The 21st century
Romania · born Craiova, 1985 · Wimbledon boys' champion 2003 · Olympic doubles silver medallist 2016
All playersBack to the rankings
3
Wimbledon junior titles, 2002 and 2003
No. 7
Career-high doubles ranking, July 2015
7
ATP Tour doubles titles
2016
Olympic doubles silver with Horia Tecau
Born in Craiova in 1985, Mergea rose to No. 2 in the world junior singles rankings and No. 1 in doubles, winning three Wimbledon junior titles and reaching the 2003 Australian Open boys' final. As a professional he reached only No. 243 in singles, in May 2005, and in 2010 he left the tour after a run of injuries, then returned months later as a doubles player. He won his first ATP title in Vienna in 2013, took the Madrid Masters with Rohan Bopanna in 2015, reached that year's ATP World Tour Finals final and a doubles high of No. 7, and won Olympic silver with Horia Tecau in Rio in 2016. He won seven tour doubles titles and retired in March 2022 to coach young players.
| Major singles titles | 1: Wimbledon (2003) |
|---|---|
| Major doubles titles | 2: Wimbledon (2002, 2003) |
| Wimbledon boys' finals | Singles 2003: beat Chris Guccione 6-2, 7-6, after beating the top seed Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Doubles with Horia Tecau: 2002 beat Brian Baker and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 2003 beat Adam Feeney and Chris Guccione 7-6, 7-5 |
| Wimbledon as a senior | Men's doubles semi-final 2015 with Rohan Bopanna; first senior main draw in 2013 with Philipp Marx |
| Other grass | Stuttgart 2015 doubles title with Rohan Bopanna, beating Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 in a match tie-break. Halle 2015 doubles final, lost to Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-7, 2-6 |
| Stuttgart | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Men's doubles | with Rohan Bopanna |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Just being here again is a pleasure. There are many memories on this surface."
The person behind the player.
Craiova and Brasov, 1985 to 2001
Tecau was born in Brasov in January 1985 and Mergea in Craiova a week later. Both started playing at six and teamed up at 14. Mergea beat Tecau in the final of the national championships, then the pair won the doubles at the European junior championships in San Remo. By the end of 2002 they were the world's top-ranked junior doubles team.
Source: AdevarulWimbledon 2003
Seeded sixth, Mergea beat the top seed Tomas Berdych 7-6, 7-6 in the quarter-final and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets in the semi-final. In the final he beat the Australian Chris Guccione 6-2, 7-6; Guccione had beaten Tecau in the other semi-final. In the doubles final Mergea and Tecau beat Guccione and Adam Feeney 7-6, 7-5.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 2002 and Halle 2015
Mergea and Tecau won their first Wimbledon boys' doubles title in 2002 by beating the Americans Brian Baker and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Thirteen years later Ram had his turn on grass: with Raven Klaasen he beat Mergea and Rohan Bopanna 7-6, 6-2 in the final at Halle.
Source: WikipediaBucharest, 2010
Mergea said he had talked Tecau into playing doubles together, they had a plan, and then Tecau told him he would not play with him any more. Mergea went back to singles because he wanted to depend only on himself. After a run of injuries he quit, married Daiana and taught tennis in Bucharest, then came back about 18 months later.
Source: AdevarulWimbledon 2013
At 28 he played his first senior main draw at Wimbledon, in doubles with Philipp Marx, and lost in the first round to the Australians Hanley and Smith in four sets. He said he was happy just to be back on grass, remembered winning twice on Court 2 with Horia, and set himself the top 50, adding that he was in no hurry.
Source: ProSportRio de Janeiro 2016
Reunited with Tecau, Mergea reached the Olympic doubles final and met Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez. The Romanians lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6 and took silver. A year earlier, playing with Rohan Bopanna, Mergea had lost the ATP World Tour Finals final to Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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