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Status: Â ATP no. 89. Has career wins over Wawrinka, Monfils, Dimitrov, Haas, Seppi, Youzhny, Anderson.

Ht: Â 6-0 Wt: 159

DOB: Â Volograd, Russia Â In: December 26, 1987

First Tennis Memory: Â “The memory with my father introducing me to tennis. Bringing me on the court. It was very close to our house. He was my first coach, my first lesson. So this is my first memory about tennis.”

Tennis Inspirations: Â “Tennis by itself. I like tennis. I love to complete. I love to fight on the court. I love the game by itself. I love the competition. The speed of the tennis, competing by itself is really nice and a beautiful sport. So all of this is inspiring me.”

Greatest Career Moment: Â “Hard to say. I believe I have quite a few good results that I’m pretty proud of. Of course it’s my one ATP title (St. Petersburg in 2010 def. Youzhny in final). Couple of good wins like fourth round of Australian Open couple years ago. Some good matches in the Davis Cup. So I have quite a few similar results that I’m proud of. Of course I’m looking forward to getting one better.”

Most Painful Moment: Â “Tough to say. I’m trying always to look positive and try to find something positive in the matches I lose that I had chances to win. Like earlier this year I played a good match with Novak Djokovic in the Davis Cup. Five hours battle. You know, I was just one set away from the win. It was very tough to lose but still I’m enjoying to play those kinds of matches. And try to bring something positive from this kind of loss.”

The Best Match You Ever Played: Â “I hope it’s in the future [smiles]. The variety of the ATP Tour, so many of the players are at a quite similar level. And it’s really tough to win one match on the Tour. Every player gives you a lot of trouble on the court. So it’s quite tough to compete right now in this age on the ATP Tour. I never felt like…like today I played like unbelievable, like 100% because the older players that I play are great players. They compete well, 100%. Love to play. So I hope in the future will be my greatest match.”

Strangest Match: Â “Yeah, I can say one. It was 2012 Roland Garros against (Ernests) Gulbis. I was up two sets to one and 5-1 and 40-love on my serve in the third set. And I managed to lose the third set, fourth set, I was down a break in the fifth set. I won the fifth set [smiles]. To almost lose from two sets, 5-1, 40-love was really strange match for me. I believe for everyone. But I was very happy that I managed to win at the end.”

First Famous Player You Met Or Encountered: Â “I don’t really know. I played my first practice with a big player…it was with Roger Federer five or six years ago in Melbourne. It was one of my biggest practice or matches at the time. You know, he’s one of the biggest players of all time. So it was a really good experience for me. Not play a match but just to practice. To feel his balls, of a top player taught me some things. A really good experience. And one of the first ones.”

Current Car: Â “I drive a Mercedes.”

Last Book Read: Â “A Russian book for my university. It’s about jurisdiction.”

Funniest Players Encountered: Â “That I know, I would say (Dmitry) Tursunov. He’s always trying to make jokes every time I see him, in the locker room, in practice, sometimes on the court in the match. He likes to make fun of the style of my game, my results, how I play. I say he is the funniest. We know each other really well, that’s why he can do it.”

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