Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak 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. The winner of the
2006 French Open boys' singles title, Kližan turned pro in
2007 and had a career-high singles
ranking
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 o ...
of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2015, and world No. 73 in doubles, achieved on 4 May 2015.
Career
Junior career
In 2005, he won the European Junior Championship in the under-16 category, in both singles and doubles. In doubles, his partner was compatriot
Andrej Martin. Kližan then went on to win the
2006 French Open boys' singles competition.
As a junior, Kližan posted a 54–21 win–loss record in singles and 58–18 in doubles. He reached the boys' No. 1 combined world ranking on 1 January 2007.
2010–11: Top 100 debut
In
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, Kližan qualified for the
US Open. In his first main-draw Grand Slam tournament appearance, he lost to former world No. 1
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 ...
in the first round.
Later in the year, Kližan won his first
Challenger tournament as a
wildcard
Wild card most commonly refers to:
* Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games
* Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...
in his hometown of
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...
at the
Slovak Open
The Slovak Open is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Indoor courts, indoor hardcourts. It is currently part of the Tretorn SERIE+ of the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Women's Circuit. It is held at the Národné Tenisové Cen ...
. He would subsequently break into the top 100 in September of the following year.
2012: Best Grand Slam fourth round run, Top 30 debut
In
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, Kližan made it to five
Challenger tour finals, winning four, in the space of just two months between March and May. He made it to the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at the
2012 French Open
The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 11 ...
, before succumbing to
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 ...
in four sets, despite taking the first. These results propelled him into the top 100 of the rankings for the first time in his career. He also reached the semifinals in
Kitzbuhel. In 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
* ...
debut, he defeated
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 ...
11–9 in the fifth set in the first round, before losing in five sets to
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 a ...
in the second round, despite being 2–1 up in sets. He competed in men's singles at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, as well as the men's doubles with
Lukáš Lacko
Lukáš Lacko (; born 3 November 1987) is a former professional Slovak tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is World No. 44, achieved in January 2013.
Tennis career Juniors
As a junior Lacko compiled a singles win–loss record ...
.
At the
2012 US Open, Kližan advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, upsetting fifth seeded
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 ...
in the second round in four sets.
Prior to the upset, Klizan had never beaten a player ranked higher than 49th on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...
. He beat
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French inactive professional tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best Grand Slam performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Austra ...
in straight sets to reach the fourth round, where he lost 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 ...
. He then won two respective
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 ...
matches against
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 ...
and
Gastão Elias
Gastão José Ministro Elias (; born 24 November 1990) is a Portuguese professional tennis player, who competes on the ATP World Tour. He became the fifth Portuguese tennis player to break into the top 100 of the Association of Tennis Profession ...
in a tie against Portugal.
Kližan continued his good form two weeks after the
US Open by winning his first ATP tournament, beating
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) ...
in the final of the
2012 St. Petersburg Open. Due to this result, he finished the year as World No. 30 after having finished the previous year as World No. 117.
2013: Loss of form
Coming into
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, Kližan was expected to reach at least the top 20. However, with his inconsistent nature, Kližan alternated good results with very bad ones. After first-round losses at the start of the season, he reached the quarterfinals 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 ...
. Due to this result, he reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 26.
He went on with poor results until the semifinals in
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
. At the
2013 French Open
The 2013 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 117th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 26 May to 9 June. It consisted of e ...
, he lost in the second round against eventual champion
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 ...
, despite winning the first set. Subsequently, he participated in a
Challenger tournament in Caltanissetta, Italy, where Kližan suffered a shocking loss to non-ranked player
Pablo Carreno Busta
Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul.
People
*Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer
*Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer
*Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer
* Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist
*Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer
* Pablo Brene ...
in the first round. Afterwards, Klizan returned to the main tour and after reaching the quarterfinals in
Umag
Umag (; it, Umago) is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
Geography
It is the westernmost town of Croatia, and it includes Bašanija, the westernmost point of Croatia.
Population
Umag has a population of 7,281, with a total municipal populatio ...
and winning his first-round match in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
against
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010.
Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
, lost in the first round of every tournament, peaking at the
2013 US Open, where he lost to
Donald Young. He did not play for six weeks due to a wrist injury and withdrew from
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, where he was the defending champion.
