Jesse Levine, the Ottawa-born Can-American who two years ago this week was at a career-high No. 69 in the ATP Tour rankings, will start over this week at a $15,000 Futures event in Houston, Texas.
Sidelined by a persistent elbow issue since last November, Levine has played just one match since then, a three-set loss at the Challenger in Rimouski last March.
(His current ranking is No. 698; he told Open Court that his protected ranking will come in at No. 250 – Levine was inside the top 150 when he first had to stop last November, but that one match he played in Rimouski cancelled that out. Levine didn’t need to use the protected ranking for this Futures event; he has nine tournaments in which he can apply it, and will start doing that at Challenger events next month.)
Levine was with the Canadian Davis Cup team last month in Halifax as a lefthanded practice partner (he was repatriated a few years ago, but has yet to see live action). The Canadians expected to face Colombian lefty Alejandro Falla during the World Group playoff tie. Falla bowed out because of injury, but Levine stuck around to offer support.
Let’s hope the elbow issue is well and truly behind him. He turns 27 later this month, he has plenty of time.
A side note – Levine is also playing doubles; his partner is American Michael Shabaz.
The two combined to win junior Wimbledon doubles for the U.S. in back-to-back years, 2005 and 2006.
More than eight years later, they probably didn’t think they’d be playing a $15,000 Futures event together – that’s exactly what they were doing back in 2006, right around this time, in Levin’s second career pro event.
Life can throw you a few unexpected curves, that’s for sure.
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