Eric Prodon
Encyclopedia
Juniors career
Prodon had a long career in Juniors, playing from 1997 to 1999 and reaching year-end #28 in 1998.In matches against future top pros, he beat Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny , is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years....
and Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau is a professional male tennis player from France. His career-best singles ranking is ATP world no. 32, which he reached in July 2010. He formerly resided in Boulogne Billancourt and now lives in Geneva...
in 1997.
Early in 1998, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen is a professional tennis player from Finland.His highest ranking is 13th, which was achieved on July 10, 2006. He has won one ATP singles title and two doubles titles in his career so far. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarter-finals...
, and late in the year, he beat Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
, Karol Beck
Karol Beck
Karol Beck is a male tennis player from Slovakia, who turned professional in 2001. He has been ranked as high as 36th in the world .- Career :On October 25, 2004, Beck lost in the final of the St...
, and Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria , nicknames include El Mago , is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina who was runner-up in the 2004 French Open...
in successive rounds at Eddie Herr before losing to David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...
in the final. He then beat Youzhny again after that in the Orange Bowl. Early in 1999, he had a great Australian hard court run, beating Nieminen and splitting matches with Kristian Pless
Kristian Pless
Kristian Peter Pless is a professional male tennis player from Denmark.In 1999, he won the Australian Open for juniors , and reached the junior finals at Wimbledon , and the US Open . He finished 1999 as the no...
in finals two weeks in a row. In March, 1999, he lost to Coria
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria , nicknames include El Mago , is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina who was runner-up in the 2004 French Open...
and Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French tennis player.-Tennis career:Mathieu was born in Strasbourg, France. He first began playing tennis at age 3, with his older brother Pierre-Yves. Between 1997 and 2000 he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida...
in successive finals. In May, he lost to Nieminen again, but beat him and Karol Beck the next week in the French Open before losing again to Nalbandian in the quarters. In June in England on the grass, he lost to Mardy Fish
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish is an American professional tennis player, and Olympic silver medalist. He is a hardcourt specialist...
in a final. In the summer, back on clay, he beat Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No...
and Boris Pashanski but lost to Igor Kunitsyn
Igor Kunitsyn
Igor Kunitsyn is a professional male tennis player from Russia. He made it into the top 100 for the first time in 2006, and reached a career-high singles ranking of 35 on July 6, 2009.-Early life:...
. And finally in his next to last match as a junior, he lost to Danai Udomchoke
Danai Udomchoke
Danai Udomchoke is a professional tennis player from Thailand. He was born in Bangkok, where he still resides.Udomchoke turned professional in 1997, and is coached by Jan Stoce. He is sponsored by Dunlop Sport for his racquets and apparel. His career-best ranking is World No...
in September in Canada.
2000 to 2006
Prodon's transition to the pro tour was a rocky one. While he first entered the top-300 in late 2000 as a 19 year old, he spent most of 2001 in the 300's before getting back down into the 230's late in 2002.He faded again to the 300's in 2003 and 2004 before getting back down to the 230's again in late 2004 and early 2005, but an injury in February kept him out for 7 months. Another injury in April, 2006 kept him off the court the rest of the year. So he spent most of 2005 and 2006 ranked outside the top-500.
2007: A breakthrough year
Prodon returned to the tour in mid-February, 2007, ranked #683, and won Italy F1 in his first tournament back from a 10 month layoff. His ranking continued to slip, despite some Futures success, and by the time he got to Scotland for a Futures tournament in May, he was #721.But he then went on a tear on the Futures circuit, winning 4 of 7 titles and finishing as the runner-up in the other three while touring Scotland, Algeria, Poland, Belarus, and France, compiling a 32–3 match record during that stretch, to improve his ranking to #290 by mid-July.
He followed that up with a Challenger championship in Finland, beating #116 Raemon Sluiter
Raemon Sluiter
Raemon Sluiter is a professional male tennis player from the Netherlands. His career-high Association of Tennis Professionals Entry ranking is Number 46...
and #100 Peter Luczak
Peter Luczak
Peter Luczak is a professional tennis player for Australia. His career-high ATP Entry ranking was No. 64 on 12 October 2009.At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, Luczak won the gold in the doubles....
to reach a career-high ranking of #226. In August, he made two straight Challenger finals in Italy and Germany to break into the top-200 for the first time and reach #165, beating #250 Davide Sanguinetti
Davide Sanguinetti
Davide Sanguinetti is an Italian former professional male tennis player.Born in Viareggio in Tuscany, he attended the Harry Hopman academy in Florida and then UCLA...
