Karol Beck (born 3 April 1982) is a male former
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 from
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
, who turned professional in 2001. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 36, achieved in August 2005. Beck reached the fourth round of the
2004 US Open and the quarterfinals of the
2005 Montreal Masters, defeating
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 ...
en route to both runs.
Career
On 25 October 2004, Beck lost in the final of the
St. Petersburg Open 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 ...
6–2, 6–2.
On 13 February 2006 the
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...
(ITF) announced Beck had tested positive for the beta agonist
clenbuterol
Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier. It is most commonl ...
during the 2005
Davis Cup semifinal for
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
against
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, which Slovakia won 4–1. As a consequence, the ITF suspended him from the game for two years until 31 October 200
2007
Beck finished serving his suspension and began playing again in November as an unranked player. He had to go through qualifying rounds in every tournament.
Without a ranking, he chose the Tunis challenger as his first tournament to qualify in. He qualified and won his first round match to get his first ranking points. The next week, he had a wild card entry into qualifying for the Dnepropetrovsk challenger, and qualified to pick up some more points.
He qualified a couple more times at challengers and futures tournaments before winning his final tournament of 2007, the Czech F6 Futures, to finish up the year at No. 581, after playing in just 5 tournaments.
2008
He began 2008 from where he left off in 2007, qualifying into and winning his first tournament, Germany's F1 Futures, to get into the top-500.
2009
Beck took part in the
2009 Wimbledon Championships ranked as 143rd in the world. He was a
lucky loser
A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...
due to the withdrawal of then-
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 ...
. He was drawn against 21st seed
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 ...
in the first round and won a thrilling five set encounter 1–6, 7–5, 6–3, 4–6, 10–8 to reach the second round of a
grand slam tournament for the first time since the
2005 Australian Open. In the second round, he would meet another Spaniard, this being
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 ...
. He played another 5-setter, but, this time, he lost 4–6, 6–7, 6–3, 6–3, 5–7.
ATP career finals
Singles: 1 (0–1)
Doubles: 2 (0–2)
Challenger and Futures Finals
Singles: 32 (17–15)
Doubles: 43 (27–16)
Performance timelines
Singles
Doubles
See also
*
List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
The following is an incomplete list of sportspeople who have been involved in doping offences. It contains those who have been found to have, or have admitted to having, taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs, prohibited recreational drugs or ...
External links
*
*
*
Beck World Ranking History*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Karol
1982 births
Living people
Doping cases in tennis
Olympic tennis players of Slovakia
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Slovak sportspeople in doping cases
Slovak male tennis players
People from Zvolen