Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother,
Gerald Melzer
Gerald Melzer (born 13 July 1990) is a professional Austrian tennis player. As a qualifier, he reached the semifinals of Munich in 2015. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 68 in November 2016.
He is the younger brother of top ...
, with whom he played doubles in several tournaments.In
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
, Melzer won the boys' singles title at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. For many years, he was known as one of the best players on the tour not to have progressed past the third round of a
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
. He ended this by reaching the semifinals of the
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 114th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through ...
, losing to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
after coming from two sets down to defeat
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
in the quarterfinals.
[French Open 2010: Novak Djokovic throws away two-set lead against Jurgen Melzer – Telegraph](_blank)
/ref> As of June 2022, he remains the only person to defeat Djokovic from two sets down.Melzer had greater success in doubles, winning the men's doubles title at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
The 2010 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 124th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
and the 2011 US Open partnering Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner (born 24 March 1984) is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and bursts of speed around the court. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in ...
, as well as the mixed doubles title at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships
The 2011 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 125th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
partnering Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová () (formerly Melzer, cs, Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of seven and turned professional in 1998. She won two WTA Tour singles and 14 doubles tournaments, and ...
(whom he would later marry and divorce).
Career
Personal life
Melzer married Iveta Benešová
Iveta Benešová () (formerly Melzer, cs, Melzerová; born 1 February 1983) is a Czech former tennis player. She began playing tennis at age of seven and turned professional in 1998. She won two WTA Tour singles and 14 doubles tournaments, and ...
, a WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tourna ...
tennis player, on 14 September 2012 and divorced in 2015. Melzer is a left-handed tennis player, but is right-handed in everyday life.
Junior career
Melzer played his first junior match in September 1995 at the age of 14 at a Grade-3 tournament in Austria.
At the 1999 Australian Open
The 1999 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 87th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 18 through 31 January 1999. This was the first Grand Slam o ...
, Melzer won the doubles draw partnering singles champion Kristian Pless
Kristian Peter Pless (born 9 February 1981) is a former professional male tennis player from Denmark.
Tennis career Juniors
Pless had an excellent junior career, winning the 1999 Australian Open Boys' Singles (defeated Mikhail Youzhny), and r ...
. Then, at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships
The 1999 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 113th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
. He won the singles draw defeating junior world No. 1 and doubles partner, Kristian Pless, in the final.
Melzer ended his junior career after his Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
victory. Throughout his junior career, he reached as high as world No. 26 in 1998 (and No. 24 in doubles) and posted a win–loss record of 52–26 in singles and 47–23 in doubles.
Junior Grand Slam results - Singles:
Australian Open: 3R (1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
)
French Open: 1R (1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
)
Wimbledon: W (1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
)
US Open: 2R (1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
)
Junior Grand Slam results - Doubles:
Australian Open: W (1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
)
French Open: 1R (1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
)
Wimbledon: QF (1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
)
US Open: 1R (1998)
Early years
In 1998, Melzer started playing in Futures in his country, where he won his first two matches, but lost the next four.
In 1999, he started playing outside of Austria in Futures and Challengers. He competed in his first main-draw match in the 1999 CA-TennisTrophy in Vienna, Austria, where he defeated Lars Burgsmüller
Lars Burgsmüller (born 6 December 1975) is a retired German professional tennis player.
Burgsmüller reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 65, achieved on 18 February 2002. He also reached a career high ATP doubles rankin ...
, before losing to then world No. 11, Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kief ...
, in two sets.
In 2000, Melzer continued playing in Futures and Challengers, but was only able to reach one quarterfinal. He also made his Grand Slam debut at the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
, but lost to Australian Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, winni ...
in four sets.
In 2001, he reach his first Futures final event at Poprad
Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...
, Slovakia, losing to Juraj Hasko. However, he captured his first title at the Challenger in Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...
, Germany over local hero Jens Knippschild
Jens Knippschild (born 15 February 1975) is a former tennis player from Germany, who turned professional in 1992. In his career, he won two doubles titles (2001, Båstad and 2002, Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital ...
in three sets. He had his first top-100 and top-20 win over Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
, then world No. 18 in the CA-TennisTrophy, but lost in the next round to Michel Kratochvil
Michel Frank Kratochvil (born 7 April 1979) is a former tennis player from Switzerland. He was a member of the Swiss Davis Cup Team between 2000–2004 with a singles record 3–9, winning the decider in the first round of the 2003 World Group a ...
in two tiebreaks.
