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Robert Kendrick

Robert Kendrick (born November 15, 1979 in Fresno, California) is an American tennis player. He turned professional in 1999.

Early life

Robert Kendrick was born in Fresno on November 15, 1979 to Tom and Doris Kendrick and began playing tennis at the age of 5. Kendrick's family is of relatively modest means. Tom Kendrick is a real estate appraiser and Doris is a housewife. Robert has three older siblings: Kerry, Tommy, and Scott. He graduated from Bullard High School in 1997. In 1996 he led his team to an undefeated section championship defeating a team from Clovis West High School in the final. Robert Kendrick married his wife Elizabeth Proctor, a former Tennis Channel employee and top junior player at Wake Forest University, in April of 2007.

College and Junior Tennis Career

Kendrick has been called a "serve and volley" player by some . Kendrick's main strengths are his serve and his forehand.

Throughout high school he competed in Junior Tennis and enjoyed some intermittent success. In 1996 he was the runner-up in singles at the 1996 USTA Boys’ 18s National Indoor Championships. Then in 1997 he reached the final in doubles of the Easter Bowl and reached the singles finals and took the doubles title at the USTA International Grass Court Championships. In 1998 he attended the University of Washington earning All-American in singles and doubles as a sophomore with a record of 31-9 and got as high as No. 3 in the collegiate rankings that year. He then transferred to Pepperdine University for his junior year and again attained All-American with an 18-10 record. He managed to reach the Round of 16 at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship where he lost to Jeff Morrison.

2006

In 2006, Kendrick entered the top 100 for the first time in his career, ending the year at No. 87. Consequently, 2006 is generally considered to be Kendrick's breakthrough year to date.

2006 ATP Delray Beach International Tennis Championships

Kendrick got to the second round, playing fellow countrymen in both of his matches. He defeated Kevin Kim 6–4 7–5 in the first round, but lost to the eighth seed Vincent Spadea 6–4 6–1 in his second round match.

2006 Wimbledon Championships

Kendrick went into the Gentlemen's Singles tournament ranked 237th in the world. His first match was on the second day of the Championships; Tuesday June 27. It was on Court 9, and he beat Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei 7–6⁵ 6–3 6–0.

The fourth day of the Championships (Thursday June 29) was one of the highlights of Kendrick's career. In the second round, he lost to the second seed, Rafael Nadal on Centre Court. The Spaniard had to come back for only the second time in his career from two sets down to beat Kendrick in five sets (6–7⁴ 3–6 7-6² 7–5 6–4). This performance at SW19 surprised many. Kendrick was ranked outside the top 200 at the time of the match, but employed a serve and volley style of play that appeared to frustrate Nadal for almost 3 sets. Some consider Kendrick to be unfortunate not to have won because at 5 games to 4 and 30-15 up in the 3rd set with Nadal serving, a close line call went against him which would have meant 40-15 and two match points. Although Kendrick appeared dismayed by the call, a television replay showed that the call was correct and should have gone against Kendrick. As it was, Nadal went on to win the set in a tie-break and then the match. Kendrick's serving impressed many, as he served twenty-eight aces, compared to Nadal's seven. After the match, a commentator for BBC Sport exclaimed that it was "the match of the tournament so far". Kendrick was the only player in the tournament to take sets off Nadal on the Spaniard's route to the final, where he lost to the number one seed; Switzerland's Roger Federer, who beat Nadal 6–0 7–6⁵ 6-7² 6–3 in the final.

2006 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships

Shortly after his experience at the Grand Slam, Kendrick was back in action in his home country, to take part in the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tenis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island. He made it to the quarter-final on Friday July 14, but was beaten by British sensation Andrew Murray 6–0 6–0.

He made amends for the defeat by winning the doubles title on Sunday July 16, with his Austrian playing partner Jürgen Melzer. In the final, the duo beat South African Jeff Coetzee and American Justin Gimelstob, who also lost the singles final on the same day.

2007

In 2007, Kendrick was able to play in all four Grand Slam tournaments. In January at the Australian Open he drew Rafael Nadal in the first round, ensuring a rematch of their five-set contest at Wimbledon 2006. However, Nadal dispatched Kendrick in straight sets, 7–6⁶ 6–3 6–2, taking advantage of his opponent's six double faults and low percentage of second serve points won (38%). Kendrick subsequently lost in the first round of several tournaments before reaching the third round at the Miami Masters, where he was defeated in straight sets by Andy Murray. At the French Open Kendrick again fell in the first round, losing in four sets to 134th-ranked Juan Pablo Brzezicki of Argentina -- again thanks to six double faults and a low percentage of second serve points won (this time, 46%).

At the Queen's Club Wimbledon tune-up in June, he reached the second round and won a set against future Grand Slam champion Novak Đoković. At Wimbledon, however, he was not able to reach the second round as he had the previous year, losing a five-setter to Tommy Robredo. He went 1–3 in the U.S. Open Series before falling to Igor Andreev of Russia in the first round of the US Open itself, 7–6⁴ 6–3 6–4. Again, his second serve was a weakness: He won just 42% of second serve points and double faulted five times.

While 2007 was largely a lackluster year for Kendrick on the main ATP circuit, he did win three Challenger events: Dallas, Calabasas, and Knoxville. Of these titles, Calabasas was particularly impressive in that Kendrick had to defeat two up-and-coming fellow Americans, John Isner and Donald Young, in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

2008

Kendrick kicked off 2008 by playing in the Australian Open, where he lost in the first round to fellow American Amer Delic, then ranked 136th in the world, by a score of 6–4 7–5 6–2. Although Kendrick won 76% of points where he got his first serve in, he only won 36% of points where he did not. He was broken five times.

Singles Titles

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (0)
Challengers (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	September 23, 2002	Tulsa	Hard	Daniel Melo	6–3 6–3
2.	October 4, 2004	Austin	Hard	Wesley Whitehouse	7–5 6–7 6–2
3.	May 15, 2006	Forest Hills	Clay	Cecil Mamiit	6–2 6–2
4.	November 20, 2006	Puebla	Hard	Leonardo Mayer	7–5 6–4
5.	February 5, 2007	Dallas	Hard (I)	Benedikt Dorsch	6–3 6–4
6.	October 15, 2007	Calabasas	Hard	Donald Young	3–6 7–6 6–4
7.	November 19, 2007	Knoxville	Hard (I)	Kevin Kim	3–6 6–2 6–4