Tennis Career
Fleishman began playing tennis at the age of 8.
In 1998, he became the highest-ranked American junior in the world (at # 18 in the world rankings). He was the top-ranked player in Southern California in boys 10, 12, 14, and 18s, and was listed No. 5 nationally in boys 14 and unders at age 13. He competed in numerous Junior Grand Slam events, including Wimbledon, the French Open, and the US Open where he reached the quarterfinals.
Fleishman played one year of high school tennis at Crossroads School in ninth grade for coach Martin Hershey. He went undefeated for that season, and won the Delphic League Championship.
At the age of 18, he played one season (1998–99) of collegiate tennis at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). That year Fleishman helped UCLA to the number 1 ranking in the country, and to the final of the National Collegiate Athletics Association championships. After one year of competing on the collegiate level, Fleishman opted to turn professional in 2000.
He has won seven professional singles titles (and numerous doubles titles) in his career, starting with back to back satellite wins in El Salvador on hard court, followed by a win in Honduras on red clay. Fleishman then won back-to-back titles again, this time in his native California, winning two futures events in Redding and Chico (he also won the doubles title). Later, he was able to establish himself on the challenger circuit, winning a US$25,000 event in Ecuador on red clay and then a US$50,000 event in Vietnam on hard court. This propelled his ranking to 11th in the United States and World # 127. In 2008, Zack added another professional tournament victory to his resume winning the Costa Mesa Tennis Futures.
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