In 2002, he regularly competed in Challenger events, reaching two finals, but losing in both attempts to Alexander Popp
Alexander Popp (born 4 November 1976) is a former German professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003.
Personal life
Popp was born in Heidelberg to parents Rainer and Jennifer, and started playing tenni ...
in Heilbronn, Germany and to Luis Horna
Luis Horna Biscari (; born 14 September 1980, in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 ...
in Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian: ; yi, פיורדא, Fiurda) is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the t ...
, Germany. He reached his first ATP Tour quarterfinal in the Internationaler Raiffeisen Grand Prix, defeating Sargis Sargsian
Sargis Sargsian ( hy, Սարգիս Սարգսյան, born 3 June 1973) is a former professional tennis player from Armenia.
Sargsian turned pro in 1995, and has won one singles and two doubles titles during his career on the ATP Tour. He played ...
and Andrea Gaudenzi
Andrea Gaudenzi (; born 30 July 1973) is an Italian former tennis player and the current chairman of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since January 2020.
Gaudenzi was born in Faenza, Italy, in the province of Ravenna, and turned p ...
in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Nicolás Lapentti
Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (; born 13 August 1976) is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. His brothers, Giovanni Lapentti, Giovanni and Leonardo, uncle Andrés Gómez, Andrés, and cousins Roberto Quiroz, Roberto and Emil ...
. However, he did better in the Croatia Open
The Croatia Open (currently sponsored by Plava laguna) is a men's ATP tennis tournament held in Umag, Croatia that is part of the 250 series of the ATP Tour.
The tournament began in 1990 when it was part of Yugoslavia, and is the oldest tennis t ...
by reaching the semifinals, defeating Vincent Spadea
Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He h ...
, Agustín Calleri
Agustín Calleri (, ; born 14 September 1976) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. His nickname is ''Gordo'' which means ''Fat'' in Spanish. He is known as a hard-hitter and he prefers playing on clay.
Calleri served as ...
, and Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
, before losing to eventual champion Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's suc ...
. He also won his first Grand Slam match at the US Open over Jack Brasington
Jack Brasington (born September 9, 1976) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Career
Before he turned professional, Brasington played collegiate tennis for the University of Texas at Austin. He attained a best ranking ...
, before losing to Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 200 ...
in four sets. At the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
, he earned one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating then world No. 2, Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
, to reach the quarterfinals, before losing to Jiří Novák
Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Career
Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...
in two sets.
The start of 2003 was not a good one for the Austrian, as he lost three consecutive Tour-level main-draw matches, including his Australian Open debut. He rebounded in April by reaching the semifinals, losing to then world No. 2 Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
. He also made his French Open debut, but lost to David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
. At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, Melzer upset then world No. 15, Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
, to earn his first Wimbledon victory, but lost to Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
in four sets the following round. Melzer reached his first ATP Tour final at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. The ...
without defeating a player in the top 100, but lost to Robby Ginepri
Robert Louis Ginepri ( ; born October 7, 1982) is a retired American professional tennis player. He won three ATP singles titles in his career and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 15 in December 2005. Ginepri's best Grand Slam result ...
in the final. In the US Open, Melzer reached the second round again, but lost Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
. He earned another top-20 victory over Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
in the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
.
2004–2006
In 2004, the Austrian reached his first third round of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
with victories over Tomas Behrend
Tomas Ugo Behrend (born 12 December 1974) is a German former professional tennis player. His career high ATP singles ranking was World No. 74, which he attained in October 2005. His career high in doubles was World No. 43 in October 2007.
Behren ...
, and Galo Blanco
Galo Blanco (; born 8 October 1976) is a retired professional tennis player from Oviedo, Spain. After many years as a professional tennis coach Blanco joined the Davis Cup steering committee in 2018.
Tennis career
Most of Blanco's early prof ...
, before losing to Sjeng Schalken
Sjeng Schalken (; born 8 September 1976) is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands.
Playing style
A right-handed baseliner with a single-handed backhand, Schalken's game is characterised by his consistency of both wings and his ...
. Melzer made his Master Series debut at Indian Wells, losing to Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
. He then won his first Master Series matches at the Miami Masters
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
with victories over Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...
, and then world No. 8, Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the ...
