William Blumberg (born 26 January 1998) is an American tennis player who played college tennis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1] He has a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 179 achieved on 31 January 2022. He reached a career-high of World No. 438 in singles on 18 February 2019.
William's parents are Amy and David Blumberg. Blumberg identifies as Catholic, like his mother, while his father is Jewish. The family often has Jewish food during holidays.[2] Blumberg also has two brothers. Blumberg attended Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut. As a senior at Greenwich, he went undefeated and did not lose a set all season.[3]
During his junior career, he played at each of the four grand slam junior tournaments.[4] He reached the final in the boys' doubles at the 2015 French Open partnering fellow American Tommy Paul.
Blumberg was the nation's top recruit for the class of 2016.[5] After going 26–2 during his first season at North Carolina, Blumberg was named ACC Freshman of the Year, first-team all-ACC, and ITA Men's Tennis Rookie of the Year.[6] He was also named the Most Outstanding Player at the 2017 NCAA tournament.[7] In May 2021, he became the first 10-time All-America in ITA history, winning the honor in both singles and doubles in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.[8][9]
Professional career[]
2017-2019: Grand Slam doubles debut, Top 500 debut in singles[]
Blumberg made his Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2017 US Open after receiving a wildcard for the doubles main draw with compatriot Spencer Papa.[10]
He reached a career-high of World No. 438 in singles on 18 February 2019.
2021: Maiden ATP doubles title, Challenger tour success, Top 200 debut in doubles[]
He partnered as a wildcard pair with Jack Sock at the 2021 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, where he won his first ATP match. The unseeded pair reached the finals by defeating fellow Americans Tennys Sandgren and Denis Kudla, third seeds John-Patrick Smith and Harri Heliövaara, and second seeds Jonathan Erlich and Santiago González.[11] In the final they defeated Austin Krajicek and Vasek Pospisil.[12][13] With this run he entered the top 300 at World No. 284 on 19 July 2021, rising more than 1000 spots in the doubles rankings.
He made his debut in the top 200 on 1 November 2021 after winning his first and second Challengers in Cary in September and Las Vegas in October with Max Schnur. He followed that with a third Challenger win in Charlottesville in November also with Schnur.