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
Guayaquil
Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...
,
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
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
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
'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
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 ...
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
Estoril
Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
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
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 ...
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
Montréal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
. 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
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
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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*
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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