, but lost to Todd Martin
Todd Martin (born July 8, 1970) is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4.
Playing career
Martin was bor ...
in straight sets in the third round. He next reached the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters
The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...
with victories over Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 200 ...
, Irakli Labadze
Irakli Labadze ( ka, ირაკლი ლაბაძე, tr, ; born June 9, 1981) is a Georgian retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 42, which he attained in July 2004. He is the first Georgian playe ...
, and Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
, but lost to former world No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
. Melzer then reached the semifinals of the Internationaler Raiffeisen Grand Prix, losing to Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked i ...
in three sets. He then won his first French Open match over Wayne Ferreira
Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach.
Career
As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...
, but then lost to Lleyton Hewitt in four sets.
In the Canada Masters
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, he reached the quarterfinals, losing to Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kief ...
, with straight-set victories over Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
and Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
. In the US Open, he reached the third round for the first time, but lost to Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...
. In his last tournament of the year, he reached the third round of the Paris Masters
The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy.
The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association o ...
, losing to Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
in straight sets.
In 2005, he reached the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International, losing to Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela (; born 30 August 1979), nicknamed as “El Flaco” or “Liliano,” is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Chela was given a three-month ban from the professional tour in 2001 for failing a drugs test. Post-d ...
. In the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
he reached the third round, losing to then world No. 2, Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
, in a tough three-setter. At the SAP Open
The Pacific Coast Championships was an annual men's tennis tournament. It was the second-oldest ongoing tennis tournament in the United States and ran from 1889 until 2013. Its final edition, known by its sponsored name SAP Open, was an ATP World ...
, he lost in the semifinals to Cyril Saulnier
Cyril Saulnier (, born 16 August 1975) is a retired French tennis player. In 2005, he started giving tennis lessons in places such as Heliopolis Sporting Club (Egypt). He is now director of the ''Proworld Tennis Academy'' in Delray Beach, Florid ...
, but earned his third victory over Andre Agassi en route. He reached his second semifinal of the year at the U.S. Clay Court Championships, but lost to Andy Roddick. He reached his second ATP tour final at the Hypo Group Tennis International
The Hypo Group Tennis International was an annual men's tennis tournament which was held between 1981 and 2008. During its lifetime it was organized in four locations in Italy and Austria. The event was part of the ATP Tour's World Series from 199 ...
, but lost to Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
in three sets. At Roand Garros and Wimbledon, Melzer reached the third round and lost to Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved his ...
on both occasions. He then lost six straight main-draw matches in the Austrian Open to Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player.
His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009.
His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
, and the Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...
, New Haven Open
The New Haven Open was a golf tournament on the Nike Tour. It ran from 1990 to 1993. It was played at the Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor o ...
, US Open, and Open de Moselle
The Moselle Open (Open de Moselle from 2003 to 2010) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour from 2003, The venue for the tournament was most recently the Arènes an ...
. He then continued his bad run with second-round losses at the Vienna Open, the Madrid Masters, and the St. Petersburg Open
The St. Petersburg Open (russian: Открытый Санкт-Петербург) is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tou ...
.
In 2006, he continued his bad run with a 1–8 record and a seven-match losing streak in the first three months, with his only win coming in the Medibank International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...
over Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela (; born 30 August 1979), nicknamed as “El Flaco” or “Liliano,” is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Chela was given a three-month ban from the professional tour in 2001 for failing a drugs test. Post-d ...
. He then rebounded in the U.S. Clay Court Championships, where he reached his third final without dropping a set, but lost to Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
. He also reached the semifinals of the BMW Open
The Bavarian International Tennis Championships (german: Internationale Tennis-Meisterschaften von Bayern, known since 1990 by its sponsored name BMW Open) is a men's tennis tournament held at the MTTC Iphitos in Munich, Germany. Held since 1900, ...
, losing to eventual champion Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian tennis player. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 French Open – Men's double ...
, and the quarterfinals of the Hypo Group Tennis International
The Hypo Group Tennis International was an annual men's tennis tournament which was held between 1981 and 2008. During its lifetime it was organized in four locations in Italy and Austria. The event was part of the ATP Tour's World Series from 199 ...
, losing to Jiří Novák
Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Career
Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...
. However, he fell in the first rounds of the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. At the Hall of Fame Open
The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. The ...
, he reached the semifinals, but was upset by eventual champion Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, winni ...
. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open and the New Haven Open
The New Haven Open was a golf tournament on the Nike Tour. It ran from 1990 to 1993. It was played at the Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor o ...
. He then suffered two losses to Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...
in the third round of the Mercedes Cup
The Stuttgart Open (sponsored since 2022 by Hugo Boss and called BOSS Open) is an ATP Tour 250 series professional tennis tournament on the ATP Tour. Between 1970 and 1989, the Stuttgart Open was a Grand Prix tennis circuit event. From 1990 to 19 ...
and the first round of the Warsaw Open
The Warsaw Open, formerly the J&S Cup, was a women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held in Warsaw, Poland. Held since 1995, the tournament was played on outdoor clay courts. The event returned for two years to the WTA Tour in 2009 after a ...
. At the US Open, he lost to Alessio di Mauro
Alessio di Mauro (born 9 August 1977) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. During his career, he reached the final of one ATP tournament, the 2007 ATP Buenos Aires. On 26 February 2007 the left-hander reached his career high ranking ...
, thus not winning a single Grand Slam match in the year. He then reached back-to-back finals at the Romanian Open
The Romanian Open (also known as the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy) was a professional men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour. It was held annually in Bucharest, Romania ...
and the Open de Moselle
The Moselle Open (Open de Moselle from 2003 to 2010) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour from 2003, The venue for the tournament was most recently the Arènes an ...
. He won his first ATP Tour title at the Romania Open, defeating Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri (born 5 September 1981; ) is a former Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007. He turned professional in 1997 and has earn ...
in straight sets in the final, with victories over Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
and Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu (; born 12 January 1982) is a French former professional tennis player. He won four singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best singles performance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament was reaching the semifinals of the ...
. At the Open de Moselle, he lost to Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
. He ended the year with a quarterfinal showing at the Vienna Open, losing to Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
, but earned his first win over Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
. He made a first-round exit at the St. Petersburg Open
The St. Petersburg Open (russian: Открытый Санкт-Петербург) is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tou ...
, losing to Lukáš Dlouhý
Lukáš Dlouhý (born 9 April 1983) is a retired professional Czech tennis player on the ATP Tour. A doubles specialist, Dlouhý reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5 in June 2009.
Career
Dlouhý has been part of two long-term doubles ...
.
2007–2009
In 2007, Melzer began the year with a first-round exit at the Qatar Open and a semifinal exit at the Medibank International
The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, is a professional tennis tournament i ...
, withdrawing against James Blake. Melzer reached the second rounds of the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, the M.K. Championships, the Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
, and the Miami Masters
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
. He also reached the final of the Tennis Channel Open
The Tennis Channel Open was a men's tennis tournament on the ATP International Series which was held for the first time in Las Vegas, Nevada from February 27 to March 5, 2006. In the men's singles final, James Blake defeated Lleyton Hewitt whi ...
, losing to Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
. He also reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Clay Court Championships and the BMW Open
The Bavarian International Tennis Championships (german: Internationale Tennis-Meisterschaften von Bayern, known since 1990 by its sponsored name BMW Open) is a men's tennis tournament held at the MTTC Iphitos in Munich, Germany. Held since 1900, ...
. In the Masters Series on clay, he lost in the first rounds of the Monte Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professional ...
and the Rome Masters
The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, and the third round of the Hamburg Masters
The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a mal ...
, losing to Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
. After that, he suffered back-to-back losses to Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...
in the Hypo Group Tennis International
The Hypo Group Tennis International was an annual men's tennis tournament which was held between 1981 and 2008. During its lifetime it was organized in four locations in Italy and Austria. The event was part of the ATP Tour's World Series from 199 ...
and the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
. He then suffered a left wrist injury in his first-round loss to Nikolay Davydenko in the Gerry Weber Open
The Halle Open is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the ATP Tour schedule.
Between 1993 and 2018 ...
which caused him to miss two months of tennis, including Wimbledon. He came back at the Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...
, reaching the third round and losing to Lleyton Hewitt. From then on, he was unable to secure back-to-back wins.
