Kevin Anderson was born on May 18, 1986, in Johannesburg, South Africa, to parents Michael and Barbara. He started playing tennis at age six and also participated in athletics track events in childhood. To progress his tennis career, Anderson moved to the United States and studied at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Anderson won several college-level honors between 2005 and 2007, including the 2006 NCAA doubles title with partner Ryan Rowe. The South African also won All-American honors in his three years at college.
Anderson also played at the ITF Futures level from the age of 17 and also competed in Challenger events between 2005 and 2007. However, he broke onto the ATP Tour in 2008 when he reached the Australian Open first round but lost to Alejandro Falla.
Over a month later, Anderson made his first ATP Tour final at the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. He entered as a qualifier, went all the way to the final two, and lost against Sam Querrey. Later, in 2008, Anderson played in his first Wimbledon main draw, losing in round one again.
He also represented South Africa at the Beijing Olympics and reached the second round. Progress was generally slow for the South African over the next two seasons. He couldn’t progress further than round one at the majors in 2009 and largely competed at the Challenger level.
Moreover, he started 2010 slowly before winning his first Grand Slam match at the US Open. At the tournament, Anderson progressed to the third round, defeating Somdev Devvarman and Thomaz Bellucci. This ultimately gave Anderson confidence and he became a serious contender on the ATP Tour in 2011.
He won his first ATP title at the SA Open, beating Devvarman again in the final. The win helped Anderson climb into the ATP top 50 for the first time in his career. Late in the season, he made the third round at the US Open for a second consecutive season. Anderson was consistent again in 2012 and made the third round at two Grand Slams.
He also added a Delray Beach Open title to his trophy cabinet after beating Marinko Matosevic. 2013 and 2014 saw Anderson make rapid progress. Across the two campaigns, he reached five ATP Tour finals but lost each one. He also improved in the majors, making round four at five of the eight majors between 2013 and 2014.
In 2015, Anderson broke into the ATP top 10 for the first time. He was consistent again in the Grand Slams and reached round four at the Australian Open. Then, he progressed to two finals in Memphis and at Queen’s but lost both. However, Anderson ended his three-year drought for an ATP title when he won the 2015 Winston-Salem Open.
To end a strong campaign, Anderson progressed to the quarter-finals at the US Open. In 2016, injury issues started to arise that would have continuous effects on Anderson. He missed large spells of 2016 with knee, shoulder, and elbow injuries, even undergoing surgery in March 2016.
Yet, the South African came back with a flourish in 2017. During that campaign, he made the Citi Open final before reaching his first-ever Grand Slam final at the US Open. However, he fell in three sets against Rafael Nadal at Flushing Meadows. Anderson was then on the up for 2018 and had one of his most successful seasons to date.
Early in the season, the South African reached two finals at the Maharashtra Open and Mexican Open. He also won his fourth career title at the first-ever New York Open, defeating Sam Querrey. In the grass court season, Anderson reached a second Grand Slam final within a year.
He progressed to the final two at the 2018 Wimbledon competition, only to lose against Novak Djokovic. However, the South African didn’t dwell on the defeat and won his fifth career title at the Vienna Open in October. Anderson continued in 2019 at the top of his game and won the Maharashtra Open. However, injury issues persisted again when he suffered an elbow injury in March.
This disrupted his form for the remainder of the season. Similarly, Anderson struggled to find form in 2020 after surgery on a torn meniscus in February. Despite the setbacks, Anderson recovered for a consistent 2021. He played at all four majors for the first time in three years but only progressed to round two at Wimbledon and the US Open.
The South African notched his seventh ATP title mid-way through the season at the Newport Open. Following several early-round eliminations in 2022, Anderson announced his retirement from tennis on May 3. His retirement lasted just over a year as he returned to the 2023 Hall of Fame Open and lost in the quarter-finals against Ugo Humbert.
