Richard Bloomfield

English tennis player
the American diplomat

Richard Bloomfield (born 27 April 1983, in Norwich) is an English former professional male tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and reached a peak world ranking of 176 in March 2007. 'Bloomers', as he is known to the tennis world, is from the small Norfolk village of Alpington.

Bloomfield won the 2001 British Junior Tennis Championships, defeating Alex Bogdanovic in the final. He also won the equivalent doubles title with Ken Skupski. He played his first senior tennis that year, losing to future French Open finalist Robin Söderling in the qualifying draw for the Bolton Challenger. Bloomfield's unexpected victory was investigated by ATP officials concerned about betting patterns, but no evidence was found of any wrongdoing. Bloomfield also won two futures tournaments in 2006, reached the semi final of Rennes Challenger, losing to Jo Wilfried Tsonga, and a further three doubles semi finals of the Challenger tour. A series of back injuries saw Bloomfield's ranking fall further, before he achieved a surprise qualification for the 2010 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island. In 2011 Bloomfield continued to play in Futures tournaments, as well as qualifying for two tournaments on the Challenger tour. Remarkably, however, Bloomfield qualified once again for the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, defeating Rajeev Ram to make his first ATP tournament since his previous appearance at the 2010 tournament. At the 2011 Championships, however, Bloomfield lost in the first round to Édouard Roger Vasselin. Subsequently, Bloomfield returned to competing predominantly in the Futures tour. In 2014 he moved to competing on the AEGON British Tour, dropping out of the ATP rankings in 2015 before securing a place in the Wimbledon qualifying draw via the Wild Card Play Off competition.