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Pavel Vízner (born 15 July 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. Vízner has reached the French Open final twice, having had turned professional in 1990 and achieved a career high doubles ranking of World No. 5 in November 2007.


Career

While Vízner had played tournaments in 1988 and 1989 before professionalism in 1990, he won his first title in Prague in 1993 on the Challenger circuit, defeating Swedes Tomas Nydahl and
Mikael Tillström Mikael Tillström (born 5 March 1972) is a former tennis player and coach from Sweden. Career He represented his native country as at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was defeated in the third round by Switzerland's Roger Federer. ...
in the final, partnered by David Rikl, also a player with a higher doubles ranking and ultimately more success. He won another minor title in
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,
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later in 1995. Pavel broke through in 1996, winning a total of five titles; three of them being major titles. His first major title that he won was at Sankt Pölten, with Sláva Doseděl where they defeated David Adams and Menno Oosting in the final. His next title he won with Paul Kilderry over Anders Järryd and number 7 doubles player
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamians, Bahamian former professional tennis player and coach. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles tennis, doubles. He won three of the four Gran ...
in a tournament in Rosmalen, Netherlands. En route, he and partner Kilderry beat the 4th, 7th, 12th, and 14th-ranked doubles players. He won another title yet again in Gstaad, Switzerland, beating David Macpherson and Trevor Kronemann in the final, aside Jiří Novák (a doubles talent in a later day) In Grand Slam men's doubles performance, he participated in the French Open and the U.S. Open, and made the third round at Wimbledon. He ended 1996 ranked 28, having had broken into the top 100 for doubles. 1997 was title dry for Vízner; however he did make the semifinals of the Wimbledon men's doubles tournament with
Martin Damm Martin Damm Sr. (born 1 August 1972) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known as a doubles player (his highest ranking being No. 5 in the world in April 2007). His highest singles ranking was No. 42 in A ...
, who yet again thrived as a doubles player. He participated in the Australian Open for the first time, but remained title dry for several years until 2003, and did not reach a final until 1998. While the years of 1998, 1999 and 2000 were somewhat dull for Vízner title-wise, he did win minor titles in each of these years. He made the finals of tournaments in these three years as well, and lost a close match at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships to 6th-ranked Olivier Delaître and 12th-ranked Fabrice Santoro in the second round of doubles competition along with Peter Tramacchi, in five sets, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6. His equalled-best Grand Slam performance to date came in 2001 where he and Petr Pála lost in the final of the 2001 French Open to Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...
. Vízner and Pála also made the quarterfinals of the 2001 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to
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's
Max Mirnyi Maksim Mikalaevich "Max" Mirnyi (born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. 18 (August 2003) and finished ...
, ranked 5th, and Belarusian compatriot Vladimir Voltchkov, ranked 406th, despite being up 2–1 in set score. In 2001, he also reached number 13, his highest rank to date. He dropped out of the top 20 for doubles in 2002, having not won a title and losing early in many events. 2003, however, broke his title drought. He won an International Series Gold tournament in
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and one other title with compatriot Tomáš Cibulec. He finished the year ranked 27. In 2004, Pavel won three titles, making them his 6th, 7th and 8th titles of his career. He then went on to lose in the third round of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 2005 alongside Cyril Suk. He won Costa do Sauípe and
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with youngster partner Lukáš Dlouhý in 2006, and the team lost in the semifinals of the French Open. 2007 was a successful year for Vizner, as for the veteran aged 37 teamed with the young Dlouhý. The team defended their Costa do Sauípe title and continued their success to make the finals of
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right after, but lost to Potito Starace and Martín Vassallo Argüello 0–6, 2–6. He went on to equal his best Grand Slam performance by making the finals of the 2007 French Open men's doubles tournament with Lukáš Dlouhý, notching a win over co-ranked number ones and twin brothers Bob and
Mike Bryan Michael Carl Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all time, Bryan was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles for a record 506 weeks ...
, and then beat 2006 Wimbledon runners-up Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjić. They were to play
Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamians, Bahamian former professional tennis player and coach. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles tennis, doubles. He won three of the four Gran ...
and Daniel Nestor in the final. Vízner and Dlouhý easily took the first set 6–2, but then lost the next two and therefore lost to Knowles and Nestor. Vízner went on to win an
ATP Masters Series The ATP 1000 events, also known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The ATP 1000 tournaments, sitting below the Grand ...
tournament with Mahesh Bhupathi at the Canada Masters in
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. En route, the team took out
Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player and the first Asian man to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-tim ...
and
Martin Damm Martin Damm Sr. (born 1 August 1972) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known as a doubles player (his highest ranking being No. 5 in the world in April 2007). His highest singles ranking was No. 42 in A ...
, the defending U.S. Open champions of 2006 for men's doubles, and Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals. They beat Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in the final. Vízner returned to partnering with Dlouhý, and made a comeback as a team; as for they beat the Knowles / Nestor team avenging them for their French Open victory at the 2007 Cincinnati Masters. However, their success was halted by the eventual-winning
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i duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram. As of 21 August 2007 Vízner is ranked 14, one away from his all-time career-high doubles ranking after 19 years of playing professional tournaments. Pavel came to make the finals of the 2007 U.S. Open with Dlouhý, but lost in the final to Julian Knowle and
Simon Aspelin Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) is a former professional tennis doubles player from Sweden who turned professional in 1998. His success mainly came in doubles, winning 12 titles and reaching World No. 7 in March 2008. In men's doubles, Aspeli ...
in two sets. He achieved a career-high ranking of number 6 the week after the U.S. Open. In achieving this, the team again defeated Knowles/Nestor and then Hanley/Ullyett, before losing in the final.


Grand Slam finals


Doubles: 1 runner-up


Career finals


Doubles (16 titles)


Doubles performance timeline


External links

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Tennis academy František Pála - Pavel Vízner - Petr Pála
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vizner, Pavel 1970 births Living people Czech male tennis players Czechoslovak male tennis players Olympic tennis players for the Czech Republic Tennis players from Prague Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics 21st-century Czech sportsmen