Jozef Kovalík

Jozef Kovalík (; born 4 November 1992) is a Slovak professional tennis player who competes on the ATP Challenger Tour. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 80 and a doubles ranking of No. 245 reached in 2018. He is currently the No. 4 Slovak player.

Career

2010–2014: First Challenger title

Kovalík together with Filip Horanský won bronze medal in doubles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.

He won his first Challenger title on 17 August 2014, after beating second seed Andrey Kuznetsov. He became the fourth player to win an ATP Challenger title while ranked outside the top 300.

2016: ATP, Masters & Grand Slam debuts

He played his first match at ATP level on 5 January 2016 in Chennai, where he lost in the first round.
He played his first match at a Grand Slam at the 2016 Australian Open, where he lost to fellow qualifier Marco Trungelliti in the first round.

At the 2016 BNP Paribas Open Kovalík won his first match at ATP level, defeating another qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round. He lost in two tight tie-breaks in the subsequent round, to fellow up-and-coming talent Dominic Thiem. Despite the loss his tennis was of an extremely high quality as he was able to win cheap points off his first serve, utilised an effective kicking second serve, and consistently hit his groundstrokes with great accuracy, power and depth. In addition he remained mentally composed on key points and played intelligent tennis throughout. During the match he was watched by fellow Slovak and coach of Novak Djokovic, Marián Vajda.

Kovalík won the 2016 Capri Watch Cup, his second title on the ATP Challenger Tour.

2017–2020: Roland Garros, Wimbledon & Top 100 debuts

At the 2018 Sofia Open he had his best ATP tournament, reaching the semifinals and losing to Marius Copil in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2. Kovalík reached another ATP level semifinal at 2018 German Open in Hamburg, where he lost to the defending champion Leonardo Mayer. After the tournament, Kovalík made his Top 100 debut on 30 July 2018.

2024: Challenger titles, first Major wins, back to top 125

He won his first Challenger title of the season and first since 2022 in Zadar, Croatia defeating Adrian Andreev in the final.
Following a third final showing for the season at the 2024 Upper Austria Open in Mauthausen, where he lost to Lucas Pouille, Kovalik returned in the top 150 in the rankings on 20 May 2024. At 31 years old, he entered the main draw of the 2024 French Open as a lucky loser, after more than three years of absence at the Grand Slam level and recorded his first Major wins over Marcos Giron and 18th seed Karen Khachanov. As a result, he returned to No. 119 on 10 June 2024 and to No. 102 a month later on 15 July 2024.

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through the 2024 French Open.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 1.''

ATP Challenger and ITF Tour finals

Singles 31: (19–12)

Doubles

Wins over top 10 players

* Kovalík's match record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovalik, Jozef
1992 births
Living people
Tennis players from Bratislava
Slovak male tennis players
Tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
21st-century Slovak sportsmen