In 2008, Melzer reached the second round of his first three tournaments, including the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
. He again failed to secure back-to-back wins, compiling a 3–9 record in his next nine tournaments and putting him out of the top 100 since April 2003. It was not until the Hypo Group Tennis International
The Hypo Group Tennis International was an annual men's tennis tournament which was held between 1981 and 2008. During its lifetime it was organized in four locations in Italy and Austria. The event was part of the ATP Tour's World Series from 199 ...
that he recorded back-to-back wins by reaching the quarterfinals, losing to Igor Kunitsyn
Igor Konstantinovich Kunitsyn ( rus, И́горь Константи́нович Куни́цын, , ˈiɡərʲ kʊˈnʲitsɨn; born September 30, 1981) is a retired tennis player from Russia. He made it into the top 100 for the first time in ...
in three sets. He carried his good performance through the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
with a third-round exit to Frenchman Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
, having led two sets to one. On grass, he was able to reach the quarterfinals of the Ordina Open
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Open), is a pro ...
and the third round at Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. He then returned to clay at the Austrian Open and reached his seventh final, but lost once again to Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
. Melzer made a good performance at the Beijing Olympics by reaching the final eight, losing to eventual gold medalist Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
. He then had a good performance by reaching the third rounds of the Pilot Pen Tennis
The Connecticut Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was a WTA Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour until its final edition in 2018. From 2005 through 2010 the tournament was also part of the ATP World Tour 2 ...
and the US Open. Melzer made a good year end with quarterfinal results in the Thailand Open and the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
, which put him back to the top 40.
In 2009, Melzer again made a poor first quarter of the year, only managing one back-to-back win in his first ten tournaments, and it was at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, where he reached the third round, losing to Andy Murray. It was not until the Italian Open that he recorded back-to-back wins, including a win over Nikolay Davydenko, but lost to Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
in the following round. He then reached the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open and the Gerry Weber Open
The Halle Open is a men's tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the event is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the ATP Tour schedule.
Between 1993 and 2018 ...
once again, and the third round of the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
for the second year in a row. He reach his first semifinal of a year at the Croatia Open
The Croatia Open (currently sponsored by Plava laguna) is a men's ATP tennis tournament held in Umag, Croatia that is part of the 250 series of the ATP Tour.
The tournament began in 1990 when it was part of Yugoslavia, and is the oldest tennis t ...
, but lost to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen Tennis
The Connecticut Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was a WTA Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour until its final edition in 2018. From 2005 through 2010 the tournament was also part of the ATP World Tour 2 ...
with a victory over Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
, but lost in the following round to Fernando Verdasco. In the semifinal of Thailand Open Melzer lost to eventual champion Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
in two sets. At the Shanghai Masters, Melzer defeated a then-world No. 5, Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
, before losing to Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
. This was his second victory over a top-5 player. The first was his win over a then-world No. 2, Tommy Haas, in 2002. He ended 2009 on a high note by winning his second career title at the Bank Austria-TennisTrophy
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
over Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
in straight sets, which included a victory over Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in the quarterfinals.
2010: French Open semi-final, top 10 doubles debut
Melzer lost in the first round of the Australian Open at the start of the season, but then reached the semifinals in Zagreb, losing to defending/eventual champion Marin Čilić. After a quarterfinal appearance in Rotterdam, where he lost to Nikolay Davydenko, Melzer reached the semifinals in Dubai, where he lost to Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
. Later in the year, Melzer reached the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
in Madrid, losing to Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
. Melzer followed this up with his best result in a Grand Slam to date by reaching the semifinals of the French Open. He beat Dudi Sela
David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009.
Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel ...
and Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
before he caused a significant upset by defeating ninth seed David Ferrer in straight sets, followed by a four-set win over Teymuraz Gabashvili
Teymuraz Besikovich Gabashvili ( rus, Теймураз Бесикович Габашвили, , tɛɪ̯mʊˈraz ɡəbɐˈʂvʲilʲɪ; born 23 May 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4 ...
(who had beaten Andy Roddick in the previous round), and by a five set triumph over Novak Djokovic, coming back from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career. He was eventually defeated by four-time champion Rafael Nadal, in straight sets.
Melzer followed this up by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, where he was defeated by Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
in their first career meeting. However, at the same tournament, he achieved his greatest success by winning the doubles title with German partner Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner (born 24 March 1984) is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and bursts of speed around the court. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in ...
.
