A
Last updated on: 05 Oktober 2018.

Izak van der Merwe (born 26 January 1984) is a retired South African tennis player.

Van der Merwe had a career high ATP singles ranking of 113 achieved on 1 August 2011.

Van der Merwe represented South Africa at the Davis Cup.

He says he tried to base his play on the former Wimbledon champion, Pete Sampras. ^[1]

Tennis career highlights

2005–2007: Career beginnings

Van der Merwe turned pro in 2005 and ended the year with a single ranking of 721. During this time Van der Merwe mainly played in the ITF Futures tour. In October 2005, Van der Merwe won his first ITF Futures single title in Zimbabwe F1.

In 2006 Van der Merwe reached 5 ITF Futures tour single finals, winning 1. In 2007 Van der Merwe won 3 ITF Futures tour titles.

2008: 1st Grand Slam entry

In June 2008, van der Merwe qualified into the 2008 Wimbledon main draw, beating World No. 177 Miguel Ángel López Jaén, World No. 126 Kristian Pless, and World No. 246 Frédéric Niemeyer. He would then go on to lose to Guillermo García-López 7–5, 6–2, 6–2.

In August 2008 Van der Merwe also reached his first Challenger tour final at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, where he lost to Brian Dabul.

2010: 1st ATP Challenger title

In August 2010 Van der Merwe won his maiden ATP Challenger title at the Campos Do Jordao-1 in Brazil, when he defeated world number 88 Ricardo Mello.

2011: Second and Third ATP Challenger titles

In February Van der Merwe reached his first main draw Semi-Finals on the ATP World Tour, when he reached the Semi-Finals of the SA Tennis Open (ATP 250 Event) in Johannesburg, South Africa. He went on to lose to world number 110 Somdev Devvarman.

In April Van der Merwe won his second ATP Challenger title at the Soweto Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, when he defeated countryman and world number 184 Rik De Voest. In November Van der Merwe won his third ATP Challenger title at the Charlottesville Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, when he defeated world number 283 Jesse Levine.

2012

In July he reached the Quarter-Finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (ATP 250 event) in Newport, RI, U.S.A. .

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 17 (8 titles-9 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	23 October 2005	Zimbabwe F1, Bulawayo	Hard	Andrew Anderson	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss	2.	21 May 2006	USA F11, Tampa	Clay	Robert Yim	6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	3.	2 July 2006	Thailand F3, Bangkok	Hard	Takahiro Terachi	7–6, 1–6, 4–6
Loss	4.	8 October 2006	USA F25, Laguna Niguel	Hard	Brian Wilson	7–6, 2–6, 4–6
Win	5.	22 October 2006	USA F26, Mansfield	Hard	Michael McClune	7–6, 6–4
Loss	6.	29 October 2006	USA F27, Baton Rouge	Hard	Dudi Sela	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Win	7.	15 April 2007	USA F7, Mobile	Hard	Ryler DeHeart	6–1, 6–4
Win	8.	22 July 2007	USA F18, Joplin	Hard	Andrey Kumantsov	6–3, 6–4
Win	9.	28 October 2007	USA F27, Baton Rouge	Hard	Carsten Ball	6–2, 7–6
Loss	10.	10 August 2008	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Hard	Brian Dabul	5–7, 7–6, 3–6
Loss	11.	24 May 2009	Cremona, Italy	Hard	Benjamin Becker	5–7, 1–6
Loss	12.	18 April 2010	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Dustin Brown	6–7, 3–6
Win	13.	8 August 2010	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Hard	Ricardo Mello	7–6(8–6), 6–3
Loss	14.	15 August 2010	Brasilia, Brazil	Hard	Tatsuma Ito	4–6, 4–6
Win	15.	17 April 2011	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Rik de Voest	6–7(2–7), 7–5, 6–3
Loss	16.	7 August 2011	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Hard	Rogerio Dutra Silva	4–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win	17.	6 November 2011	Charlottesville, United States	Hard	Jesse Levine	4–6, 6–3, 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Current till 2013 US Open.