Джесси Левин: Канадско-американский теннисист

Canadian American tennis player

Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American Canadian

Levine was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Ottawa's Centrepointe neighbourhood. His father Nathan had played tennis for Penn State. Jesse attended Hillel Academy of Ottawa. Off the court Levine, who is Jewish, keeps kosher at home, and he plays with a Star of David on his chain. He can read and write Hebrew. "I have a lot of contact with the Israeli players, like Ram, Erlich, Sela, and Levy. They sometimes ask me when I will play for Israel in the Davis Cup", he said. Levine currently resides in Boca Raton, Florida. He said in 2009 that he at that point considered himself "100% American", saying that if he were to play Davis Cup, it would be for the US.

Levine enrolled in the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida during the spring of 2007, and played for the Florida Gators men's tennis team. He subsequently withdrew from the university in August 2007 to turn pro.

Levine was 24–1 playing No. 1 singles for the Gators as a freshman. He won all but 3 of his matches in straight sets. In March 2007 he beat 6' 9", 236 pound John Isner, a senior at University of Georgia who was then the No. 1 player in college tennis, who had been undefeated in his prior 46 matches, and who did not lose another regular season match all season. On May 23, 2007, Levine lost his first college match, in the quarterfinals in the NCAA Men's Singles to Washington's Alex Slovic. He was ranked # 3 in singles by the NCAA in the final May 2007 standings, only because he did not have as many matches against ranked opponents as the top two players (Isner and Somdev Devvarman), and he was the only freshman in the top 22.

Levine also played No. 1 doubles for the Gators with junior Greg Ouellette, and the duo was 21–3 in 2007, rising to # 3 in the final NCAA rankings. Levine and Ouellette were defeated in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NCAA Men's Doubles championships by the eventual winners, Middle Tennessee State's Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom.

Levine was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) 2007 National Rookie of the Year, and was one of 10 players nationally to be selected to the 2007 ITA All America Team for NCAA Division I men's tennis in both singles and doubles play. He was named the SEC Men's Tennis Player of the Week twice in 2007.

Levine missed the Gators' first dual match of the season, on January 31, 2007, because he was at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, where he defeated Łukasz Kubot of Poland (ranked # 118) 6–3, 6–2, and Kevin Kim of the US (ranked # 107) 6–2, 6–2, but lost to Benjamin Becker of Germany (ranked # 54) 3–6, 3–6. He also received a wild card into the BMW Tennis Championship, where he lost 6–7(4–7), 6–7(3–7), to Gaël Monfils. In July 2007 Levine travelled to Dubai when top ranked Roger Federer invited him there to practice for 10 days. "I thought it was a joke I thought it was one of my college buddies playing a prank on me, but it was for real", Levine said. Twice he and Federer played match sets, both of which Federer won, 6–4. Levine left college prior to play as a wildcard at the 2007 U. S. Open, his first professional tournament as a professional. He was defeated by world # 4 Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, 4–6, 0–6, 1–6. "I was really nervous", Levine said, "but it was an amazing experience." In doubles, however, he won his first round match, pairing with Alex Kuznetsov, over Dominik Hrbatý of Slovakia and Harel Levy of Israel, 6–1, 6–4, and their second round match upsetting 7th seeded Frenchmen Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 7–6(7–5), 6–4, before losing in the third round to 9th seeded Czechs Lukáš Dlouhý and Pavel Vízner, 4–6, 5–7. In November 2007, Levine won his first pro title, the $75,000 Music City Challenger in Nashville, Tennessee, along the way beating world # 109 Robert Kendrick of the US, 7–5, 6–4, # 148 Sam Warburg of the US, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, and # 170 Dušan Vemić of Serbia, 6–2, 7–5. "That first pro title was a big deal for me", Levine said. "I called my parents to tell them I'd won. I was pretty excited." Still later in November, he began the $50,000 Knoxville Challenger tournament in Tennessee by defeating former US Junior champion Michael McClune, 6–4, 6–1, in the first round, The loss broke Levine's 16 match winning streak. In early December, he and Andy Roddick defeated Robert Kendrick and Amer Delic 7–6, 6–4, in a fast paced match on Har Tru at the OMNI Healthcare/Harris "Rally with Roddick" charity tennis exhibition in Indian Harbour Beach. In late December Levine won a wild card berth into the main draw of the Australian Open. He won the spot by defeating Wayne Odesnik and Kuznetsov in a round robin tournament format. "It definitely feels good not having it just handed out", Levine said after defeating Odesnik 6–4, 6–0. He trained and played sets with Max Mirnyi, Xavier Malisse, Andy Murray, and Tommy Haas. Levine played qualifying in a couple of pre Grand Slam tournaments in Adelaide and Sydney. He still flew coach Down Under. "I'll have to make a lot more money before I can go first class", he said. Levine ended the year with a 20–10 match record, and ranked # 192. "I felt like I was right there, and definitely had my chances in the second and third (sets). I have to work on converting a little better", said Levine. "Maybe I got a little too antsy, and tried to go for a little too much, maybe stepped too hard on the pedal instead of taking a foot off." "First of all, he's a lefty, but also, Jesse has shown a lot of promise since last summer, improved his ranking a lot, and he's a great kid and incredibly hard worker", McEnroe said. "Our guys have a good read on which young guys are working really hard, and they were pushing to invite Jesse. It will be a great experience for him, and he'll help our guys a lot." In February Levine defeated # 81 ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium in the first round of the San Jose Open, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, before losing to James Blake in the second round. In June at Wimbledon, after qualifying by winning three matches, and then getting "shivers" on his arms as he walked out for his opening match, he beat world # 85 Donald Young in the first round, 4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–4. It was the first four set match he had ever played. The key was Levine's persistent net play; he approached net 32 times, winning 25 of the points. In the next round he lost, in his first five set match ever, to Jürgen Melzer 6–4, 2–6, 6–3, 4–6, 1–6. In July in Newport on the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, he beat No. 5 seeded, world # 83 John Isner 6–3, 6–1. Later in the month he beat Benjamin Becker of Germany, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(8–6), at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. In August at the New Haven, Connecticut International Series, he beat world # 67 Guillermo García López of Spain 6–0, 6–3, and world # 61 Steve Darcis, 2–0, retired. He broke into the top 100, at 96, on August 25.