After playing a few clay-court tournaments, reaching the final in one, and having good results in the others, Melzer moved on to the hard-court season, losing to Peter Polansky
Peter Polansky ( ; born June 15, 1988) is a Canadian professional tennis player of Czech origin. He was Canada's top singles player from June 21, 2010, until January 17, 2011, in the ATP rankings. He was also Canada's No. 2 from August 4, 2008, ...
in the first round of Montreal and Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
in the second round of Cincinnati. He then played the US Open, where he reached the fourth round for the third consecutive Grand Slam tournament, having never been past the third round prior to the French Open. He played Roger Federer for a spot in the quarterfinals, having also played him in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Federer once again defeated him in straight sets.
At the Shanghai Masters in October, Melzer recorded one of the biggest wins of his career against world No. 1, Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
. This was Melzer's first victory against Nadal and the first time he had beaten a reigning no. 1. He then lost to Argentina's Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...
in the quarterfinals.
In the last week of October, he won his third career title, defending his 2009 victory at the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
against his compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer
Andreas Haider-Maurer (; born 22 March 1987) is a retired professional tennis player from Austria.
In the first round of the 2010 US Open, he forced world No. 5 Robin Söderling to a fifth set before losing the match. That same year, Haider-Mau ...
in a thrilling final; coming back from a set and a break down at 4–5 down (Haider-Maurer serving at 15–0) and three points away from defeat, to put up a heroic comeback and clinch the three set epic victory.
On 3 November, he was named Austrian Sportsman of the Year.
Melzer's final tournament of the year as a singles player was the Paris Masters
The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy.
The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association o ...
, where he advanced to the quarterfinals, before losing to world No. 2, Roger Federer.
As a result of winning the Wimbledon doubles championship, Melzer and his doubles partner Petzschner qualified for a doubles team spot in the ATP Tour Finals
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
, but his bid to qualify as a singles player ended when Andy Roddick defeated Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
in the third round of the Paris Masters, giving Roddick an insurmountable lead in qualifying points for the last individual spot in the ATP World Tour Finals.
2011: Top 10 debut in singles
Melzer started the year at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
. He reached the third round without dropping a set, before defeating 21st seed Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimble ...
in the third round after Baghdatis retired with Melzer leading. He was defeated by Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
in the fourth round. Despite the loss, Melzer cracked the top 10 for the first time in his career.
Since then, Melzer failed to chalk up any back-to-back wins until appearing at the Monte-Carlo Masters
The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professiona ...
. Seeded ninth, he finally won consecutive matches as he beat Robin Haase
Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player.
He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reac ...
, and Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
, to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in this tournament. There, he pulled off a surprise two-set win over No. 3 ranked and second seed Roger Federer to reach the semifinal stage for the first time in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. However, he failed to reach his first final in such a tournament after losing against David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
.
In the 2011 US Open men's doubles final, he arguably had his greatest success of the year when he and his doubles partner Philipp Petzschner won a controversial decision over the Polish team of Mariusz Fyrstenberg
Mariusz Stanisław Fyrstenberg (born 8 July 1980) is a retired left-handed Polish tennis player who was a doubles specialist.
Fyrstenberg primarily partnered Marcin Matkowski. The pair won the Madrid Open twice, in addition to reaching the fina ...
and Marcin Matkowski
Marcin Matkowski (; born 15 January 1981) is a Polish former professional tennis player whose speciality is in doubles. He played college tennis at UCLA, where Jean-Julien Rojer was one of his teammates. Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won the ...
to claim the trophy. During a net exchange, a ball ricocheted off Petzschner's left shin, though he denied it. Instant replay of the telecast clearly confirmed the illegal return. Jurgen/Petzschner broke through in that game and won the match in straight sets, splitting a $420,000 purse.
2012
In singles, Melzer had an inauspicious start to the year, exiting in the first round in Brisbane and the Australian Open. He did make the final in Brisbane in doubles, partnering Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner (born 24 March 1984) is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and bursts of speed around the court. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in ...
, and he won the tournament in Memphis against Canadian Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
.
In Monte Carlo, he made the quarterfinals in doubles, partnering Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer (; born 5 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player.
Mayer reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in June 2011. Also in 2011, Mayer won his first ATP title after four previous defeats in ATP fin ...
. After that, he had a series of quick exits in singles: the first round at the French Open, the second at Wimbledon, and the first at the US Open. However, he made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in doubles.
He partnered with Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men' ...
in Canada and made it to the semifinals, losing to the Bryan brothers
The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...
.
