Alex Molčan (born 1 December 1997) is a Slovak professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. Molčan has a career-high
ATP singles ranking of World No. 38 achieved on 23 May 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 268 achieved on 14 June 2021. He is currently the No. 8 Slovak tennis player.
Molčan has reached three ATP 250 finals at the
2021 Belgrade Open, in
Morocco in 2022 and at the
2022 ATP Lyon Open. He also reached eleven singles ITF finals, with a record of 6 wins and 5 losses which includes a 2–2 result in
ATP Challenger finals. Additionally, he has reached five career doubles ITF finals, with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses, including a 1–3 result in
ATP Challenger finals.
Professional career
2021: First ATP final, Major debut & third round, Slovak No. 1, top 100
Ranked No. 313 at the beginning of the year in January, Molčan made his ATP debut at the
2021 Antalya Open in Turkey, where he defeated
Andrey Golubev and
Blaž Kavčič to qualify for the main draw. Molčan then lost in the first round to France's
Hugo Grenier in straight sets.
In February he won the doubles title at the
2021 Challenger La Manche with compatriot
Lukáš Klein.
In March, he advanced through the qualifying rounds of
Open 13 in
Marseille
Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, France, defeating
Antoine Hoang and
Ernests Gulbis to reach his second main draw appearance. He was defeated in the first round by
Lucas Pouille.
In May, ranked world No. 255 at the
2021 Belgrade Open, after qualifying yet again, Molčan reached the final of an ATP tournament for the first time in his career by defeating two Serbian wildcard players
Hamad Međedović and
Peđa Krstin, Spaniard
Fernando Verdasco and clay specialist Argentinian
Federico Delbonis which propelled him 74 spots up into the top 200 at World No. 181 in the rankings on 31 May 2021. In the final, he lost in straight sets to the top seed and world No. 1
Novak Djokovic.
He entered the top 150 on 19 July 2021 after reaching the final of the
2021 Moneta Czech Open Challenger in Prostějov, and the round of 16 as a qualifier at the
2021 Hamburg European Open defeating
Gianluca Mager. In August, he won his first Challenger title at the
2021 Svijany Open in Liberec defeating
Tomáš Macháč in 58 minutes where he lost just 18 games to win the title. As a result, he hit a new career-high of No. 136 on 9 August 2021.
He made his Grand Slam debut the
2021 US Open after qualifying to the main draw. He overcame fellow qualifier and also making his debut
Cem İlkel and
Brandon Nakashima in five sets to reach the second and third round respectively for the first time in his career. In the third round, he was defeated by the eleventh seed
Diego Schwartzman
Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won four ATP Tour singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist ...
in straight sets. As a result, he hit a new career-high of No. 117 on 13 September 2021. He became the No. 1 Slovak player on 8 November 2021 when he reached a career-high of No. 106 in the singles rankings following a semifinal at the Challenger in Bergamo. In November, he won the title at the
2021 Tali Open Challenger in Helsinki thus breaking into the top 100 at world No. 87 in the ATP year-end rankings on 22 November 2021.
2022: Top 40, two ATP 250 finals & 500 semifinal, Wimbledon third round
He reached a career-high ranking in the top 75 at World No. 74 on 10 January 2022.
On his debut at the
2022 Australian Open he recorded his first win at this Major defeating lucky loser
Roman Safiullin in the first round.
In
Marrakesh, Molčan recorded his first Top 10 win after defeating the top seed
Félix Auger-Aliassime. He then advanced to his second career ATP final by defeating
Botic van de Zandschulp and
Laslo Djere. In the final, Molčan lost to
David Goffin in 3 sets. As a result, Molčan's ranking rose 15 places, marking his top 50 debut on 11 April 2022.
Molčan hired fellow Slovak
Marián Vajda to join his coaching team in May 2022.
At the
2022 ATP Lyon Open he reached the third tour-level final of his career, and second of the season by defeating former World No. 5 wildcard
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 ...