In April at the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas, Levine, ranked 289th in doubles in the world, and doubles partner Ryan Sweeting from the Bahamas, ranked 405th in doubles, made it into the draw via wild card, and in the first round defeated 3rd seeded world doubles # 40 Lucas Arnold Ker and world doubles # 61 Martin Damm, 6–2, 6–4. In the quarterfinals they beat world doubles # 66 Jaroslav Levinský and # 82 Pavel Vízner, 7–6(8–6), 6–4, and in the semifinals they defeated 2nd seeded world doubles # 30 Ashley Fisher and # 29 Jordan Kerr 3–6, 6–3, [10–4]. They lost to Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, ranked # 1 in the world, in the doubles final, 1–6, 2–6. Levine qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon 2009, after defeating Australian Samuel Groth 6–4, 6–7(3–7), 7–5, German Dieter Kindlmann 6–2, 6–3, and German Matthias Bachinger 6–2, 7–5, 6–2. In the first round of the main Wimbledon draw, in the biggest win of his career Levine upset world # 24 (and former world # 1, and two time Grand Slam champion) Marat Safin of Russia 6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–4. The Guardian described Levine as "a feisty little terrier who kept harrying away at his towering opponent", and The New York Times noted that "If you stand them side by side" Levine and Safin "look a little like David and Goliath. Levine is seven inches (178 mm) shorter and 45 pounds lighter than Safin, but when it counted the American was faster and stronger." Safin said that he had known before the match that Levine was a "talented lefty, tough player, fast gonna go for it. He's a tough one." In the second round Levine defeated Uruguay's top tennis player, Pablo Cuevas, 6–2, 6–1, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3. "I think my win the other day against Marat really gave me a confidence booster", he said. "Once again I'm the underdog", said Levine." "I've got nothing to lose, so I'll go out there swinging away. Levine next played in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, making it as far as the quarterfinals, and along the way upsetting sixth seeded world # 48 German Philipp Petzschner, 7–6(7–3), 6–2. It was his second win over a top 50 player in three weeks. In late July Levine qualified for the 2009 Indianapolis Tennis Championships in singles. In doubles Levine partnered Israeli Dudi Sela, and defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan and Josselin Ouanna of France 6–4, 6–4 to make it to the quarterfinals. Entering the 2009 US Open via wild card, he won his first round match in straight sets over Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili 7–5, 6–1, 6–2.

