Taro Daniel

Taro Daniel
Country (sports)  Japan
Residence Valencia, Spain
Born (1993-01-27) 27 January 1993
New York, New York, U.S.
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro 2010
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach(es) José Francisco Altur
Prize money $ 589,861
Singles
Career record 14–29 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 85 (18 April 2016)
Current ranking No. 127 (28 November 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 1R (2016)
French Open 2R (2016)
Wimbledon 1R (2016)
US Open 1R (2014)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games 3R (2016)
Doubles
Career record 0–6 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 566 (23 September 2013)
Current ranking No. 1217 (28 November 2016)
Last updated on: 1 December 2016.

Taro Daniel (ダニエル 太郎 Danieru Tarō, born 27 January 1993) is an American-born Japanese professional tennis player. He trains in Valencia, Spain with coach José Francisco Altur and prefers clay courts. He has won four ATP Challenger Tour singles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 85 on 18 April 2016.[1]

Personal life

His father, Paul Daniel, is an American, and his mother, Yasue, Japanese. He grew up in various places in the world. He spent most of his elementary school days in Saitama, Japan. He went to the Nagoya International School. He and his family moved to Spain when he was fourteen. He speaks English, Japanese, and Spanish. He has one sister, Kana.[1]

Tennis career

Early Age

Taro started playing tennis when he was 7 years old. He practiced at the Shinrin Longwood Tennis Club in Nagoya City during his years in Japan. He got third place for under 12 in the All Japan Junior Tennis Tournament.

2011-13

Daniel had won a couple of ITF Futures events in Spain and Portugal. In ATP Challenger Tour, He made the semifinal at the Yokohama in November 2012, and reached his first Challenger final at the Yeongwol in November 2013, where he lost to fourth seed Bradley Klahn in the final. In 2011-2013, Daniel had raise his ATP ranking from world no. 978 to 241.

2014

Daniel reached the third qualifying round of the 2014 Australian Open, losing to Thomaz Bellucci. Qualifying for his first ATP tournament, he made the quarterfinals of the Chile Open, after gaining revenge over Bellucci and defeating eighth seed Federico Delbonis. His run was ended by third seed Nicolas Almagro.

At the 2014 Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal against the Czech Republic, Daniel was nominated for the first time for the Japan Davis Cup team.[2] He played the singles rubber, but lost to Lukáš Rosol in a five-setter and Jiří Veselý. Daniel qualified for the 2014 US Open to make his Grand Slam main-draw debut, losing to fifth seed Milos Raonic in the first round.[3] The next week, he reached the final at the Seville Challenger, where he was defeated by top seed Pablo Carreño.

2015: Top 100

After competing in the ATP events of Montpellier and Casablanca, Daniel defeated Filippo Volandri to claim his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Vercelli. He qualified for the 2015 Frech Open, losing to 32nd seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round. In July, Daniel won the Fürth Challenger, defeating top seeds Blaž Rola and Albert Montañés.[4]

At 2015 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs against Colombia, Daniel won the first Davis Cup match of his career, beating Alejandro Falla in the last tie. His victory completed a come-from-behind victory against Colombia to remain in the World Group for 2016.[5] In October, He qualified for the Valencia Open, and reached the second round, before losing to sixth seed Guillermo García-López. He completed the 2015 season with his third Challenger title in Yokohama, winning over his countryman Go Soeda in the final. He entered the top 100 in the ATP rankings for the first time at world no. 93.[6]

2016

Daniel received direct entry to the main draw of the 2016 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Lukáš Rosol in five sets. In February, he reached the second round of the Open Sud de France before losing to eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets. At 2016 Davis Cup World Group first round in Birmingham, Japan faced defending champion Great Britain. He was defeated by world No. 2 Andy Murray in straight sets, and Japan lost 1-3.

Daniel qualified for the Monte-Carlo Masters to make his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 main-draw debut. He beat Adrian Mannarino in straight sets to reach the second round, where he lost to 12th seed Dominic Thiem in three sets. He then competed at Bucharest and Estoril, reaching the second rounds in both tournaments. In the 2016 French Open, He advanced to the second round of Major tournaments for the first time in his career when his opponent Martin Kližan had to retire from injury in the fifth set. He lost to third seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets despite having two set points in the first set and being up a break in the third. He next competed in the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the first round to Juan Mónaco in four sets.

Daniel competed in the Olympics, where he defeated the no.14 seed Jack Sock in straight sets in the 1st Round. Daniel then beat Kyle Edmund of Great Britain before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro, despite having won the first set.

Challenger finals

Singles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runners-up)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (4–4)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 5 November 2013 Yeongwol, South Korea Hard United States Bradley Klahn 6–7(5–7), 2–6
Runner-up 2. 8 September 2014 Seville, Spain Clay Spain Pablo Carreño Busta 4–6, 1–6
Winner 1. 20 April 2015 Vercelly, Italy Clay Italy Filippo Volandri 6–3, 1–6, 6–4
Winner 2. 1 June 2015 Fürth, Germany Clay Spain Albert Montañés 6–3, 6–0
Runner-up 3. 15 November 2015 Kobe, Japan Hard (i) Australia John Millman 1–6, 3-6
Winner 3. 22 November 2015 Yokohama, Japan Hard Japan Go Soeda 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Winner 4. 21 August 2016 Cordenons, Italy Clay Spain Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3, 6-4
Runner-up 4. 10 September 2016 Seville, Spain (2) Clay Norway Casper Ruud 3–6, 4-6

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (0–1)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. 22 September 2013 Kenitra, Morocco Clay Russia Alexander Rumyantsev SpainGerard Granollers
SpainJordi Samper-Montana		 4–6, 4–6

Singles performance timeline

Tournament201420152016W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open Q3 Q1 1R 0–1
French Open Q1 1R 2R 1–2
Wimbledon Q1 Q1 1R 0–1
US Open 1R Q3 A 0–1
Win–Loss 0–1 0–1 1–3 1–5
Career statistics
Titles–Finals 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
Year End Ranking 177 96 127

References

  1. 1 2 ATP World Tour Profile
  2. ↑ "Ito to lead Japanese charge". Davis Cup. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "U.S. Open: Milos Raonic disposes of Japan's Taro Daniel". CBCsports. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "ATP Challenger Fürth 2015 – Day 7". TENNIS TOURTALK. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "Daniel seals World Group status for Japan". Davis Cup. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "Daniel Cracks Top 100 With Yokohama Crown". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
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