The fall went somewhat better in singles, with a quarterfinal showing in Shanghai and a semifinal in Valencia. He also made quarterfinal showings in Beijing and Shanghai and a semifinal in Vienna, with various partners. However, the Paris Masters was back to a first-round exit in singles against Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on ...
and a first-match defeat in doubles.
2013
Melzer made the quarterfinals in Brisbane, where he was eliminated by Grigor Dimitrov. At the Australian Open, he was defeated in the third round in straight sets by Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champ ...
.
He made the final in Zagreb, only to lose to Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
in straight sets. He went out in the first round at Indian Wells, but made it to the quarterfinals in Miami, losing to David Ferrer in three sets. He was eliminated in the third round at Monte Carlo by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
.
He made a quick first-round exit at the French Open, but made it to the fourth round at Wimbledon, losing to young rising player Jerzy Janowicz
Jerzy Filip Janowicz Jr. (; born 13 November 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player. Janowicz is best known for becoming the first Polish man to reach a major semifinal at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
Noted for his very powerful serv ...
.
At Wimbledon, he made it to the quarterfinals in doubles.
His only singles tournament victory was in Winston-Salem, where he defeated Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
, when the Frenchman had to retire in the second set. After that, Melzer was defeated in the first round of the US Open in straight sets by Evgeny Donskoy
Evgeny Evgenyevich Donskoy ( rus, Евге́ний Евге́ньевич Донско́й, , ɪ̯ɪvˈɡʲenʲɪɪ̯ dɐnˈskoɪ̯; born 9 May 1990) is a Russian professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 65, ...
. He made it to the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur, losing to Portuguese João Sousa
João Pedro Coelho Marinho de Sousa (born 30 March 1989), known as João Sousa (), is a Portuguese professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 28 on 16 May 2016 and a doubles ranking of No. 26 on 13 May 2 ...
in three tight sets.
2014
Melzer pulled out of the Australian Open with a shoulder injury. At the ATP 500 Barcelona, he reached the third round by defeating Jerzy Janowicz
Jerzy Filip Janowicz Jr. (; born 13 November 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player. Janowicz is best known for becoming the first Polish man to reach a major semifinal at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
Noted for his very powerful serv ...
, but lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
. At the Rome Masters
The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
he defeated John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers e ...
and Marin Čilić to reach the third round, where he lost to Andy Murray. The Austrian won over David Goffin at Roland Garros to reach the second round, where he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. At s-Hertogenbosch, he defeated Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals and lost to Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 4 November 2019.
Bautista A ...
in the semifinals. Melzer defeated Guillermo García-López
Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People
*Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanish football manager and former player
*Guillermo Ar ...
in the first round of the Paris Masters
The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy.
The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association o ...
and lost again to Tsonga in the second round.
2015
Melzer failed to qualify for Wimbledon in 2015. Notably, he faced his younger brother Gerald
Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...
in the first round qualifying and won in straight sets. Jürgen described it as the "worst tennis day of my life and I hope we will never play each other again.".
2016
In July, Melzer upset world No. 9, Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest r ...
, at the Austrian Open after a long injury absence. This was his first victory over a top-10 player in over five years. In the next round, the quarterfinal, he lost to his brother Gerald.
2017
Melzer qualified for the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, but lost to the eventual champion Roger Federer in the first round.
2018: Retirement from singles
Melzer announced his retirement from the ATP Tour in singles, with the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
marking his final appearance. Ranked at world No. 426, he upset No. 22 Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
in the first round. This victory was his 350th and final career win, because he withdrew from the second round due to illness.
2019: First doubles title in 5 years
Melzer won the doubles title at the Sofia Open, partnering Nikola Mektić
Nikola Mektić (born 24 December 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2021 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles partnering compatriot Mat ...
.
2020: ATP Finals runner-up in doubles
In October, Melzer announced his retirement from professional tennis after the 2021 Australian Open
The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It was ...
.
He qualified for the third time for the ATP Finals
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
in doubles, this time with partner Édouard Roger-Vasselin
Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, winning the men's doubles partnering Julien Benneteau, and ...
. They reached the final, which they lost to Wesley Koolhof
Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 in doubles on 7 November 2022.
He has won 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, mos ...
and Nikola Mektić
Nikola Mektić (born 24 December 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2021 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles partnering compatriot Mat ...
.
