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Conor Niland

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Conor Niland
Country (sports) Ireland
ResidenceLimerick, Ireland
Born (1981-09-19) 19 September 1981 (age 43)
Birmingham, England
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro2005
Retired2012
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$247,686
Singles
Career record10–16
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 129 (6 December 2010)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ3 (2010)
French OpenQ2 (2010)
Wimbledon1R (2011)
US Open1R (2011)
Doubles
Career record0–1
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 770 (23 August 2010)
Last updated on: 3 December 2021.

Conor Niland (born 19 September 1981) is an Irish former professional tennis player. He was born in Birmingham, England, and grew up in Limerick, Ireland. He attended St. Nessan's National School in Mungret, County Limerick, before moving on to Crescent College Comprehensive in Dooradoyle, County Limerick. He was the highest ranked Irish tennis player during his career.[1] He played for the Ireland Davis Cup team from 2000 to 2012.[2] He officially announced his retirement from tennis on 12 April 2012 due to a recurring hip injury.[3] In a statement Niland said: "I am today sadly announcing my retirement from professional tennis. I have been suffering from labral tears in both hip cartilages and this has resulted in pain and restricted movement for the past nine months."

Career

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Niland spent most of his career on the Futures and Challenger circuits, although he has played a handful of ATP World Tour tournaments. As of 6 March 2010, he played in 25 Davis Cup matches for Ireland with a record of 15 wins & 10 losses (12–9 in singles & 3–1 in doubles). After 4 previous defeats, he won his first ever Grand Slam qualifying match on 26 August 2009 when defeating Australia's Joseph Sirianni 6–0, 6–4 in the first qualifying round of the US Open, but in the end he failed to qualify for the main draw.[4]

In January 2010, he lost in the last qualifying round of the Qatar Open in Doha, and in the first major of the year, he defeated Henri Kontinen (6–4,6–4) and Jesse Witten (2–6,6–1,6–4) in the first 2 qualifying rounds for the Australian Open to leave him one game away from the main draw.[5] However, he lost to Ricardo Hocevar (6–1,4–6,3–6) in the final qualifying round. In Houston, Texas, at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, he qualified for his first ATP main draw but lost in the first round.[6] His improvement during the year continued when winning the Israel Open title, Rainer Schüttler among his highest-ranked victim.[7] The win pushed him into the top 200 for the first time in his career, lifting him to 165 in the world, and he reclaimed his place as Irish No.1 from Louk Sorensen. In November 2010, Niland won another ATP challenger event, this time the ATP Salzburg Indoors in Austria, lifting him to a career high ranking of 129.[8]

After an encouraging start to 2011 saw Niland reach the quarter-finals of the Heilbronn Open in Germany, he struggled throughout the first half of the year with illness and injury and fell to a ranking of 184 by June. He came into great form for the grass court season, however, and picked up 4 straight wins to qualify for the Aegon Trophy in Nottingham and also defeat 96th-ranked Donald Young in the first round. After Tatsuma Ito ended that winning streak, Niland turned his attention to the Wimbledon qualifying rounds. He successfully negotiated all 3 rounds, defeating Josselin Ouanna, Greg Jones and finally Nikola Mektić, to qualify for his first ever Grand Slam event.[9][10] In doing so, he also became the first Irishman to reach the main draw at Wimbledon since Sean Sorensen in 1977 and 1980. He faced Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the first round where he lost in five sets, having led 4–1 with a double-break in the fifth set. Had he won, Niland would have faced six-time champion Roger Federer in the second round.[11][12]

Niland participated in the 2011 US Open. In the first round of the Singles Qualifying, he faced Pavol Červenák and won 6–1, 6–4.[13] In the second round, Niland defeated Tsung-Hua Yang 6–2, 6–3[14] In the third round, Niland beat Matwé Middelkoop 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 for a place in the Main Draw.[15] This was Niland's second time in a row to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam. In the first round, Niland retired against World No. 1, Novak Djokovic, whilst trailing 0–6, 1–5, due to food poisoning.[16][17]

On 12 April 2012, Niland announced his retirement due to a recurring hip injury which resulted in pain and restricted his movement for the previous nine months.[18] He was considering having hip surgery but was "advised of a lengthy recovery time without any guarantee of a successful outcome." Niland thanked those who had helped him achieve his success. He said: "I would like to thank my family, in particular my parents, for their phenomenal support throughout my tennis career. I would not have been able to achieve the things I did without them."

