Marc-Kevin Peter Goellner (born 22 September 1970) is a 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 from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He won two singles titles, achieved a Bronze medal in doubles at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and attained a career-high singles ranking of World No. 26 in April 1994. Goellner reached the quarterfinals of the 1997 Rome Masters, defeating top tenners Richard Krajicek and

Albert Costa Albert Costa i Casals (; born 25 June 1975) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for winning the Men's Singles title at the French Open in 2002. Tennis career Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. H ...

en route.

Personal life

The son of a German diplomat, Goellner lived in Rio de Janeiro,

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Sydney as a youngster before moving to Germany in 1986. The

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

of his Family is ''Göllner'', but since most languages don´t use

Umlaut (linguistics) In linguistics, umlaut (from German "sound alternation") is a sound change in which a vowel is pronounced more like a following vowel or semivowel. The term ''umlaut'' was originally coined in connection with the study of Germanic languages, as ...

, the brazil authorities wrote ''Goellner'' in his birth certificate.

Tennis career

In 1990, he suffered two torn ligaments in his left foot, which almost ended his tennis career before it had begun. He turned professional in 1991. 1993 provided some of the most significant highlights of Goellner's career. He captured his first top-level singles title at

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, defeating

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...

in the final. He also won his first tour doubles title in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, partnering

David Prinosil David Prinosil ( cz, David Přinosil; born 9 March 1973) is a former tennis player from Germany, who turned professional in 1991. Prinosil was born in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, but later moved to Germany. He represented his country at the 1996 ...

. Goellner and Prinosil were also the men's doubles runners-up at the French Open that year. And Goellner was a member of the German team which won the 1993

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, winning important singles rubbers in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. In 1996, Goellner won a second top-level singles title at

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

. He represented Germany at the

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where he was defeated in the first round of the singles competition by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Thomas Enqvist Thomas Karl Johan Enqvist (born 13 March 1974) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached the final of the 1999 Australian Open and won a total of 19 singles titles, including three Masters titles. He has a career high ATP world ...

, and won a Bronze Medal in the doubles competition at Stone Mountain Park, partnering Prinosil. During his career, Goellner won a total of two top-level singles titles and four tour doubles titles. His career-high rankings were World No. 26 in singles (in 1994), and World No. 25 in doubles (in 1998). His best singles performance at a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

event came at the French Open in 1993, where he reached the fourth round before losing to Andrei Medvedev. His career prize money earnings totalled US$2,700,215. He was one of the first players to wear baseball caps reversed. Goellner retired from the professional tour in 2004.

ATP career finals

Singles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 15 (4 titles, 11 runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

Singles: 5 (3–2)

Doubles: 6 (3–3)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goellner, Marc-Kevin German male tennis players German people of Brazilian descent Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players of Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany 1970 births Living people Olympic medalists in tennis Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city)