Wikipedia

James McGee (tennis)

James McGee (born 10 June 1987) is an Irish former professional tennis player. He was born in Castleknock, Ireland. He attended Belvedere College in Dublin, County Dublin.

James McGee
Country (sports) Ireland
ResidenceCastleknock, Ireland
Born (1987-06-10) 10 June 1987 (age 37)
Castleknock, Ireland
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro2008
Retired2017
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeNC State
Prize money$380,510
Singles
Career record9–10
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 146 (22 June 2015)
Current rankingNo. 722 (2 July 2018)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ3 (2016, 2017)
French OpenQ3 (2014)
WimbledonQ2 (2017)
US Open1R (2014)
Doubles
Career record4–4
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 430 (17 May 2010)
Last updated on: 4 December 2017.

Personal life

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McGee was born to Kieran and Marie McGee.[1] He started playing tennis at the age of seven at Castleknock.[2] He won his school's tennis championship in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and was also awarded the Most Outstanding Player of the Year in Ireland in 2003.[1] He was educated at Belvedere College in Dublin and then obtained a major in Psychology from North Carolina State University in 2008.[2]

Career

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McGee has spent most of his career on the Futures and Challenger circuits. As of 9 June 2014, he had played in 10 Davis Cup ties for Ireland with a record of 13 wins and 8 losses (9–5 in singles & 4–3 in doubles).[3]

2014

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James McGee at the Nice Open 2014.

McGee had finished 2013 in good form and continued this into 2014, reaching the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas de Nouvelle-Calédonie in Nouméa, equalling his best performance at a challenger.[4] He then competed in Australian Open qualifying but lost in his first match to eventual qualifier Jimmy Wang.[5] McGee later recorded an impressive win over top 100 player Alex Bogomolov, Jr.[6] at the Challenger of Dallas and then narrowly missed out on making his first ATP World Tour main draw the following week, losing in the final round of qualifying at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships to David Goffin.[6] In March, McGee played in qualifying for the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, but was again defeated by Goffin.[6] He then helped Ireland to a 3–2 victory over Egypt in the Davis Cup, winning both his singles rubbers in straight sets.[7]

In late April, McGee once again equalled his best challenger result, reaching the semi-finals of the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger.[8] He then went on to win his first ever Grand Slam qualifying match, defeating Norbert Gomboš at the French Open and then stunning Guido Pella in two sets in the following round. McGee, however, was unable to become the first Irish tennis player since Sean Sorensen, in 1982, to reach the French Open main draw, as he lost in straight sets to Andrea Arnaboldi.[9] In early June, McGee once again reached the final round of qualifying for an ATP World Tour event, this time at the Queen's Club Championships, but came up just short in a tight three sets match against Daniel Brands. McGee next competed at Wimbledon qualifying but was defeated in straight sets by Aljaž Bedene.[10]

McGee then travelled to North America for the summer hardcourt swing. He first competed at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships but lost out to Tim Smyczek in the second round. McGee then came his closest to making an ATP World Tour main draw at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, where he lost to Ante Pavić in a final set tie-break in the final qualifying round. He then reached the semi-finals of the Challenger Banque Nationale de Granby. This result saw him break into the top 200 of the rankings for the first time in his career, reaching a new high of 193.[11] He also made the semi-finals of the doubles with Chase Buchanan. The following week, at the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships, McGee defeated the number one seed Evgeny Donskoy in the opening round.[12] He was eliminated at the quarter-final stage by 2011 champion Wayne Odesnik.[13] In the doubles he again played with Chase Buchanan and the pair reached the final, the first challenger final of McGee's career, but they were defeated in straight sets.[14] The following week he lost to Vincent Millot in the opening round of the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open.[15]

McGee qualified for his first-ever grand slam main draw at the 2014 US Open after defeating Zhang Ze in the final round of qualifiers in 3 sets.[16] He also defeated Gonzalo Lama[17] and Yuki Bhambri[18] during the qualifying stages. McGee faced Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the first round of the main draw where he lost in 4 sets.[19] Despite this defeat, the prize money earned for reaching the first round accounted for more than a quarter of his career earnings to date.[20]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 12 (5–7)

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ATP Challenger (1–2)
ITF Futures (4–5)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Oct 2008 Rethymno, Greece Futures Carpet   Daniel Danilovic 6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Jun 2011 Madrid, Spain Futures Hard   Arnau Brugués-Davi 5–7, 7–6(7–3), 6–7(0–7)
Loss 0–3 Jul 2011 Rabat, Morocco Futures Clay   Mehdi Ziadi 4–6, 4–6
Win 1–3 Jul 2011 Dublin, Ireland Futures Carpet   Charles-Antoine Brezac 6–3, 6–3
Win 2–3 Mar 2012 Manama, Bahrain Futures Hard   Jordi Samper-Montaña 6–4, 6–4
Win 3–3 Jun 2012 Melilla, Spain Futures Hard   Mohamed Safwat 6–3, 7–5
Loss 3–4 Jan 2013 Eilat, Israel Futures Hard   Jiří Veselý 2–6, 4–6
Loss 3–5 Feb 2013 Brownsville, United States Futures Hard   Rik de Voest 6–7(6–8), 1–6
Win 4–5 Aug 2013 Libreville, Gabon Futures Hard   Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Loss 0–1 Mar 2015 San Luis Potosí, Mexico Challenger Clay   Guido Pella 3–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Apr 2015 Savannah, United States Challenger Clay   Chung Hyeon 3–6, 2–6
Win 1–2 Sep 2016 Cary, United States Challenger Hard   Ernesto Escobedo 1–6, 6–1, 6–4