In June 2024, Niland published his "underdog's memoir" of his tennis career, The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation – and the other 99%.[19]

Personal life

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Although Niland was born in Birmingham, his parents moved the family back to Limerick when he was 2 years old.[20] He stayed there until the age of 16, when he went to Millfield,[21] the public school in Somerset that is renowned for its sporting prowess. After three years there, Niland went to study English at University of California, Berkeley, before leaving to focus on playing tennis professionally in 2005.[22] His father, Ray, played at corner back for the Mayo senior Gaelic football team, while his sister Gina is a former Irish No.1 tennis player.[23]

Niland lives in Dublin with his wife and two children.[24]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

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Singles: 14 (8–6)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (3–0)
ITF Futures (5–6)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–3)
Clay (3–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 2006 Great Britain F12, Wrexham Futures Hard Italy Riccardo Ghedin 6–3, 2–6, 6–3
Loss 1–1 Oct 2006 Great Britain F16, Glasgow Futures Hard United Kingdom Richard Bloomfield 3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Win 2–1 Mar 2007 Croatia F4, Vrsar Futures Clay Hungary Kornel Bardoczky 6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–2 Apr 2007 Croatia F5, Rovinj Futures Clay Slovenia Marko Tkalec 4–6, 5–7
Loss 2–3 Sep 2007 Great Britain F17, Nottingham Futures Hard Austria Martin Fischer 4–6, 3–6
Loss 2–4 Apr 2008 Great Britain F6, Exmouth Futures Carpet United Kingdom Josh Goodall 4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win 3–4 May 2008 Great Britain F7, Bournemouth Futures Clay France Pierre Metenier 7–5, 6–0
Win 4–4 Jun 2008 Ireland F2, Limerick Futures Carpet India Harsh Mankad 6–3, 6–4
Win 5–4 Aug 2008 New Delhi, India Challenger Hard Czech Republic Tomáš Cakl 6–4, 6–4
Loss 5–5 Oct 2009 France F18, Saint-Dizier Futures Hard France Antony Dupuis 3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss 5–6 Nov 2009 USA F27, Birmingham Futures Clay Australia James Lemke 6–4, 2–6, 5–7
Win 6–6 Nov 2009 USA F28, Niceville Futures Clay Australia James Lemke 3–6, 6–4, 6–0
Win 7–6 May 2010 Ramat Hasharon, Israel Challenger Hard Brazil Thiago Alves 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win 8–6 Nov 2010 Salzburg, Austria Challenger Hard Poland Jerzy Janowicz 7–6(7–5), 6–7(2–7), 6–3

Performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q1 0 / 0 0–0  – 
French Open A A Q2 Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon Q1 Q1 Q1 1R A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
US Open A Q2 Q2 1R A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 0 / 2 0–2 0%

References

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  1. ^ "ATP rankings-Ireland". ATP. 22 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Conor Niland Davis Cup Profile". ATP. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Niland announces retirement". Tennis Ireland. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  4. ^ "Niland tackles US Open". Limerick Leader. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  5. ^ "Niland – just one win away from Australian Open". Limerick Leader. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  6. ^ "Conor Niland through to US Clay Championships". RTÉ Sport. 6 April 2010. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  7. ^ "Conor Niland wins Israel Open". RTÉ Sport. 8 May 2010. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  8. ^ "Niland claims Salzburg crown". The Irish Times. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Niland qualifies for Wimbledon". RTÉ Sport. 18 June 2011. Archived from the original on 21 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ^ "Niland books place at Wimbledon". The Irish Times. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  11. ^ "Niland's effort comes up just short". The Irish Times. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Niland edged out in five-set Wimbledon epic". RTÉ Sport. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  13. ^ "Irish advance in US Open qualifiers". RTÉ Sport. 23 August 2011. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  14. ^ "Niland closes in on US Open qualification". RTÉ Sport. 26 August 2011. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  15. ^ "Niland and Sorenson reach US Open main draw". RTÉ Sport. 26 August 2011. Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  16. ^ "Niland to face Djokovic at US Open". RTÉ Sport. 27 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  17. ^ "Niland forced to retire at US Open". RTÉ Sport. 30 August 2011. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  18. ^ "Niland announces retirement". Tennis Ireland. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  19. ^ Niland, Conor (6 June 2024). "The Racket". Penguin Books. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  20. ^ "Wimbledon 2011: Conor Niland hopes to have Irish talking about tennis". The Guardian. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  21. ^ "Good schooling benefits Niland". Irish Independent. 28 December 1998. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  22. ^ "Wimbledon 2011: Conor Niland hopes to have Irish talking about tennis". The Guardian. 19 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  23. ^ "The road to SW19: what's next for Conor Niland?". The Score.ie. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  24. ^ "The Racket". Penguin Books. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
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