Nicolai Budkov Kjær (born 1 September 2006) is a Norwegian 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. He has a career-high
ATP singles ranking of world No. 287, achieved on 31 March 2025.
He is currently the No. 3 singles player from Norway.
Budkov Kjær reached a
ITF junior combined ranking of world No. 1 on 15 July 2024. He represents
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
at 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 ...
where he has a W/L record of 2–4.
Early life
Nicolai Budkov Kjær was born to a Norwegian father and an Estonian mother.
He lives in
Bygdøy,
Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
, and trains at Oslo Tennisarena and Wang Toppidrett.
Junior career
He won the
2024 Wimbledon Championships boys' singles title, becoming the first Norwegian man to win a Grand Slam singles title at either the junior or professional level. He also won the
2024 French Open boys' doubles title alongside
Joel Schwärzler, also the first for a Norwegian.
Professional career
In September 2023, Budkov Kjær made his Davis Cup debut against
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
.
In February 2024, he replaced
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in March 2020. Thiem won 17 ATP Tour-level s ...
at the
Ultimate Tennis Showdown in Oslo, the ninth edition of the tournament. The following month, he won his first professional title at the $15k
Antalya
Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...
Series. He subsequently made his debut in the top 1000 of the
ATP rankings
The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...
at world No. 897 on 8 April 2024. 025.
He was the first Norwegian to do so since
Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud (; born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in September 2022, making him t ...
in 2016.
Also in February, he recorded his first Davis Cup win, over Latvian Davis Rolis, and in September his second, with a win over Portuguese
Jaime Faria, who was ranked No. 157 at the time.
In November 2024, Budkov Kjær defeated former Top 10 player
Pablo Carreño Busta at the
2024 Montemar Challenger.
In February 2025, Budkov Kjær won his first
ATP Challenger
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. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
title defeating fellow countryman
Viktor Durasovic in the
2025 Glasgow Challenger. The match up was only the second time ever two Norwegians had met in a Challenger final, after
Christian Ruud and
Jan Frode Andersen who met in
Fürth
Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia.
It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...
in 1998. As a result he reached a new career high ranking of No. 297 on 24 February 2025.
In April 2025, ranked at a career-high of No. 287, Budkov Kjær received a wildcard for the qualifying competition at the
2025 Monte-Carlo Masters.
[ ]
ATP Challenger Tour finals
Singles: 1 (1 title)
ITF World Tennis Tour finals
Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
National and international representation
Davis Cup (2 victories, 4 defeats)
*
indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by the score The Score may refer to:
Films and television
* The Score (1978 film), ''The Score'' (1978 film), a 1978 Swedish film, released in Sweden as ''Lyftet''
* The Score (2001 film), ''The Score'' (2001 film), a 2001 crime drama film starring Robert De Ni ...
, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.
Exhibition matches
Singles
Junior Grand Slam finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Doubles: 1 (1 title)
Awards
;2024
*
ITF Junior World Champion
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Budkov Kjær, Nicolai
2006 births
Living people
French Open junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
Norwegian male tennis players
Norwegian people of Estonian descent
Tennis players from Oslo
Wimbledon junior champions
21st-century Norwegian sportsmen