Brian Battistone
Brian Battistone (born August 10, 1979)[1] is an American professional tennis player. He was born in Santa Barbara, California and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.[2] Throughout his career, Battistone has reach a career high ranking of 853 in singles and 88 in doubles. Battistone is one of only three people (his brother Dann Battistone and Tennyson Whiting) to use a two-handled tennis racket.
|  Brian Battistone at 2012 US Open | |
| Country (sports) |  United States | 
|---|---|
| Residence | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | 
| Born | August 10, 1979 Santa Barbara, California, U.S. | 
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | 
| Turned pro | 2007 | 
| Plays | Right-handed (switches between two-handed backhand and left-handed forehand) | 
| Coach | Mark Battistone Lionel Burt | 
| Prize money | US$77,358 | 
| Singles | |
| Career record | 0–0 | 
| Career titles | 0 | 
| Highest ranking | No. 853 (16 November 2009) | 
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 2–9 (18.2%) | 
| Career titles | 0 | 
| Highest ranking | No. 88 (1 November 2010) | 
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| US Open | 1R (2010) | 
| Mixed doubles | |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| US Open | 1R (2012) | 
| Last updated on: August 2021. | |
Personal life
    
Battistone was born on August 10, 1979 in Santa Barbara, California, United States. His father, Mark, serves as Battistone's current head coach along with Lionel Burt. Besides his mother tongue English he also speaks Portuguese after his years as a missionary for the LDS church in Brazil. His brother, Dann Battistone, also plays tennis and has played doubles many times with Brian.
Career
    
It is unknown when exactly Battistone took up tennis. It is known that he and his brother played for a championship tennis team at Palm Desert High School in 1995. Battistone did not have a junior career as he decided to instead play higher level men's tournaments as a teenager. He played his first match in 1997 and took various breaks between 1997-2006 before officially turning pro in 2007 at the age of 27.
Singles
    
Battistone played his first singles match in 1997 and got his first ATP ranking of 1346 in 2001. When he turned pro in 2007, he started to improve his ranking and achieved a singles high ranking of 853 on November 16, 2009. He received a wildcard into the qualifying draw of the Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells in 2010 which remains his only ATP qualifying draw appearance. He took the first set against 24th seed Jesse Witten but lost the next two sets to lose the match. His success started to die down and he lost his singles rankings and began to play ITF qualifying matches by the time 2012 came.
Doubles
    
Battistone played his first doubles match in 1998 and got his first ATP ranking of 1366 in 1999. His career took a big leap after turning pro in 2007. Between 2007-2015, Battistone would win 4 ATP Challenger titles and 2 ITF Futures titles. He won his first futures tournament in 2007 with his brother and his first challenger title in 2009 also with his brother. He made his ATP main draw debut at the 2008 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships partnering his brother Dann. His doubles success earned him a wildcard spot into the 2010 US Open parterning Ryler DeHeart. In October 2010 he won his first ATP Men's Doubles match, partnering Andreas Siljeström in the 2010 Stockholm Open which would help push him to his highest doubles ranking of 88 on November 1, 2010. He would return to the US Open in 2012 in the mixed doubles partnering Nicole Melichar. He won his first doubles title in five years in 2015 at an ITF event partnering Boris Nicola Bakalov. Throughout his doubles career, Battistone has been most notable for partnering with Ryler Deheart, Andreas Silijeström, Nicholas Monroe, Treat Huey, and his brother Dann.
Playing style
    
Battistone is known for having an unorthodox style of play. He uses a volleyball-styled jump serve where he jumps in on court, switches racket hand in mid-air and hits the ball before landing on court. He is also a serve-and-volleyer which means that he will volley the ball as soon as it’s returned to him after his serve. Battistone also has a tendency to switch his backhand from a two-handed grip to a left-handed forehand grip.
Two-handled racket
    
Brian and his brother Dann are famous for using a two-handled racquet designed by his coach Lionel Burt of Naturaltennis racquet factory.[3] Brian and Dann have tried to advertise Burt's racket design to make it more widespread but the design did not catch much attention.
Titles and finals
    
