Karol Kučera (; born 4 March 1974) is a Slovak
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 ...
coach and former professional player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semifinals of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
the same year.
Tennis career
Kučera turned professional in 1992. He was a member of the
Czechoslovakian Galea Cup teams in 1991 and 1992 and the 1992 European championship squad. In 1993 he qualified for his first
Grand Slam at
Roland Garros.
In 1995 when Kučera won his first ATP title in
Rosmalen. In 1996 he played in the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
where he lost to eventual gold medalist
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
.
A year later he won his second ATP title in
Ostrava
Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...
defeating
Magnus Norman
Magnus Norman (born 30 May 1976) is a Swedish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in June 2000. Norman won twelve ATP Tour singles tit ...
. He was runner-up in two other tournaments in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
on grass to
Greg Rusedski
Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a Canadian-British former professional tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP Tour, ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October ...
and
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
Outdoor to
Álex Corretja on clay.
Kučera's best year was in 1998, where he finished the year in the top 10, ranked World No. 8, which qualified him in the
ATP Tour World Championship in
Hannover
Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
. During the year Kučera won 2 titles in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
defeating
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) during the early 2000s. Henman won 15 career ATP Tour titl ...
and
New Haven
New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
defeating
Goran Ivanišević
Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 1994. Ivanišević won 22 ATP To ...
.
He reached another two finals, losing to
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the list of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals f ...
in Stuttgart Outdoor and to
World No. 1 Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...
in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. Overall in 1998, Kučera compiled a career high 53 match victories and earning $1,402,557.
Kučera achieved his best Grand Slam result in 1998 reaching the semi-finals of
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
where on his way he defeated
Sergi Bruguera
Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a Spanish tennis coach and former professional player . He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in men's singl ...
,
Daniel Vacek,
Daniel Nestor
Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; ; born Danijel Nestorović, September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 108 weeks ( fifth-most ...
,
Richard Fromberg and defending champion Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion
Petr Korda
Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in February 1998. Korda won ten singles titles, including the 1998 Austr ...
in 4 sets. Later the same year he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open.
In 1999, Kučera won his fifth ATP title in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
defeating
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) during the early 2000s. Henman won 15 career ATP Tour titl ...
in the final. After 1999, Kučera struggled with form due to a right wrist and arm injury.
After some injury plagued years, Kučera found some form again in 2003 when he finished in the top 50 for the first time since 1999. During the year he won his sixth and final tour title in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
defeating
Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a former Belgian tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles title, partnering fellow Belgian Xavier Malisse. His career-high singles ranking is wo ...
in the final.
Later, Kučera was one of the contributing members on the
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
n team which reached the final of the
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
in 2005, eventually losing to
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
2–3. He announced his retirement after the final.
Style of play
Miloslav Mečíř
Miloslav Mečíř (; born 19 May 1964) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games, representing Czechoslovakia, and contested two major singles finals. In 1987 he won the WCT Fi ...
known as the "Big Cat" was Kučera's coach from 1997 to 2001. Kučera was nicknamed the "Little Cat" because of his deceptive style of play and his fluid movement around the court resembling his coach.
Kučera was also coached for a time by
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
's coach Marian Vajda.
Post-career
In 2020, Kučera was elected an MP of the
National Council of Slovakia
The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation with seats dis ...
representing the
Ordinary People and Independent Personalities
Slovakia (), known as Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (, OĽANO) until 2023, is a populist political party in Slovakia. Founded in 2011 by former businessman Igor Matovič, the party champions anti-corruption, anti-elitist and ...
movement, along with fellow former tennis players
Ján Krošlák
Ján Krošlák (; born 17 October 1974) is a former tennis player from Slovakia, who turned professional in 1993.
He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, where he was defeated in the first round ...
and
Romana Tabak.
Career finals
Singles 12 (6–6)
Doubles: 4 (0–4)
Singles performance timeline
1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.
Top 10 wins
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kucera, Karol
1974 births
Hopman Cup competitors
Living people
People from Monte Carlo
Slovak male tennis players
Slovak expatriates in Monaco
Tennis players from Bratislava
Olympic tennis players for Slovakia
Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Czechoslovak male tennis players
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023
21st-century Slovak sportsmen