Roman Safiullin is a Russian professional tennis player born on August 7, 1997, in Podolsk, Russia. Born to father, Rishat, and his mother, Marina, he first picked up a racquet at the age of 4 after following the influence of his father, who at the time worked at a tennis academy.
The family quickly realized their son had potential, and the Russian youngster was put into the junior tennis system, ready to try out his luck on Tour. Winner of the 2015 Boys' Australian Open, as well as holder of the world number 2 ranking spot, it is fair to say he enjoyed a successful junior career.
Fast forward to the start of his senior career, the Russian spent the first few years of his stint on the pro tour at ITF and Challenger level, as tends to be the case. His first shot at a main-draw ATP tournament came at the 250 event in his home country, at the Moscow Open. Losing in the first round to Yuki Bhambri, Safiullin was more motivated than ever to carry on.
Following a couple more years of hard graft at the lower levels of professional tennis, the Russian’s luck was soon about to turn. After coming through a grueling qualifying tournament at the 2021 Australian Open, his debut at the main draw of a Grand Slam had arrived. He managed to win and progress to the second round, where he eventually fell to Cameron Norrie.
2022 brought more success for Safiullin, with him reaching his first ATP semifinal at the Marseille Open. He even got this first Top-10 win after he saw off Stefanos Tstisipas in the quarterfinal. The turn of another season did anything but hamper his progress. 2023 saw him make history as, in reaching the quarterfinal of Wimbledon, he became only the 12th player in history to reach that stage of the competition on their first main-draw appearance.
Just a matter of months later, he reached his first ATP Tour-level final, eventually losing to Alexander Zverev in the Chengdu Open final. Such a stellar 2023 set him up nicely to break into the Top 40 at the start of 2024.