, 5th seed
Karen Khachanov,
Federico Coria and 4th seed
Alex de Minaur en route without losing a set. He lost to top seed
Cameron Norrie in three sets in the final. As a result, he moved into the top 40 at World No. 38 on 23 May 2022.
He made his debut at the
2022 Wimbledon Championships and won his first match at this Major defeating
Pedro Martínez. He reached the third round at this Major for the first time defeating
Marcos Giron in the second round before losing to
Taylor Fritz.
In
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
, Molčan reached the quarterfinals as an unseeded player, beating
Marko Topo and 4th seed and defending champion
Pablo Carreño Busta. He advanced to the biggest semifinal of his career after
Borna Ćorić retired during their match with Molčan leading in the second set. He lost to
Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets.
At the
US Open he lost in the first round to
Thiago Monteiro. In September he won his two matches in the
2022 Davis Cup World Group I against Romania.
2023-2025: Two Masters third rounds, 500 positions ranking drop
Molča started his 2023 season at the
Maharashtra Open in
Pune
Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. Seeded fifth, he lost in the first round to
Laslo Đere. At the
ASB Classic in Auckland, he was defeated in the first round by
Quentin Halys. At the
Australian Open, he earned his first win of the year by beating 2014 champion,
Stan Wawrinka, in the first round in a five-set thriller. He lost in the second round to sixth seed and world No. 7,
Félix Auger-Aliassime.
After the Australian Open, Molča represented Slovakia in the
Davis Cup tie against the Netherlands. He lost to
Tim van Rijthoven. In the end, the Netherlands won the tie over Slovakia 4–0.
Seeded seventh at the
Argentina Open, he fell in the first round to two-time champion
Dominic Thiem. Seeded ninth at the
Rio Open, he lost in the second round to
Hugo Dellien. In
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
, he retired during his first-round match against
Matteo Berrettini due to injury. In March, he competed at the
BNP Paribas Open. Making his debut at this tournament, he defeated
Albert Ramos Viñolas and upset 18th seed and world No. 20,
Borna Ćorić, in the second round to reach the third round of a Masters for the first time in his career. He was defeated in the third round by
Márton Fucsovics. At the following tournament, the
2023 Miami Open, he reached in two weeks back-to-back third rounds of a Masters 1000, defeating
Jordan Thompson and upset 28th seed
Yoshihito Nishioka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. He has won three ATP Tour singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 24 on 19 June 2023.
He is currently the No. 2 Japanese player.
Personal life
Marriage
Nishioka marr ...
. He withdrew from his third round match against world No. 5
Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev ( rus, Даниил Сергеевич Медведев, p=dənʲɪˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ...
due to a right hip injury.
At the
Banja Luka Open he defeated
Taro Daniel
is an American-Japanese professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58 on 15 January 2024. He has won one ATP Tour singles title at the 2018 Istanbul Open, as well as nine ATP Challenger Tour singles ti ...
,
Alexei Popyrin
Alexei Popyrin (born 5 August 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 21 achieved on 9 June 2025. He also has a career-high ATP doubles rankin ...
and
Laslo Djere to reach the semifinals, where he was defeated by
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in September 2021 ...
.
At the
2023 US Open he lost to
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
, after leading two sets to love, in five sets with three tiebreaks, in a match lasting close to 4 hours and 40 minutes, the longest of the day.
As a part of Slovak Davis Cup team, Molčan helped to defeat Greece. He won both his singles matches, including a win against
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas (, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved in August 2021 – mak ...
.
After an up and down 2023 season, Molčan and
Marián Vajda ended their coaching partnership in September.
He finished the 2023 season outside of the top 100, ranked No. 119. He further fell out of the top 150 at world No. 162 on 1 April 2024 and out of the top 600 down to No. 646 on 31 March 2025.
ATP career finals
Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 13 (8–5)
Doubles: 5 (2–3)
Performance timelines
Singles
Junior Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner–up)
Record against other players
Record against top 10 players
Molčan's record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw and Davis Cup matches are considered:
Wins over 10 players
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Molcan, Alex
1997 births
Living people
Slovak male tennis players
Sportspeople from Prešov
21st-century Slovak sportsmen