Igor Andreev

2003

Andreev made his ATP debut in September 2003 at Bucharest, Romania as a qualifier and defeated top seed Nikolay Davydenko 7–5, 6–7, 6–0 in the first round, before losing in the next round to José Acasuso.

At the Moscow ATP tournament later the same month, Andreev defeated the top seed Sjeng Schalken in straight sets, 6–3, 6–1, and made his first ATP quarterfinal appearance, eventually losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 6–2, 3–6, 5–7. He entered the St. Petersburg tournament in October 2003 as a wildcard, and defeated the number 4 seed Max Mirnyi 6–4, 7–6 before losing to Sargis Sargsian in the second round.

2004

Andreev finished in the top 50 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career. During the same year he also reached two ATP finals, Gstaad, Switzerland in July (losing to Roger Federer), and Bucharest, Romania in September (losing to José Acasuso). He won a personal best 28 matches in the year, and also made his Davis Cup debut.

Andreev made his Grand Slam debut at the 2004 Australian Open, where he lost in the first round to France's Olivier Patience, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6 (4), 6–1, 6–2. At the French Open, he knocked out defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round before losing to eventual champion Gastón Gaudio 6–4, 7–5, 6–3 in the fourth round. At Wimbledon that year, he reached the second round, losing to Fernando González, and lost in the first round at the US Open to Fernando Verdasco, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6, 7–5.

At the Athens Olympics in August 2004, Andreev made the third round, and lost only to the eventual gold medallist, Chilean Nicolás Massú.

He won his first ATP doubles title in Moscow in October 2004 with Nikolay Davydenko, after defeating Mahesh Bhupathi and Jonas Björkman 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the final.

2005: Three ATP titles

Andreev's first ATP singles title came in April 2005 in Valencia, Spain, which he won by beating Spaniard David Ferrer 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 in the final, after having taken out Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. After this point, Nadal began his record-breaking 81 match win streak on clay, which lasted for more than two years. Andreev made the third round at both the French Open and Wimbledon, and reached the quarterfinal at the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. He then reached the final of the event at Bucharest, losing to Florent Serra 6–3, 6–4. Andreev continued his consistent performance of the year by winning the Palermo event in September 2005, beating Filippo Volandri of Italy 0–6, 6–1, 6–3 in the final, and the Kremlin Cup at Moscow in October, defeating Nicolas Kiefer 5–7, 7–6, 6–2 in the final.

2006

Andreev had some ups and downs in the first half of the season; despite seven first-round losses, highlights included reaching the finals at Sydney and the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, losing both matches to James Blake. A knee injury forced Andreev to sit out the second half of the clay court season, including Roland Garross.

2007: First Grand Slam quarterfinal

Andreev returned in 2007, and made an immediate impact with an impressive showing at the French Open. Unseeded, he beat former World No. 1 Andy Roddick 3–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 in the first round then Nicolás Massú, Paul-Henri Mathieu and in-form Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round, to make his first Grand Slam quarter-final, which he lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic 6–3, 6–3, 6–3. However, he was defeated in the first round of Wimbledon.

2008: Best ranking, World No. 18

He made it to the third round of Australian Open losing to Richard Gasquet in four sets. His other notable performances include reaching the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires, Dubai, and Miami. At Miami he was defeated by Tomáš Berdych 6–4, 6–4. After Miami, he reached the quarterfinal of another Masters Series event in Monte Carlo. He defeated in-form clay-courter Nicolás Almagro on his way to the quarters, where he was defeated by number four seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Seeded 27th at Roland Garros, Andreev lost in the second round to Robby Ginepri 4–6, 6–2, 7–6, 6–2. At Wimbledon, he once again lost in the second round, this time to David Ferrer 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2. However, in the mixed doubles, he reached the semi finals of Wimbledon with Maria Kirilenko.

At the 2008 US Open he lost in the fourth round to Roger Federer in a tantalisingly close match 6–7, 7–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3.

2009

Heavily favored Russia was hosted by Israel in a Davis Cup quarterfinal tie in July 2009, on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Russia, winner of the 2002 and 2005 tournaments, was the top-ranked country. Asked if he was nervous, Andreev replied with a smile: "Nervous? Why should I be nervous? Everything is fine." Harel Levy, world # 210, then beat Andreev, world # 24, 6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the opening match. Dudi Sela (# 33) followed by beating Youzhny, and the next day Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Safin and doubles specialist Kunitsyn. With the tie clinched for Israel, the reverse singles rubbers were "dead", and instead of best-of-five matches, best-of-three sets were played, with the outcomes of little to no importance. Dudi Sela hurt his wrist in the first set. Israel won 4–1.

2010: Injuries and ranking downfall

He started off the season at the Hopman Cup with Elena Dementieva as his mixed double partner. In singles, he won a match but lost the next two horribly. He then went to the Medibank International in Sydney, where he lost to Leonardo Mayer 7–6, 3–6, 6–7 in the opening round, where he had 5 match points but eventually lost in the third set tiebreak. He also played doubles with Evgeny Korolev and reached the semis there.

Andreev stretched Roger Federer to four sets in the first round of the 2010 Australian Open, losing 6–4, 2–6, 6–7, 0–6. Andreev had three set points in the third set but eventually lost in a tie break to the Swiss top seed. Federer, the eventual champion, won the final set 6–0 to preserve his 11-year streak of never losing in the first round of the Australian Open.

After the Australian Open, Andreev played the 2010 Brasil Open, his first clay court tournament of the year. Seeded No. 4 in the tournament, Andreev made a run to the semi-finals and eventually lost to Łukasz Kubot 6–2, 2–6, 4–6.

His next successful tournament was the Malaysia Open which he qualified for and went on to reach the semi-finals, taking out defending champion Nikolay Davydenko on the way before falling to Mikhail Youzhny in three sets.

2011–2013 and retirement

Andreev started to suffer from horrible injuries. A knee injury thwarted him in 2011, and in 2012 a shoulder injury prevented him from achieving decent results in almost every tournament. He lost ranking points and struggled to win a match in the qualifying round of small tournaments. These years have also been full of retirements due to his injuries. The only notable match was against Denis Istomin in the second round of Wimbledon 2012. He lost 3–6, 6–7, 6–4, 2-6. He hasn't won a match since Los Angeles Open 2012, when he won over Dudi Sela in the first round 7–6, 6–4. The situation has gotten worse in 2013. After not having played since the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April, he lost in every first round match of the qualifying draw of every tournament he tried to play till the French Open 2013. During the following grass-court season, Andreev decided to enter the Challenger ITF tournament in Prague on clay, and after defeating Vitalii Shcherba 6-1, 6-3 in the first round and Andreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 6-2 in the second round, he lost to Víctor Estrella after a true fight 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-7(5). At Wimbledon 2013 Andreev appeared in the main draw as a protected ranking player and in the first round he faced Polish Łukasz Kubot losing 6-1, 7-5, 6-2. After these matches, Andreev announced his final retirement from tennis due to the multiple injuries that ruined his career after 2010 and 2011.

Playing style & equipment

Andreev is an offensive baseliner. He possesses one of the most powerful forehands on tour. ATP professional Marcos Baghdatis describes Andreev's forehand as being "more deadly than Nadal's" Andreev is sponsored by Sergio Tacchini for clothes and Babolat Aero Pro Drive GT for racquets and Babolat All-Court III for shoes.

Personal life

He supports both FC Moscow and FC Dynamo Moscow and is an avid follower of the Russian national football team.

He was in a relationship with fellow Russian player, Maria Kirilenko for several years, before they split in 2011.

Singles

Current till 2013 Wimbledon Championships.