, #117 Boris Pashanski, and #136 Bohdan Ulihrach
Bohdan Ulihrach
Bohdan Ulihrach is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.-Career:Ulihrach turned professional in 1993. He won his first top-level singles title in July 1995 at Prague, where he defeated Javier Sánchez in the final...
while losing to #116 Jiří Vaněk
Jirí Vanek (tennis)
Jiří Vaněk is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He was born in Domažlice and lives in Prague. He turned professional in 1995. As of 11 February 2009 he was ranked 119 in the world.-External links:* *...
and #289 Ivo Minář
Ivo Minár
Ivo Minář is a professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. On July 20, 2009, Minář reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 62...
.
The rest of his year was a bust, going just 2–7 in Challengers, with a win over #657 Martin Verkerk
Martin Verkerk
Martin Willem Verkerk is a retired Dutch tennis player. As a relatively unknown player, he had a brilliant run at the French Open in 2003, reaching the final before losing to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero...
and 2 straight losses to #224 Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci , a professional tennis player, is the top ranked Brazilian tennis player. He achieved a career high ranking of #21 on July 26, 2010....
, as well as losses to #90 Luczak and #113 Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini is a professional tennis player.He is the current Italian No. 1. He achieved his career high rank of No. 32 in the world on 20 June 2011 as a result of his success at the 2011French Open...
to end the year ranked at career-high of #158 at the age of 26.
2008
Prodon continued to be injury-free and making some progress in early 2008. He started the year winning a Challenger in Miami, beating wild card Jan-Michael GambillJan-Michael Gambill
Jan-Michael Charles Gambill is an American tennis player who made his professional debut in 1996. His highest singles ranking to date is World No. 14, which he first reached on June 18, 2001...
along the way. Then he tried and failed to qualify into 3 consecutive ATP stops in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, losing to #60 Óscar Hernández, #95 Nicolás Lapentti
Nicolás Lapentti
----Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador who is ranked 214th...
, and #157 Daniel Gimeno-Traver. He struggle in his return to Challengers in March and April, winning just 1 of 4 matches while losing to #125 Flavio Cipolla
Flavio Cipolla
Flavio Cipolla is a professional tennis player on the ATP Tour from Italy. He reached the second round at the French Open of 2007, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. He reached the 3rd round of the 2008 US Open...
and twice to #165 Christophe Rochus
Christophe Rochus
Christophe Rochus is a retired professional male tennis player from Belgium.Rochus is the older brother of Olivier Rochus, also a tennis player who has been slightly more successful than Christophe. He reached the singles finals of two ATP tournaments: Valencia and Rotterdam but lost them both...
. But he regained his form again, reaching two Challenger finals and a semifinal in April and May, beating #127 Iván Navarro Pastor while losing to #107 Eduardo Schwank
Eduardo Schwank
Eduardo Jonatan Schwank is a professional tennis player from Argentina on the ATP Tour. He is currently coached by Javier Nalbandian, the brother of David Nalbandian....
, #130 Alberto Martín
Alberto Martín
----Alberto Martín Magret is a retired tennis player from Spain. He turned professional in 1995.Martin's best Grand Slam performance was reaching the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2006. En route to this performance, Martín's first round win was his first victory over former World number 1 Andy...
, #199 Younes El Aynaoui
Younes El Aynaoui
Younes El Aynaoui is a professional tennis player from Morocco.He is a five-time singles winner on the ATP Tour and reached his career-high singles ranking of No. 14 in 2003, at the age of 31. His long career has been plagued by injuries and he did not play competitive tennis between September...
on the comeback trail, and #119 Daniel Gimeno-Traver again. That got his ranking to a career-high of #115.
In May, Prodon was given a Wild Card entry into the 2008 French Open
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 107th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 25 through June 8, 2008....
.