Doubles: 11 (5–6)

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ATP Challenger (0–1)
ITF Futures (5–5)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Oct 2008 Rethymno, Greece Futures Carpet   Ioan-Alexandru Cojanu   Paris Gemouchidis
  Bogdan-Victor Leonte 		6–4, 6–2
Win 2–0 Feb 2009 Bergheim, Austria Futures Carpet (i)   Jiri Krkoska   Kevin Deden
  Bastian Knittel 		6–3, 6–7(6–8), [10–4]
Win 3–0 May 2009 Newcastle, United Kingdom Futures Clay   Colin O'Brien   Nick Cavaday
  Barry King 		6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–1 Aug 2009 Moscow, Russia Futures Clay   Romano Frantzen   Ivan Anikanov
  Artem Smirnov 		3–6, 4–6
Win 4–1 Nov 2009 Cardiff, United Kingdom Futures Hard (i)   Barry King   Tim Bradshaw
  Alexander Slabinsky 		6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss 4–2 Feb 2010 Sarajevo, Bosnia Futures Carpet   Colin O'Brien   Chris Eaton
  Dominic Inglot 		walkover
Loss 4–3 Apr 2010 Angers, France Futures Clay (i)   Olivier Charroin   Charles-Antoine Brezac
  Vincent Stouff 		4–6, 1–6
Loss 4–4 Jul 2011 Dublin, Ireland Futures Carpet   James Cluskey   Albano Olivetti
  Neal Skupski 		6–7(4–7), 3–6
Win 5–4 Mar 2012 Manama, Bahrain Futures Hard   Sam Barry   Jeremy Jahn
  Matthew Short 		7–5, 4–6, [10–8]
Loss 5–5 Jul 2012 Dublin, Ireland Futures Carpet   Jaime Pulgar-Garcia   Albano Olivetti
  Elie Rousset 		3–6, 4–6
Loss 0–1 Jul 2014 Lexington, Mexico Challenger Hard   Chase Buchanan   Peter Polansky
  Adil Shamasdin 		4–6, 2–6

Singles performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A Q1 Q2 Q3 Q3 A 0–0
French Open A A A A A A Q3 Q1 A Q1 A 0–0
Wimbledon A A A A A Q1 Q1 Q1 A Q2 A 0–0
US Open A A A A A A 1R A A Q1 A 0–1
Career statistics
Overall win–loss 0–0 0–1 2–2 1–0 3–0 1–2 2–1 0–3 0–1 0–0 0–0 9–10
Year-end ranking 579 514 655 364 346 242 200 202 194 366

References

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  1. ^ a b "James McGee's Profile". College Tennis Online. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b Fuller, Russell (24 August 2014). "US Open 2014: Ireland's James McGee living New York dream". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  3. ^ "James McGee Davis Cup Profile". ATP. 16 September 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. ^ Hickey, Paddy (4 January 2014). "Brave McGee comes up short in epic struggle in New Caledonia". Irish Examiner.
  5. ^ Rothenberg, Ben (9 January 2014). "Lonely at the Top? Try the Lower Rungs of Professional Tennis". The New York Times.
  6. ^ a b c "Net gains: Ireland's top tennis player James McGee on the struggle to climb the rankings". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  7. ^ Watterson, Johnny. "McGee victory secures Ireland's place in Davis Cup". The Irish Times.
  8. ^ "10 Things: James McGee". Tennis Now.
  9. ^ Watterson, Johnny. "McGee falls just short of Roland Garros". The Irish Times.
  10. ^ "No Wimbledon this year for Irish duo McGee and Sorensen after qualifying defeats today". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  11. ^ Brennan, Eilís (22 July 2014). "Tennis Tuesday – McGee Breaks Top 200 Fognini Breaks Racquet". Pundit Arena. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  12. ^ "Tuesday's Recap". Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  13. ^ "Friday's Recap". Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  14. ^ "Saturday's Recap". Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  15. ^ "Men's Singles First Round Section 1". Odlum Brown Van Open. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  16. ^ "James McGee qualifies for US Open". The Irish Times. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  17. ^ "James McGee progresses in US Open qualifying". The Irish Times. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  18. ^ "James McGee now one win away from US Open main draw". The Irish Times. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  19. ^ "James McGee bows out of US Open". The Irish Times. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  20. ^ Crooks, Eleanor (24 August 2014). "James McGee: 'I sat on my chair and I started crying like a big baby'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
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