2014: Return to form, First Australian and French Open third rounds
Kližan started the year with a first-round loss at the Nouméa, New Caledonia
Challenger tournament to World No. 258
Kimmer Coppejans
Kimmer Coppejans (born 7 February 1994) is a Belgian tennis player. His highest ATP singles ranking is world No. 97, achieved in June 2015. He was the Junior Champion at the 2012 French Open, defeating Filip Peliwo
Filip Peliwo ( , ; born Ja ...
. After a poor start of the year, he found very good subsequent form 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 ...
. Starting from qualifying, his achieved his best result in Australia by reaching the third round as a lucky loser, where he lost to another lucky loser:
Stéphane Robert
Stéphane Robert (; born 17 May 1980) is a professional French tennis player.
Career
Coach
From 2001 to March 2010, Ronan Lafaix was Robert's coach. In May 2016, Lafaix, who is 12 years older than Robert, became Robert's coach for the second ...
.
He continued his good form at the 500 tournament in
Rio
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
. Starting again from qualifying, he reached the second round. This result saw Kližan return to the top 100 of the rankings at World No. 97. In
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Kližan reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to semifinalist
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010.
Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
.
Starting from qualifying once more, Kližan surprisingly won 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, ...
, beating
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 ...
and
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 ...
en route to the final, where he defeated top seeded
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) ...
. It was the second final and second title in Kližan's main-circuit career. He won both titles beating Fognini in the final.
At
Roland Garros, Kližan had his best
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 ...
result to date. He reached the third round after defeating World No. 11
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 ...
in straight sets and
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 ...
.
At the beginning of the grass season, he reached the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by
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 ...
in
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
. 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 lost in the first round in four sets to former champion
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 ...
.
At the
China Open, Kližan got revenge by turning the tables on Nadal, defeating him in the quarterfinals.
2015–16: Top 25 debut, 2 ATP 500 titles
Kližan played at the
2015 Australian Open
The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Stan Wawrinka was the defend ...
as the 32nd seed. He retired from his second-round match against
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 ...
.
Kližan won his third ATP doubles title at the
Rio Open
The Rio Open, also known as the ''Rio Open presented by Claro'' for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasilei ...
, partnering
Philipp Oswald
Philipp Oswald (; born 23 January 1986) is an Austrian professional tennis player who primarily plays doubles events on the ATP Tour. On 7 December 2009, he reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 206, and his highest doubles ranki ...
.
He played two singles matches and also the doubles match in a
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 ...
tie against Slovenia, which Slovakia won 5–0. Originally, the Slovak nominations were announced without Kližan, but he later changed his decision and decided to partake in the tie.
In April, Kližan won his third ATP title in
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, defeating
Daniel Gimeno Traver in the final. In
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, he reached the semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion
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 ...
.
At the
2015 French Open
The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of e ...
, Kližan defeated
Frances Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has ranked Tiafoe as high as world No. 17 in singles, on October 10, 2022, and world No. 160 in doubles, on No ...
in the first round and lost to
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 the second round. He then received wild card into challenger in
Prostějov
Prostějov (; german: Proßnitz) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 43,000 inhabitants. The city is known for its fashion industry. The historical city centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural ...
. He defeated fellow Slovak player
Norbert Gombos
Norbert Gombos (, hu, Gombos Norbert; born 13 August 1990), occasionally spelled Norbert Gomboš, is a Slovak professional tennis player competing primarily on the ATP Challenger Tour and playing for the Slovakia Davis Cup team. He achieved a ...
in the first round, but lost in the second round to young Serbian player
Laslo Djere.
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
* ...
, Kližan lost in the first round 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 ...
.
In July, Kližan again played
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 ...
for Slovakia and won both his matches.
At the
US Open, he won his first match against
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 ...
. However, in the second round he lost to 27th seed
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French inactive professional tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best Grand Slam performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Austra ...
. In September, he reached the semifinals in
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
.
Kližan started
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
with first-round losses in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
and
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
. In the first round 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 ...
, he lost in a five-setter to 24th seed
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 February, Kližan reached the semifinals in
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
, where he lost to
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 a ...
.
He subsequently won his fourth 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 ...
, beating
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 ...
in the final, coming back from a set down. On his way to the title, Kližan saved eight match points (five against
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 ...
and three against
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 ...
).
Kližan seized his second ATP 500 title at the
2016 German Open, defeating
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
in the final in straight sets.
