Aljaž Bedene

2.1. Career beginnings (2008-2010)

Bedene began his professional career in 2008, participating in two Futures tournaments in Slovenia, where he was defeated in the early rounds. He ended his debut season ranked No. 1659. In 2009, he reached the quarterfinals of Austria F2 and the second round in four consecutive Futures tournaments. He also advanced to the semifinals in Bosnia and Herzegovina F2. Bedene reached his first Futures final in June 2009 at Slovenia F2, losing to fellow Slovenian Marko Tkalec. He reached another Futures final at Austria F5 in July 2009, where he was defeated by Johannes Ager. Following these, he secured his first Futures title at Slovakia F2 in August 2009, defeating Martin Fafl. He then won two consecutive tournaments: Austria F7, beating Benoît Paire, and Austria F9, overcoming Nicolas Reissig. He continued his winning streak at Croatia F9, defeating Attila Balázs, and secured another title at Turkey F13, beating Aldin Šetkić. Bedene finished the 2009 season ranked No. 304.

The 2010 season marked Bedene's debut on the ATP Challenger Tour, participating in tournaments in Barletta, Blumenau, and Curitiba. He reached the second round in Barletta but faced early exits in the others. He also reached the final of Bosnia and Herzegovina F3, losing to Michal Schmid. Bedene competed in the qualifying rounds of Wimbledon, winning his first-round match against Thierry Ascione before losing to Marsel İlhan. He later faced a significant wrist injury, which sidelined him until early 2011. He concluded 2010 ranked No. 540.

2.2. Rise to top 100 and Grand Slam debut (2011-2014)

In 2011, Bedene advanced to the quarterfinals of TurkI F1 and the semifinals of TurkI F2. He made his ATP Tour debut at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors in Zagreb, qualifying for the main draw but losing in the third round of qualifying. He won the Barletta Challenger, defeating Filippo Volandri in the final. His participation in the Umag ATP 250 tournament saw him reach the third round of qualifying. He later reached the second round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, his first ATP main draw win, defeating Ivo Karlović before losing to Tommy Haas. Bedene ended 2011 ranked No. 165.

The 2012 season saw Bedene make his Grand Slam qualifying debut at the Australian Open, reaching the second round of qualifying. He won two more Challenger titles: the Casablanca Challenger and the Barletta Challenger. He made his first ATP quarterfinal appearance at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, retiring against Janko Tipsarević. On 30 July 2012, he made his top 100 debut, reaching World No. 83, after winning his fourth Challenger title at the 2012 ATP China Challenger International. He concluded 2012 ranked No. 98.

In 2013, Bedene made his first ATP semifinal appearance at the Aircel Chennai Open, where he defeated sixth seed Robin Haase and fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka before losing to Janko Tipsarević. He made his Grand Slam main draw debut at the Australian Open, losing in the first round to Benjamin Becker. He won two more Challenger titles: the Roma Open and the Banja Luka Challenger. His doubles ranking reached a career-high of No. 127 in October 2013.

On 9 May 2014, it was announced that Bedene had applied for a British passport, with legal support from the Lawn Tennis Association. He reached his first Masters 1000 third round at the Miami Open.

2.3. Representation of Great Britain and ATP Tour Finals (2015-2017)

Bedene began 2015 by reaching his first ATP Tour final at the Aircel Chennai Open, defeating Lukáš Lacko, Feliciano López, Guillermo García López, and Roberto Bautista Agut, before losing to Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. On 26 March, Bedene was granted UK citizenship and became the British No. 2. However, his application to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup was rejected by the International Tennis Federation because he had previously played three dead rubbers for Slovenia in the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Davis Cups. Despite appeals by the Lawn Tennis Association on his behalf, the ITF upheld its rule preventing players from representing more than one country in the competition. Bedene's case was based on his passport application being submitted before the new regulation was implemented. On 17 November, his appeal hearing was adjourned until March 2016 to allow the ITF to consider additional documentation from the LTA. He made his top 50 debut on 19 October 2015.

In March 2016, the International Tennis Federation confirmed that Bedene was ineligible to represent Great Britain in either the Davis Cup or the Olympic Games. Bedene considered seeking a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He split with his coach, James Davidson, that same month, and Davis Cup captain Leon Smith briefly supervised him. Bedene reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic.

In 2017, Bedene won three Challenger titles: the Irving Tennis Classic (defeating Mikhail Kukushkin), the Verrazzano Open (defeating Benoît Paire), and the Open Città della Disfida (defeating Gastão Elias). He also reached his second ATP final at the Gazprom Hungarian Open, ultimately losing to Lucas Pouille. He reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time at Wimbledon, losing to Gilles Müller.

2.4. Return to Slovenia and career-high ranking (2018-2021)

For the 2018 season, Bedene officially reverted to representing Slovenia. In February, he reached his third ATP final at the Argentina Open, defeating Jiří Veselý, Albert Ramos Viñolas, Diego Schwartzman, and Federico Delbonis before being defeated by Dominic Thiem. As a result of this performance, he achieved his career-high singles ranking of World No. 43 on 19 February 2018. He also won the Open d'Orléans Challenger title in September.

In 2019, Bedene reached the third round of the US Open, his first third-round appearance at that major. He also reached his fourth ATP final at the Moselle Open, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets. In August, he won the Tilia Slovenia Open Challenger.

The 2020 season saw Bedene achieve his first win at the Australian Open, reaching the second round. He also made a notable run at the French Open, reaching the third round for the second time in his career.

In 2021, Bedene started his season at the Great Ocean Road Open, reaching the third round. At the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, he upset fifth seed Jannik Sinner in the first round. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the Sardegna Open and the second round of the Italian Open as a lucky loser. At the Lyon Open, he upset fourth seed David Goffin before losing in the quarterfinals. Bedene reached the third round of Wimbledon for the second time in his career at that major, where he was defeated by seventh seed and eventual finalist Matteo Berrettini.

2.5. Retirement (2022)

Bedene made his return to the court at the 2022 French Open, after an eight-month hiatus, using his protected ranking. He reached the third round of the tournament for the third time in his career at this Grand Slam, where he was eventually defeated by top seed Novak Djokovic. Following his run at the French Open, Bedene announced his intention to retire from professional tennis at the end of the season, after Slovenia's Davis Cup tie, to pursue a career as a football agent.

3.1. ATP Tour finals

Aljaž Bedene reached four singles finals on the ATP Tour, finishing as runner-up in all of them:

3.2. Challenger and Futures Tour finals

Bedene achieved significant success on both the ATP Challenger Tour and the ITF Futures Tour, winning numerous singles and doubles titles.

• Singles: 27 (21 titles, 6 runner-ups)**

• Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)**

3.3. Wins over Top 10 players

Aljaž Bedene recorded two significant victories over players ranked within the top 10 of the ATP rankings during his career.

4.1. Singles performance timeline

4.2. Doubles performance timeline

5.1. Singles performances (9-1)

5.2. Doubles performances (2-2)