Singles (7)
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| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 30 July 2007 |  TampereTampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere, Finland, since 1982... , Finland |
Clay |  Peter LuczakPeter Luczak Peter Luczak is a professional tennis player for Australia. His career-high ATP Entry ranking was No. 64 on 12 October 2009.At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, Luczak won the gold in the doubles.... |
6–7(4–7), 6–4, 6–4 |
| 2. | 14 January 2008 |  Miami, USA |
Clay |  Adrián Menéndez-MaceirasAdrián Menéndez-Maceiras Adrián Menéndez Maceiras is a Spanish tennis player. He has a career high-ranking of 174 .He has reached the finals of ten Futures tournaments; in eight of these he won... |
6–4, 6–4 |
| 3. | 26 July 2010 | Tampere Tampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere, Finland, since 1982... , Finland |
Clay |  Leonardo TavaresLeonardo Tavares Leonardo Tavares is a Portuguese professional tennis player. He competes on the ATP Tour. On August 2010, he achieved a career-high singles world ranking of no. 186.... |
6–4, 6–4 |
| 4. | 12 September 2010 |  BraşovBrasov Challenger The Ropharma Challenger Brașov is a tennis tournament held in Braşov, Romania since 1996. The event is part of the ATP Challenger Tour and is played on outdoor clay courts.-Singles:-Doubles:- External links :**... , Romania |
Clay |  Jaroslav PospíšilJaroslav Pospíšil Jaroslav Pospíšil is a Czech tennis player playing on the ITF Futures Tour and ATP Challenger Tour. On May 23, 2011, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 103.-Singles: 4 :-Doubles: 11 :... |
7–6(7–1), 6–3 |
| 5. | 30 January 2011 |  Bucaramanga, Colombia |
Clay |  Fernando RomboliFernando Romboli Fernando Romboli is a Brazilian professional tennis player. Romboli competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 244, on February 2, 2011, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, No. 247, on October 5, 2010... |
6–3, 4–6, 6–1 |
| 6. | 17 July 2011 |  Sopot, Poland |
Clay |  Nikola CiricNikola Ćirić Nikola Ćirić ; is a professional tennis player, who plays mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures. He was born in Serbia, in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on August 2, 1983.... |
6–1, 6–3 |
| 7. | 31 July 2011 | Tampere Tampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere, Finland, since 1982... , Finland |
Clay |  Augustin GensseAugustin Gensse Augustin Gensse is a French professional tennis player.Gensse has played two singles matches in the ATP Tour series. It was in Spain . He defeated Gorka Frailin and Alan Mackie in the qualifications... |
6–1, 3–6, 6–2 |
Singles (7)
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| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 19 July 2004 | Tampere Tampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour. It is held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere, Finland, since 1982... , Finland |
Clay |  Boris Pashanski |
6–2, 3–6, 6–2 |
| 2. | 20 August 2007 |  ManerbioA Savoldi-Marco Co. Trofeo Dimmidisi The Antonio Savoldi–Marco Cò – Trofeo Dimmidisì is a tennis tournament held in Manerbio, Italy since 1999. The event is part of the ATP challenger series and is played on outdoor clay courts.-Singles:-Doubles:- External links :**... , Italy |
Clay | Jiří Vaněk Jirí Vanek (tennis) Jiří Vaněk is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He was born in Domažlice and lives in Prague. He turned professional in 1995. As of 11 February 2009 he was ranked 119 in the world.-External links:* *... |
6–0, 6–4 |
| 3. | 27 August 2007 |  FreudenstadtBlack Forest Open The Black Forest Open is a tennis tournament held in Freudenstadt, Germany since 1999. The event is part of the challenger series and is played on outdoor clay courts.-Singles:-Doubles:... , Germany |
Clay | Ivo Minář Ivo Minár Ivo Minář is a professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. On July 20, 2009, Minář reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 62... |
7–5, 6–3 |
| 4. | 28 April 2008 | Rome Garden Open Roma The Roma Open is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals Challenger Tour... , Italy |
Clay |  Eduardo SchwankEduardo Schwank Eduardo Jonatan Schwank is a professional tennis player from Argentina on the ATP Tour. He is currently coached by Javier Nalbandian, the brother of David Nalbandian.... |
6–3, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–3) |
| 5. | 12 May 2008 |  AarhusAarhus Aarhus or Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark. The principal port of Denmark, Aarhus is on the east side of the peninsula of Jutland in the geographical center of Denmark... , Denmark |
Clay | Daniel Gimeno Traver Daniel Gimeno Traver Daniel Gimeno-Traver is a professional Spanish tennis player who turned professional in 2004, when he was eighteen years old.... |
7–5, 7–5 |
| 6. | 13 March 2011 |  SantiagoCachantún Cup The Cachantún Cup is a women's tennis tournament that was held at the Centro de Tenis Las Salinas, at the Club Naval de Campo Las Salinas in Viña del Mar, Chile. The tournament was competed once, in 2008, from February 11 to February 17.-Singles:... , Chile |
Clay | Máximo González Máximo González Máximo González Mereira is a professional tennis player from Argentina. His career high ranking is #58, achieved on July 6, 2009.- Early career through 2006 :... |
7–5, 0-6, 6–2 |
| 7. | 19 September 2011 | Szczecin Szczecin Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427.... , Poland |
Clay | Rui Machado Rui Machado Rui Machado is a Portuguese professional tennis player that competes in the ATP World Tour. In October 2011, he achieved he achieved a career-high singles world ranking no. 59, the highest ranking a Portuguese player has ever held.- Early life :At the age of six, Machado was first introduced to... |
2–6, 7–5, 6–2 |