2021: Retirement from tour
Contrary to his announcement, Melzer did not play at the Australian Open due to COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
quarantine measures. Instead, he played in the doubles competitions of the other three Grand Slam tournaments where he each lost in the first round. He played his final tournament on the ATP Tour at the Vienna Open
The Vienna Open (currently sponsored by Erste Bank and called the Erste Bank Open) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit (1974–1989), it is currently part of the A ...
, where he partnered Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to N ...
and also lost in the first round.
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
''Current through the 2021 Vienna Open.''
Mixed doubles
Significant finals
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 2 (2 titles)
Mixed doubles: 1 (1 title)
Year-end championships
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Masters 1000 finals
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
ATP career finals
Singles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)
Doubles: 37 (17 titles, 20 runner-ups)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 11 (5–6)
Doubles: 10 (6–4)
Record against top 10 players
Melzer's match record against those who have been ranked
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface.
* Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career highlights include reaching a Grand S ...
5–0
* Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
4–1
* Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
4–1
* Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
4–4
* Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
3–0
* David Goffin
David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7. He is currently the Belgian No. 1, and the first Belgian man to be ranked in the top 10. Goffin has won six ATP titles ...
3–2
* John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers e ...
3–2
* Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in double ...
3–2
* Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
3–3
* Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
3–4
* Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player.
His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009.
His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
3–6
* Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
3–7
* Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
2–0
* Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
2–1
* Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 4 November 2019.
Bautista A ...
2–1
* Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
2–1
* Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
2–1
* Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Par ...
2–3
* Fernando González
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...
2–2
* Nicolas Lapentti
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
2–2
* Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His ca ...
2–2
* Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
2–3
* Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
2–4
* Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champ ...
2–5
* Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
2–5
* David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
2–7
* Gastón Gaudio
Gastón Norberto Gaudio (; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine retired tennis player. He won eight singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 5 in April 2005. Gaudio's most significant title win came at the 2004 ...
1–0
* Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons rank ...
1–0
* Wayne Ferreira
Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach.
Career
As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...
1–0
* Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to N ...
1–0
* Mario Ančić
Mario Ančić (; born 30 March 1984) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who currently works as a private equity vice president in New York City. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking c ...
1–1
* Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimble ...
1–1
* Pablo Carreño Busta
Pablo Carreño Busta (; born 12 July 1991) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 11 September 2017. He also reached a best ...
1–1
* Todd Martin
Todd Martin (born July 8, 1970) is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4.
Playing career
Martin was bor ...
1–1
* David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
1–1
* Mariano Puerta
Mariano Rubén Puerta (; born 19 September 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 9 singles ranking in August 2005. His career highlight of reaching the final of the French Open in 2005 ...
1–1
* Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest r ...
1–1
* Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarević ( sr-cyr, Јанко Типсаревић, ; born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian former tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. In his career, he won 4 ATP World Tour titles, one AT ...
1–1
* Kevin Anderson 1–2
* Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the ...
1–2
* Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 200 ...
1–2
* Greg Rusedski
Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 ...
1–2
* Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
1–3
* Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
1–3
* Kei Nishikori
is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...
1–3
* Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
1–4
* Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
1–4
* Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
1–5
* Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
1–6
* Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...
1–7
* Nicolas Kiefer
Nicolas Kiefer (; born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kief ...
1–8
* Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
0–1
* James Blake 0–1
* Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
0–1
* Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's suc ...
0–1
* Diego Schwartzman
Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist, his be ...
0–1
* Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
0–1
* Paradorn Srichaphan
Paradorn Srichaphan ( th, ภราดร ศรีชาพันธุ์; ; ; born 14 June 1979) is a retired professional tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or betw ...
0–1
* Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved his ...
0–2
* Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on ...
0–2
* Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis ( ; born 7 November 1976) is an Australian former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, winni ...
0–2
* Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
0–2
* Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas (; born November 25, 1977), often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. Cañas won the 2002 Canada Maste ...
0–3
* Jiří Novák
Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Career
Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...
0–3
* Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
0–6
* Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
0–7
* Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
0–7
* Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
0–10
Wins over top 10 players
*He has a 13–60 (.178) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
References
External links
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Official site
Biofile with Jurgen Melzer
ESPN: Jürgen Melzer match opponents and scores
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melzer, Jurgen
1981 births
Living people
Australian Open (tennis) junior champions
Austrian male tennis players
Olympic tennis players of Austria
People from Deutsch-Wagram
Tennis players from Vienna
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Wimbledon champions
Wimbledon junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
Sportspeople from Lower Austria