Alexander Shevchenko is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player who was born on November 29, 2000, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. After he picked up the sport at a young age, Shevchenko showed early signs of promise, prompting his parents to encourage him to take his talents further.
By the age of 18, the Kazakhstani player was playing regularly on the ITF tour, trying to grind out results at the lowest levels to gradually claw himself up the rankings and earn himself a spot on the ATP Tour.
After a few years of perfecting his game to ITF level and subsequently going further and further in competitions, he was ready to make the step up to Challenger level, which first came about during the 2021 season. Not long after first gracing the Challenger tour courts, he was ready for the next step up: the ATP main tour.
His first chance to go up against the best presented itself at the 2022 Kitzbuhel Open, where he made his ATP main draw debut against Grand Slam champion Dominic Thiem. Despite losing in the first round, it was a sign of things to come, and he soon had a second bite of the proverbial cherry in the main draws in Astana and Stockholm.
The 2023 season did not get off to a rapid start for the Kazakhstani, with him failing to record an ATP main draw win until April when he progressed through to the second round of the Barcelona Open.
A somewhat breakthrough came shortly after, though, when he reached the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, eventually losing to number three seed Daniil Medvedev. He repeated that feat just two weeks later at the ATP Masters tournament in Rome, gaining himself some priceless ATP points.
This golden run saw him qualify straight into the first-round main draw of Roland Garros. He ended up winning his Grand Slam debut after seeing off Oscar Otte in four sets. The rest of that season was positive for Shevchenko, with him reaching the quarterfinal stage at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, followed by his first ATP final at the Moselle Open in Metz in November, only losing to fan-favorite Ugo Humbert.
He can certainly say that he is a full-fledged member of the ATP Tour now, with him breaking into the Top 50 and eyeing higher positions in 2024.
