| Country (sports) |  Bulgaria | 
|---|---|
| Residence | Vienna, Austria | 
| Born | 4 September 1971 Sofia, Bulgaria | 
| Turned pro | 1991 | 
| Retired | 2002 | 
| Plays | Right-handed | 
| Prize money | US$ 94,296 | 
| Singles | |
| Career record | 5–11 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) | 
| Career titles | 0 1 Challengers, 3 Futures | 
| Highest ranking | No. 121 (27 September 1993) | 
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 1R (1994) | 
| French Open | Q2 (1996) | 
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 0–3 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) | 
| Career titles | 0 0 Challengers, 5 Futures | 
| Highest ranking | No. 253 (17 August 1998) | 
| Last updated on: 31 January 2021. | |
Milen Velev (Bulgarian: Милен Велев) (born 4 September 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Bulgaria.[1]
Career
Velev appeared in 20 Davis Cup ties for Bulgaria, from 1988 to 2002. He was victorious in 20 of his 34 rubbers, finishing with a 14/7 record in singles and 6/7 in doubles. Only Todor Enev has won more Davis Cup matches for the national team. He had his best win in 1993, when he defeated top 30 player Marcos Ondruska, a South African.[2]
He was a quarter-finalist at the 1992 Saab International, an ATP Tour tournament held in Athens.[3] En route he upset fifth seed Guillermo Pérez Roldán.[3]
The Bulgarian played in the main draw of one Grand Slam event during his career, the 1994 Australian Open.[3] He met veteran Mats Wilander in his opening round match, which he lost in four sets.[3]
Year-end rankings
| Year | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 
| Singles | 1054 | 686 | 477 | 308 | 286 | 125 | 647 | 295 | 521 | 386 | 295 | 604 | 649 | 409 | 947 | - | 
| Doubles | 997 | 1056 | 575 | 655 | 1016 | - | 1170 | 1197 | 574 | 467 | 353 | 576 | 934 | 456 | 956 | 1531 | 
Challenger and Futures Finals
Singles: 7 (4–3)
| 
 | 
 | 
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–9 | Jul 1993 | Oberstaufen, Germany | Challenger | Clay |  Sláva Doseděl | 6–3, 7–6 | 
| Loss | 1–1 | Jul 1993 | Poznań, Poland | Challenger | Clay |  Andrea Gaudenzi | 3–6, 6–3, 3–6 | 
| Win | 2–1 | Jun 1998 | Yugoslavia F3B, Zaječar | Futures | Clay | .svg.png.webp) Dejan Petrovic | 6–4, 7–6 | 
| Loss | 2–2 | Jun 1998 | Macedonia F1, Skopje | Futures | Clay |  Cyril Buscaglione | 6–4, 4–6, 3–6 | 
| Win | 3–2 | Jul 1999 | Greece F5, Thessaloniki | Futures | Clay |  Solon Peppas | 6–3, 6–1 | 
| Loss | 3–3 | Jun 2000 | Macedonia F1, Skopje | Futures | Clay |  Xavier Pujo | 2–6, 7–5, 3–6 | 
| Win | 4–3 | Jul 2001 | Macedonia F3, Skopje | Futures | Hard |  Todor Enev | 7–5, 6–4 | 
Doubles: 8 (5–3)
| 
 | 
 | 
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Feb 1998 | Austria F3, Mondseeland | Futures | Carpet (i) |  Ivaylo Traykov |  Petr Pála  Borut Urh | 4–6, 6–7 | 
| Win | 1–1 | Jun 1998 | Macedonia F1, Skopje | Futures | Clay |  Matey Pampoulov |  Cyril Buscaglione  Olaf Knutel | 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 | 
| Win | 2–1 | Jun 1998 | Macedonia F2, Kočani | Futures | Clay |  Matey Pampoulov |  Erik Csarnakovics  Stefano Galvani | 7–5, 6–3 | 
| Loss | 2–2 | Aug 1998 | Sopot, Poland | Challenger | Clay |  Alexander Shvets |  James Greenhalgh .svg.png.webp) Nenad Zimonjić | 1–6, 3–6 | 
| Win | 3–2 | Jul 1999 | Greece F4, Alexandroupolis | Futures | Carpet |  Ivaylo Traykov |  Fernando González  Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi | 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–4) | 
| Win | 4–2 | Jul 2000 | Macedonia F3, Skopje | Futures | Hard | .svg.png.webp) Relja Dulić Fišer |  Sebastian Fitz  Sergei Pozdnev | 2–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–3) | 
| Loss | 4–3 | Jun 2001 | Macedonia F2, Skopje | Futures | Clay |  Todor Enev |  Mikhail Elgin  Evgueni Smirnov | 6–4, 4–6, 1–6 | 
| Win | 5–3 | Jul 2001 | Macedonia F3, Skopje | Futures | Hard |  Todor Enev |  Radoslav Lukaev  Predrag Rusevski | 6–2, 7–5 | 
Davis Cup
Milen Velev debuted for the Bulgaria Davis Cup team in 1988. Since then he has 16 nominations with 20 ties played, his singles W/L record is 14–7 and doubles W/L record is 6–7 (20–14 overall).
