A Scrub With Connections is a Lucky Scrub

Which current top twenty player has a twenty-year old sibling currently ranked #1267? Click on to find out...

It's Gerald Melzer, brother of Jurgen (ATP #15)!

Gerald even says on his ATP profile that his childhood idol was "my brother, Jurgen Melzer."  Aww.

Gerald Melzer came into my life through appearing in the main draw of this week's Studena Croatia Open in Umag.  He received a wildcard into qualifying (perhaps a condition of his brother playing the event?) and won all three of his matches in that draw in straight sets (though he avoided any seeds or anybody else I had ever heard of in the process).

In the main draw, Gerald was placed next to Jurgen, who had received a bye.  All Gerald had to do was win one more match, and the Brothers Melzer would do battle at the ATP level.

But Jan Hajek beat Gerald 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, destroying the dreams of the first brother battle on the ATP tour since (I believe) the Rochus brothers squared off at Wimbledon in 2002 (if anyone knows of a more recent brotherly brawl, put it in the comments).

Although Umag might not seem like the most glamorous locale a tennis player could dream of, it's a lot more desirable than a lot of the places Gerald has been playing lately.  He's been playing futures events (think double digit prize money) in Israel, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and even Gabon, having to play qualifying at some of those tournaments.

Thanks to his connections, he's had considerably more success in doubles.  Gerald teamed with his brother to win the doubles title at the Graz challenger back in 2008, and has also partnered with Philipp Petzschner.

Jurgen isn't playing doubles with Gerald this week, though.  Instead, Jurgen is playing with Petzschner, choosing the German over his own brother just because he won Wimbledon with Petzschner a couple weeks ago. 

It's amazing how little family can mean when it comes to the cutthroat world of tennis, ain't it?