K2 Welcomes Jesse Levine, Canadian Tennis pro to England!

Who would have thought a Project Management Consultancy firm next to Gatwick Airport would have ties to a professional Canadian Tennis player, who played center court at Wimbledon this past June 2013.

Jesse Levine, 26 year old Canadian native tennis guru was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario the same city in Canada where Gillian, our newly appointed Marketing Manager’s family derives from. Both Jesse and Gillian met one another as infants and being born only months apart, they quickly became close friends.
When Jesse was 14 years old, his family made the tough decision to move to Boca Raton, Florida due primarily to his younger brother’s illness but ended up reaping huge rewards for Jesse’s tennis career.

While Jesse was visiting London to prepare for Wimbledon this past month, our Marketing Manager, and old friend of Levine’s sat down with the tennis pro to ask him a few questions. Jesse describes his feelings after his parents told him they were moving to Florida, a far distance from the capital of Canada. “I was nervous when we decided to move. It had nothing to do with my tennis it was because of my younger brother’s health. He was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and it ended up being positive for my tennis career and for my brother especially”.

After settling in the Sunshine coast, Jesse enrolled in the University of Florida and began playing for the Florida Gators Men’s Tennis team. “I had an unbelievable season”, Jesse explains but goes on, “in order to take tennis to the next level, I had to keep playing guys at the top level. College tennis is amazing, but I felt my game was ready”. Jesse was right. His performance and ability was way above average and once pro, he represented the United States from 2007 to 2012. However, with his dual citizenship Jesse recently decided to re-establish his national affiliation with Canada and support the country he was born into. “I always felt Canadian at heart since I was born there and lived there till I was 14. The decision was not too difficult as I wanted the opportunity to place Davis Cup and the Olympics for Canada one day”.

Levine playing at Queens June 2013

Back in 2005, Jesse won the Wimbledon boys' doubles championship with his doubles partner and a few years later, while representing the United States on tour, he accomplished his most substantial victory. In June 2009 Jesse defeated World No. 24 at the time (and former World No. 1) Marat Safin at Wimbledon. This was a huge triumph for Levine and was yet another milestone to add to his budding career. To date, the highest rank Jesse’s been awarded in his tennis profession is 69 in the world playing singles, October 1st 2012. “When you make the top 100, it really changes everything. And I feel like I'm just on the other side, knocking."

Jesse has played some impressive matches and has also displayed his remarkable skills at the Australian open, French Open, US open, Queens and Wimbledon. He’s already achieved so much at 26, and still has a bright and promising future ahead of him. It's not easy being a young, athlete balancing pressures and demands of sporting competitions along with educational stresses. But Jesse has handled himself professionally as a skilled tennis player, a hard working student, and a compassionate, friend, son and brother.  K2 Consultancy wishes him all the best in his future matches.