Singles (14–7)
| Edition | Round | Date | Surface | Opponent | W/L | Result | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 Europe Zone Group II | QF | 4 May 1990 | Clay |  George Kalovelonis | W | 6–3, 6–4, 6–0 | 
| 6 May 1990 |  Konstantinos Effraimoglou | W | 6–2, 7–5 | |||
| SF | 15 June 1990 | Clay |  Tomasz Iwański | L | 3–6, 2–6, 3–6 | |
| 17 June 1990 |  Wojciech Kowalski | L | 6–7(3–7), 5–7 | |||
| 1993 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 30 April 1993 | Clay |  Darek Nowicki | W | 7–5, 6–4, 7–6(8–6) | 
| 2 May 1993 |  Bartłomiej Dąbrowski | W | 6–2, 5–7, 6–4, 6–1 | |||
| QF | 16 July 1993 | Clay |  Marcos Ondruska | W | 6–4, 6–4, 1–6, 6–1 | |
| 18 July 1993 |  Wayne Ferreira | L | 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 2–6 | |||
| 1998 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 1 May 1998 | Clay (I) |  Karim Alami | L | 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 2–6 | 
| 3 May 1998 |  Mehdi Tahiri | W | 6–2, 6–3 | |||
| RPO | 17 July 1998 | Clay |  Pascal Schaul | W | 6–3, 6–1, 7–5 | |
| 1999 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 30 April 1999 | Clay |  Goudjo Gbedey | W | 6–2, 6–2, 6–2 | 
| QF | 16 July 1999 | Clay |  Attila Sávolt | W | 1–6, 7–6(7–2), 6–2, 6–0 | |
| 2000 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 30 April 2000 | Clay |  Vasilis Mazarakis | L | 6–7(5–7), 2–6, 0–6 | 
| QF | 21 July 2000 | Clay |  Harel Levy | L | 1–6, 3–6, 2–6 | |
| 2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group III | RR | 23 May 2001 | Clay |  Johan Theron | W | 4–1, 4–0, 4–0 | 
| 24 May 2001 |  Komlavi Loglo | W | 5–3, 4–0, 4–2 | |||
| 25 May 2001 |  Predrag Rusevski | W | 4–2, 4–5(4–7), 1–4, 5–4(7–3), 8–6 | |||
| SF | 26 May 2001 |  Haris Bašalić | W | 4–0, 5–3, 4–1 | ||
| 2002 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 3 May 2002 | Clay |  Orest Tereshchuk | L | 3–6, 6–2, 4–6, 1–6 | 
| 5 May 2002 |  Andrei Dernovskiy | W | 7–5, 5–7, 6–4, 6–3 | 
Doubles (6–7)
| Edition | Round | Date | Partner | Surface | Opponents | W/L | Result | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 Europe Zone Group I | RPO | 11 June 1988 |  Julian Stamatov | Clay |  George Cosac  Florin Segărceanu | L | 4–6, 1–6, 4–6 | 
| 1988 Europe Zone Group II | QF | 13 May 1989 |  Krassimir Lazarov | Clay |  Christophe Boggetti  Jacques Vincileoni | L | 6–7(2–7), 6–1, 6–3, 1–6, 6–8 | 
| 1990 Europe Zone Group II | R1 | 31 March 1990 |  Ivan Keskinov | Clay |  Yiannos Hadjigeorgiou  Neoclis Neocleous | W | 6–1, 6–1, 6–4 | 
| QF | 5 May 1990 |  Stefan Tzvetkov | Clay |  George Kalovelonis  Ioannis Rigas | W | 6–7(5–7), 1–6, 6–2, 6–1, 6–3 | |
| SF | 16 June 1990 |  Stefan Tzvetkov | Clay |  Tomasz Iwański  Wojciech Kowalski | L | 6–3, 4–6, 1–6, 2–6 | |
| 1993 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 1 May 1993 |  Krassimir Lazarov | Clay |  Tomasz Iwański  Darek Nowicki | L | 6–4, 5–7, 5–7, 2–6 | 
| 1998 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 2 May 1998 |  Orlin Stanoytchev | Clay (I) |  Karim Alami  Mounir El Aarej | L | 4–6, 5–7, 2–6 | 
| RPO | 18 July 1998 |  Orlin Stanoytchev | Clay |  Adrian Graimprey  Pascal Schaul | W | 6–3, 6–2, 6–4 | |
| 1999 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 1 May 1999 |  Ivaylo Traykov | Clay |  Jean-Kome Loglo  Kossi Loglo | W | 6–2, 6–4, 6–4 | 
| QF | 17 July 1999 |  Ivaylo Traykov | Clay |  Zoltán Böröczky  Attila Sávolt | L | 3–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 5–7 | |
| 2001 Europe/Africa Zone Group III | F | 27 May 2001 |  Todor Enev | Clay |  Mohamed Mamoun  Marwan Zewar | W | 4–2, 4–2, 4–1 | 
| 2002 Europe/Africa Zone Group II | R1 | 4 May 2002 |  Todor Enev | Clay |  Andrei Dernovskiy  Orest Tereshchuk | W | 7–6(7–5), 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–4), 6–3 | 
| QF | 13 July 2002 |  Todor Enev | Hard |  Claude N'Goran  Valentin Sanon | L | 4–6, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6 | 
- RPO = Relegation Play–off
- RR = Round Robin