Ricardas Berankis was born on June 21, 1990 in Vilnius, Lithuania. According to the player, he started to play tennis at the age of two but he had to wait until his ninth birthday to practice in a proper way.
In 2007, the Lithuanian´s career went through a radical turn for the better after he reached the number one ranking as a junior player. In that season, he won the US Open and the Orange Bowl as well as semifinals in the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Those results took him to Lithuania's Davis Cup team and at the end, it was a crucial decision of his to take the leap to the professional stage.
For his debut in the Cup. Berankis faced Ireland in the first round of the European/African zone third group and in spite of the lost in that tie, Lithuania won its next three ties in order to remain in that group.
Two years later, the Vilnius born player, won a place for his country in the second group and in 2014, they achieved a place in the main group of their zone. Berankis played a key role in the Lithuania´s success because over his career in Davis Cup (17 ties) he has a 20-6 record and has become the greatest Lithuanian player ever.
In concern of his overall singles career; the best results for Berankis have been three Challenger titles (Nottingham 2013, Helsinki 2013 and Astema 2014). He made the final in the ATP event in Los Angeles in 2012 (lost against Sam Querrey in straight sets 0/6, 2/6). He reached the semifinals in Zagreb this year (lost against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets 4/6, 4/6) and he has multiple appearances in the quarterfinals of ATP 250 tournaments.
In Grand Slams, his best result has been a third round appearance in the Australian Open 2011. He was defeated by David Ferrer in straight sets 2/6, 2/6, 1/6.
This year, the Lithuanian player won his first ATP title and he did it in Houston, playing with Teymuraz Gabashvili in doubles. They defeated Treat Huey and Scott Lipsky 6/4, 6/4 in the final.
Maybe Ricardas Berankis hasn´t filled all the expectations he generated in 2007 when he was world number one in juniors, but in November 2010, he became the first Lithuanian-born player to break into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings. He reached his highest ranking in May 2013 when he was ranked 67th. Today, he is the world number 90.
We have already mentioned his match against Marin Cilic that validated his case, but that meeting has to be considered as one of the highlights of Berankis' career. Despite losing the match, he showed off his best tennis and it was enough to put pressure on the world number nine and current US Open champion.
This match was proof of what Ricardas Berankis can do. Hopefully he can take the positives of the defeat and get his confidence back because the tour needs players like him.