Levine skipped the 2010 Australian Open and 2010 French Open, and played some Challengers instead. In June, Levine reached the second round in doubles at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, but lost in the first round in singles to Feliciano López 6–7(2–7), 6–3, 2–6, 3–6. He lost in the final of the Lexington Challenger to Carsten Ball 4–6, 6–7(2–7) at the end of July. A week later he reached the doubles final of the Challenger in Vancouver. Levine had to withdraw in the second round of qualifying at the 2010 US Open to undergo emergency root canal surgery. At the beginning of 2011, Levine played on the ITF Futures Circuit to improve his ranking. In March, he reached the doubles final at the tournament in Sherbrooke. He won the Futures in Indian Harbour Beach in June, defeating Jeff Dadamo 6–4, 6–4 in the final. In September, Levine reached back to back Futures finals in Canada, winning in Toronto 6–1, 6–0 over Rhyne Williams, but losing in Markham to Peter Polansky. He won his third Futures title of the year in Mansfield with a 6–4, 6–3 victory over John Patrick Smith. Levine reached the final of the Challenger in Charlottesville at the beginning of November. He won his first Challenger title in three years a week later, beating Brian Baker 6–2, 6–3 in Knoxville. Levine received a main draw wild card for the 2012 Australian Open after winning the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Playoff.

Levine lost in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open to Marcel Granollers in five sets, 0–6, 6–7(4–7), 7–5, 7–5, 3–6. In February, he won his fifth Challenger title thanks to a 6–4, 6–4 win over Steve Darcis in Dallas. He lost in the first round of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami. Levine reached the second round of the French Open in June, his first Grand Slam main draw win in almost three years. He also reached the second round at Wimbledon. He lost in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. In September, Levine lost in the first round of the US Open but made it to the third round in doubles. Also in September, he reached the quarterfinals of the ATP tournament in Moselle in both singles and doubles. In October, he lost in the doubles quarterfinals of the ATP 250 in Vienna. Levine applied to the International Tennis Federation in late 2012 to represent Canada in future Davis Cup play.

Levine started his season in Brisbane where he qualified, but lost in the first round to Alejandro Falla. He played his first official tournament as a Canadian in Auckland, where he qualified for the main draw of an ATP tournament for the second straight week. He made it to the quarterfinals, after wins over local player Daniel King Turner and Brian Baker, before losing to Sam Querrey. At the Australian Open, Levine defeated former world No. 5 Tommy Robredo in the first round, but lost to 14th seed Gilles Simon in the next round. Levine was defeated by Japan's Kei Nishikori in the first round of the French Open. At Wimbledon, he made it to the second round with a five set victory over Guido Pella in his opening match, before losing to world No. 8 Juan Martín del Potro in the next round. Levine reached the second round at the Rogers Cup in August as a wildcard, but was defeated by Rafael Nadal. Beginning in the spring of 2013 during grass court season, Levine began suffering from an elbow problem and numbness in his pinky finger. The problem continued for over a year. Levine was scheduled to have surgery in October 2014, either Tommy John surgery or a different surgery to move his ulnar nerve and thus relieve the numbness in his little finger. Levine retired at the end of 2014 due to an elbow injury.

In 2017, Levine was inducted into the Ottawa Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Among his strengths as a player are that he is extremely fast and explosive, "quick footed" with "great feet", "a superb forehand", and what John McEnroe has referred to as "great racket speed"; he is "a hard worker and a natural leader." He also runs everything down. "He's got a great heart", said Larry Stefanki, who coached Andy Roddick and has previously worked with John McEnroe, Marcelo Ríos, Fernando González and Tim Henman. "A lot of players today are fast and fit, but just don't seem to play every point at 100%. It's like they're almost on cruise control and then want to play hard when it gets to 4 all or 5 all", Stefanki said. quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=|align=right |quote=When he hears that he's too small, not big enough, well, he just never listened. He says, 'I'm going to play this game. '|source= —Nathan Levine, Jesse's father At 5' 9" and 150 pounds, Levine is smaller than most professional tennis players. He is also good friends with Canadian NHL ice hockey centre Jason Spezza and a big fan of the Ottawa Senators and Miami Dolphins. On April 28, 2014 Jesse was made an honorary brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.