Rudolf Molleker (born 26 October 2000) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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. Molleker achieved a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 146 on 29 July 2019 and a doubles ranking of World No. 376 on 21 March 2022.

Personal information

He was born in Sieverodonetsk in Ukraine to Roman and Tanja Molleker and moved to

Oranienburg Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel. Geography Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin. Division of the town Oranienburg ...

in Germany when he was three years old. He is of Russian–German descent. He trains at

Patrick Mouratoglou Patrick Jean André Mouratoglou (born 8 June 1970) is a French tennis coach and sports commentator of Greek descent. He was the coach of Serena Williams from June 2012 to 2022. Since Spring 2022, Mouratoglou has been the coach of Simona Halep. ...

Academy in Sophia Antipolis (France) since 2018.

Tennis career

2017: ATP debut

Molleker made his ATP main draw debut at the German Open after defeating

Casper Ruud Casper Ruud (born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. Ruud has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 12 September 2022, making him the highest-ranked Norwegian tennis player in history. He has won nine ...

and

Leonardo Mayer Leonardo Martín Mayer (; ''Mayer'' locally or , ; born May 15, 1987) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019. ...

, who later won the tournament as a lucky loser, in the qualifying rounds.

2018: First Challenger title & ATP and top-10 wins

Molleker won his first

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

title as a wildcard at the

Heilbronner Neckarcup The Heilbronner Neckarcup is a tennis tournament held in Heilbronn, Germany since 2014. The event is part of the ATP Challenger Tour and is played on outdoor clay courts. Filip Krajinović Filip Krajinović (, ; born 27 February 1992) is a ...

, defeating

Jiří Veselý Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 35 on 27 April 2015. He is currently the No. 2 Czech tennis player in singles, as he lost his previous ...

in the final. He won his first match at ATP-level at the Stuttgart Open, defeating compatriot

Jan-Lennard Struff Jan-Lennard Struff (; born 25 April 1990) is a German professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 29 in August 2020. In doubles, he achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 in October 2018. He ha ...

in the first round. At the German Open he beat former world No. 3

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 first round.

2019: Grand Slam and top 150 debut

Molleker made his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open, battling through three qualifying rounds before falling to world number 16

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 ...

in four sets. At the French Open, he performed a similar feat, twice coming back from a set down to qualify for the main draw. He again lost in four sets in the first round, this time to

Alexander Bublik Alexander Stanislavovich "Sasha" Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 30 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in ...

Singles performance timeline

''Current through the

2022 ATP Tour The 2022 ATP Tour was the global elite men's professional tennis circuit organised by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the 2022 tennis season. The 2022 ATP Tour calendar comprised the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the In ...

.''

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 10 (4–6)

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * * (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Molleker, Rudolf 2000 births Living people German male tennis players People from Sievierodonetsk People from Oranienburg Russian people of German descent