    Doubles: 17 (6–11)
    
| 
 | 
 | 
| Outcome | No. | Date (Final) | Tournament | Type | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score | 
| Loss | 0–1 | Oct 2007 | Laguna Niguel, California, United States | Futures | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  Justin Diao Natale  Levar Harper-Griffith | 1–6, 7–5, [7–10] | 
| Win | 1–1 | Oct 2007 | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States | Futures | Hard |  Dann Battistone | .svg.png.webp) Carsten Ball  Rylan Rizza | 6–4, 7–6(7–3) | 
| Loss | 1–2 | Jan 2008 | Boca Raton, Florida, United States | Futures | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  Uladzimir Ignatik  Andrey Kumantsov | 5–7, 4–6 | 
| Loss | 1–3 | Mar 2008 | Harlingen, Texas, United States | Futures | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  Nicholas Monroe  Phillip Simmonds | 3–6, 1–6 | 
| Loss | 1–4 | Jun 2008 | Shingle Springs, California, United States | Futures | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  Rylan Rizza  Kaes Van't Hof | 7–5, 6–7(2–7), [9–11] | 
| Loss | 1–5 | Aug 2008 | Binghamton, New York, United States | Challenger | Hard |  Dann Battistone | .svg.png.webp) Carsten Ball  Travis Rettenmaier | 3–6, 4–6 | 
| Win | 2–5 | Oct 2008 | Sacramento, California, United States | Challenger | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  John Isner  Rajeev Ram | 1–6, 6–3, [10–4] | 
| Win | 3–5 | Nov 2009 | Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, United States | Challenger | Hard |  Dann Battistone |  Treat Huey  Harsh Mankad | 7–5, 7–6(7–5) | 
| Loss | 3–6 | Apr 2010 | Saint-Brieuc, France | Challenger | Clay |  Ryler DeHeart |  Uladzimir Ignatik  David Marrero Santana | 6–4, 4–6, [5–10] | 
| Win | 4–6 | May 2010 | Sarasota, Florida, United States | Challenger | Clay |  Ryler DeHeart |  Gero Kretschmer  Alex Satschko | 5–7, 7–6(7–4), [10–8] | 
| Win | 5–6 | May 2010 | Carson, California, United States | Challenger | Hard |  Nicholas Monroe |  Artem Sitak  Leonardo Tavares | 5–7, 6–3, [10–4] | 
| Loss | 5–7 | Jul 2010 | Pozoblanco, Spain | Challenger | Hard |  Filip Prpic |  Marcel Granollers  Gerard Granollers-Pujol | 4–6, 6–4, [4–10] | 
| Loss | 5–8 | Aug 2010 | Segovia, Spain | Challenger | Hard |  Harsh Mankad |  Thiago Alves  Franco Ferreiro | 2–6, 7–5, [8–10] | 
| Loss | 5–9 | Aug 2010 | Istanbul, Turkey | Challenger | Hard |  Andreas Siljeström |  Leoš Friedl  Dušan Vemić | 6–7(6–8), 6–7(3–7) | 
| Loss | 5–10 | Aug 2010 | San Sebastián, Spain | Challenger | Clay |  Andreas Siljeström |  Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo  Santiago Ventura | 4–6, 6–7(3–7) | 
| Loss | 5–11 | Sep 2010 | Genova, Italy | Challenger | Clay |  Andreas Siljeström |  Andre Begemann  Martin Emmrich | 6–1, 6–7(3–7), [7–10] | 
| Win | 6–11 | Nov 2015 | Niceville, Florida, United States | Futures | Clay |  Boris Nicola Bakalov |  Nick Chappell  Dane Webb | 7–6(7–5), 5–7, [10–6] | 
References
    
- Archived September 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- "Brian Battistone – Tennis Players - Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
- Starritt, Alex (October 22, 2008). "Two-handled tennis racquet developed in US". Telegraph. Retrieved February 25, 2014.