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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson was born on May 18, 1986, in Johannesburg, South Africa but moved to the united states after that.

He started playing tennis at the age of 6 and at the time he was 12, he regularly competed with young Rafael Nadal on the junior circuit.

He was a successful college player winning several trophies for the university of Illinois. After college, he played for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Anderson achieved his career-high Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) ranking of World No.5 on July 16, 2018. Kevin Curren was the first South African to be ranked in the top 5.

Learn more about Kevin Anderson in these top 10 interesting facts.

1. Kevin Anderson married his college sweetheart

In 2011 Kevin married Kelsey O鈥橬eal; they met in college and wedded on November 10, 2011.

Kelsey grew up in Glenview, attended Glenbrook South High school and went to play golf in Illinois.

The couple bought a home in Delray Beach, Florida and are permeant residents of the United States. They had a daughter in September 2019.

Kevin loves to play guitar and is a massive fan of the British rock band Dive Strait and Mark Knopfler.

2. Kevin Anderson’s college career

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After high school, Anderson joined the University of Illinois. While at the college, he continued playing tennis.

He played three seasons of college tennis in the United States at the University of Illinois at Urbana campaign. He was a three-time All-American in singles and two-time all-American in doubles.

Anderson won the national doubles championships during his sophomore year in 2005-2006, playing with his partner Ryan Rowe. In 2007 Anderson led Illinois to a runner-up team finish, losing to Georgia on their court. He lost one single to John Isner.

During the single tournament, Anderson lost in the semi-finals to the eventual two-time national championship, Somder Devvarman of Virginia.

In the doubles, Anderson and his partner Ryan Rowe fell short of repeating as championships, losing in the championship match to Macro Born and Andreas Siljestrom of middle Tennessee state in three sets after having a couple of match points.

3. The 2015 US open marked his first major Quarterfinal

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Before breaking through at flushing, Meadows Anderson had reached the fourth round at seven different majors; three times at the Australian Open, twice at the French Open and twice at Wimbledon but yet to advance past that point.

He won just one set in the first six matches against David Ferrer at the 2014 French Open. In 2015 during the Wimbledon tournament, he pushed eventual champ, Novak Djokovic to the brink of winning the first two sets.

Finally, Anderson got his breakthrough against Andy Murray at the 2015 US Open with a stunning performance winning four sets, hitting an outstanding 81 winners.

4. Kevin Anderson was a 3-time All-American at Illinois

Anderson earned all-American honors at the University of Illinois every year he was at the university. He won the doubles national championship with Ryan Rowe in 2006 and, in 2017, was named the ITA player to watch.

He turned pro in June 2007 after he had announced to forgo the senior season and he made history a few months later.

During the Orleans challenger in September, he won all 13 matches to advance through qualifying and win both the singles and doubles tournaments.

5. He was the first South African to be ranked No.5

Anderson began his 2008 years with Maharashtra open in Pune, India. In the same year, he participated in Wimbledon.

In the Wimbledon semi-finals, he played with John Isner. It became the second-longest match in Grand Islam history and the third longest men鈥檚 singles match ever.
The match latest 6 hours and 36 minutes, ending 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24, attaining the record of the longest semi-final match in Grand Islam history.

Anderson reached the finals of Wimbledon, becoming the first South African player to reach the Wimbledon men鈥檚 singles final since Kevin Curren in 1985.

In the finals, he lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets, despite having fire set point chances in the third. With this run to the finals, he rose to a new career-high of World No.5.

6. Kevin Anderson is very tall

Anderson is 6鈥�8; he was the tallest ever finalist in a Grand Slam when he beat John Isner and is the same height as LeBron James.

In an interview, Anderson said, 鈥淗eight is funny in tennis because it helps the server, but it can hinder agility and movement.鈥�

He added, 鈥淚 have to spend a lot more time working on movement and flexibility than some of my shorter colleagues.鈥�

7. Kevin Anderson’s style to play

Kevin Anderson. Image by Carineo6 on

Anderson uses his serve and forehead to attack restlessly and rarely back off behind the baseline. His groundstrokes are flat and forceful, which he uses to move his opponents from side to side.

During games, he doesn鈥檛 come to the net too frequently and relies primarily on his forehead to endpoints.

Anderson doesn鈥檛 exhibit touch tennis too often and only rarely employs the drop shot or the lab and doesn鈥檛 slice his backhand a lot either and instead prefers to dive through the ball at all times.

8. Kevin Anderson’s injury struggles

Anderson started his season at Auckland as the fourth he won the first set. He was then scheduled to play at the Chennai Open but withdrew due to a left knee injury.

He took a break and also had minor surgery on his ankle. At the 2020 Australian open, Anderson lost to Taylor Fritz in five sets. In February, he underwent surgery on his right knee for a torn Meniscus.

9. Kevin Anderson’s strengths and weakness

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Anderson’s massive regularly serve clocks over 110kph on the second delivery. He hits a tone of aces every match and gets many free points even if the opponent gets a racquet on the ball.

His forehead is a force of nature, and he uses his full height to hit down on the ball, which means his ground strokes always have a lot of flat power.

Anderson’s backhand is a weaker wing but has worked to make it a reasonably reliable shot. His return of serve is also a tad sub-par as he often struggles to break the opponent’s serve.

He moves well for a tall man, but his foot speed is considerably slower than most other players in the top 10.

10. Kevin Anderson retirement

Anderson announced his retirement from professional tennis on May 3, 2022. He ended his single career ranked no 107.

He participated in his last singles match at the 2022 Miami Open, where he fell in a tough three sets to Juan Manuel Cerondolo as a lucky loser. He retired at the age of 35.