2017: Injuries, Four ATP quarterfinals, out of top 100
Kližan started the season with in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, where he received a bye in the first round and lost in the second round to
Aljaž Bedene
Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was British nationality law, a naturalised Briton and played with this nationality from 2015 to 2017, returning to represent Slovenia in 2018.
Bedene has won ...
. This was followed by a first-round loss in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, where he retired with a foot injury. He then lost a tight, five-set match against No. 4 seed
Stan 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 ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
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 ...
.
Kližan reached the quarterfinals in both
Sofia
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
and
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 ...
. As he was the defending champion 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 ...
, his ranking dropped substantially after these tournaments. In
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
, Kližan lost in the first round to top seed
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 ...
.
At the
2017 BNP Paribas Open, Kližan lost in the second round to
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
and in the first round of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in first round to
Benoît Paire
Benoît Paire (; born 8 May 1989) is a French professional tennis player.
His best result in a Grand Slam has been reaching the fourth round, which he has achieved on four occasions. He has won three singles titles, at the 2015 Swedish Open, t ...
. This was followed by a first-round loss in
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
to qualifier
Laslo Djere. Kližan qualified for the main draw of the
2017 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, but he lost 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 ...
in the first round, after receiving two game penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in the third set.
In
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Kližan defeated two qualifiers:
Maximilian Marterer
Maximilian Marterer (born 15 June 1995) is a German tennis player. He has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 45, achieved in August 2018.
Professional career
2015: ATP debut
Marterer made his ATP main draw debut at the MercedesCup ...
and
Bjorn Fratangelo, before losing to top seed and eventual winner
Lucas Pouille
Lucas Pouille (, born 23 February 1994) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 10, achieved on 19 March 2018 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 79, achieved on 11 April 2016. ...
in the quarterfinals.
In
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, Kližan defeated
Nicolás Kicker
Nicolás Kicker (, born 16 August 1992 in Merlo) is an Argentine tennis player. He plays mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour. Kicker achieved his highest career singles ranking of 78 in June 2017. He has won 3 singles titles, and 1 doubles title ...
and
Mischa Zverev
Mikhail "Mischa" Alexandrovich Zverev (russian: Михаил "Миша" Александрович Зверев, , ; born 22 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player born in Russia. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world ...
, before losing to
Chung Hyeon
Chung Hyeon (; ; born 19 May 1996) is a South Korean professional tennis player. He is the 2017 Next Gen Finals champion. As an unseeded player, he became the first Korean player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open.
...
in the quarterfinals.
At the
2017 French Open, Kližan defeated
Laurent Lokoli
Laurent Lokoli (born 18 October 1994) is a French professional tennis player. Lokoli plays primarily ATP Challenger and ITF events. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 169 achieved on 30 January 2023.
Career
Lokoli received a wildca ...
in the first round before losing to World No. 1
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 ...
. This was followed by two Challengers, where he played as the top seed. In
Prostějov
Prostějov (; german: Proßnitz) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 43,000 inhabitants. The city is known for its fashion industry. The historical city centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural ...
, Kližan lost in the second round to qualifier
Markus Eriksson (ranked 476 at the time). In
Poprad-Tatry
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 ...
, he lost to
Roberto Carballés Baena
Roberto Carballés Baena (; born 23 March 1993) is a Spanish tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 71 on 15 November 2021. His preferred surface is clay, on which he has won one ATP title and 19 ITF titles i ...
in the quarterfinals.
Kližan played one grass tournament before
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
* ...
. In
Antalya
Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...
, he retired in his first-round match against
Marsel İlhan
Marsel İlhan ( uz, Marsel Qahhorovich Hamdamov; born 11 June 1987) is a Turkish professional tennis player, who was ranked No. 1 in Turkey and with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2015. He is the first ever Turki ...
. 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
* ...
, Kližan retired in the first round again, this time he played
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 ...
. After the points from winning the
2016 German Open were deducted, Kližan dropped out of the top 100.
2018: 6th ATP title
Kližan reached the round of 16 at the
Sofia Open, where he was defeated by
Stan 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 ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
in three sets. In March, Kližan won the
Indian Wells Challenger tournament.
At the
Barcelona Open There are two sporting events named the Barcelona Open:
* Barcelona Open (golf)
* Barcelona Open (tennis)
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