Nicolas Kiefer
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Tour Finals SF (1999) | | ||||||||
Olympic Games | 3R (2004, 2008) | ||||||||
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Doubles | |||||||||
Career record | 92–123 (42.8%) | ||||||||
Career titles | 3 | ||||||||
Highest ranking | No. 56 (17 February 2003) | ||||||||
Grand Slam doubles results | |||||||||
Australian Open | 2R (2004) | ||||||||
French Open | 1R (2001, 2003, 2004) | ||||||||
Wimbledon | 2R (2003) | ||||||||
US Open | 1R (2002) | ||||||||
Medal record
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Nicolas Kiefer (German pronunciation: [ˈkiːfɐ];[1][2] born 5 July 1977) is a German former professional tennis player. He reached the semifinals of the 2006 Australian Open and won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Kiefer's career-high singles ranking was world No. 4, achieved in January 2000.
Tennis career
1995–2005
Kiefer was taken notice of as an outstanding junior. He won the Junior Australian Open, the US Open, and was a finalist and semifinalist at Wimbledon and the French Open finishing as the No. 2 junior behind Mariano Zabaleta when he was 18 in 1995. On 10 January 2000, he reached his second quarterfinal at the Australian Open and afterwards was ranked world No. 4, his highest position.
Kiefer was known to have some tennis superstitions. He was sometimes seen tapping his racquet on the corners of the court after a point,[3] and, when serving, frequently asked for the ball with which he had just won a point to re-use it for the next one.
2006–2007
Kiefer became infamous for an incident on 25 January 2006, during the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. While facing
Kiefer injured his wrist while playing at the 2006 French Open, and announced his return on 5 July 2007, having fallen to the 404th position on ATP. He announced that he was "tired of waiting and anxious to start traveling again and to see his name on scoreboards". Kiefer returned at the 2007
2008
His 2008 season did not start out well: he lost in the first round of the Australian Open to former world No.1
2009
In 2009, he represented Germany in the 2009 Hopman Cup with 19-year-old Sabine Lisicki. In the first match, he lost against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, who had been six months inactive due to an injury. In the second singles match, Kiefer lost again, this time to USA's James Blake. Nevertheless, Kiefer won both of the doubles matches with Sabine Lisicki against both Australia and the United States. In the third singles match, Kiefer twisted his ankle against Slovakia's Dominik Hrbatý in the first set when Kiefer was up 3–1 and serving. This injury prevented him from participating in the 2009 Australian Open.
He re-appeared in the 2009 Davis Cup match against Austria in which he won in the doubles match with Philipp Kohlschreiber against Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya in four sets. Kiefer also played a singles match, the fourth match, against Jürgen Melzer in which Kiefer won in straight sets and gave Germany the victory against Austria. Kiefer then participated in the 2009 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in which he beat Bobby Reynolds in straight sets in the second round, but he then lost in the third round to Andy Roddick.
In the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Kiefer beat "the magician" Fabrice Santoro in the second round. In the third round Kiefer was defeated by world No. 2 Roger Federer. At the
At the
Kiefer then participated at the 2009 French Open in which he beat qualifier Ilija Bozoljac in four sets. However, Kiefer lost in the second round against world No. 14 David Ferrer in five sets. Despite this loss, Kiefer claimed that he was proud that he had played up to a fifth set against one of the best tennis players of the world on clay, since clay is Kiefer's least favourite surface. The clay season had now ended, and the grass season started with Kiefer's participation in his favourite tournament, the 2009 Gerry Weber Open. In the first match, he thrashed Viktor Troicki, but retired in the second round against Jürgen Melzer when he was down 1–6 with a muscular strain in his abdomen which forced him to retire from singles and doubles, where he had reached the semifinals with Mischa Zverev.
Kiefer participated in the Wimbledon as the 33rd seed but having not fully recovered from his abdomen injury. This was reflected in his match against Fabrice Santoro, where Kiefer lost in straight sets. Kiefer then played for Germany in the 2009 Davis Cup quarterfinals against Spain. He did so in the doubles match with Mischa Zverev against Spain's Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano López. Kiefer and Zverev lost the match. In the first round of the U.S. Open, he beat Michaël Llodra in straight sets, but in the second round he lost to world No. 3 Rafael Nadal.
Major finals
Olympic finals
Doubles: 1 (1 silver medal)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Silver | 2004 | Athens Olympics | Hard | Rainer Schüttler | Fernando González Nicolás Massú |
2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6 |
Masters Series finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 2008 |
Toronto, Canada | Hard | Rafael Nadal | 3–6, 2–6 |
Career finals
Singles: 19 (6 titles, 13 runner-ups)
Legend |
Grand Slam (0–0) |
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) |
ATP Masters Series (0–1) |
ATP International Series Gold (1–3) |
ATP Tour (5–9) |
Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1–0 | Sep 1997 | Toulouse, France | Hard (i) | Mark Philippoussis | 7–5, 5–7, 6–4 |
Loss | 1–1 | Oct 1997 | Singapore , Singapore
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Carpet | Magnus Gustafsson | 6–4, 3–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 1–2 | Feb 1999 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Hard | Jérôme Golmard | 4–6, 2–6 |
Win | 2–2 | Apr 1999 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Wayne Ferreira | 7–6(7–5), 7–5 |
Win | 3–2 | Jun 1999 | Halle, Germany | Grass | Nicklas Kulti | 6–3, 6–2 |
Win | 4–2 | Sep 1999 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | Hard | George Bastl | 6–4, 6–2 |
Loss | 4–3 | Oct 1999 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet | Greg Rusedski | 7–6(7–5), 6–2, 3–6, 5–7, 4–6 |
Win | 5–3 | Feb 2000 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Hard | Juan Carlos Ferrero | 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 |
Win | 6–3 | Oct 2000 | Hong Kong, China | Hard | Mark Philippoussis | 7–6(7–4), 2–6, 6–2 |
Loss | 6–4 | Oct 2001 | Moscow, Russia (1) | Carpet (i) | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 4–6, 5–7 |
Loss | 6–5 | Jun 2002 | Halle, Germany (1) | Grass | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 6–2, 4–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 6–6 | Jun 2003 | Halle, Germany (2) | Grass | Roger Federer | 1–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 6–7 | Feb 2004 | Memphis, United States | Hard | Joachim Johansson | 6–7(5–7), 3–6 |
Loss | 6–8 | Mar 2004 | Scottsdale, United States | Hard | Vince Spadea | 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 3–6 |
Loss | 6–9 | Jul 2004 | Indianapolis, United States | Hard | Andy Roddick | 2–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 6–10 | Jul 2004 | Los Angeles, United States | Hard | Tommy Haas | 6–7(6–8), 4–6 |
Loss | 6–11 | Oct 2005 | Moscow, Russia (2) | Carpet (i) | Igor Andreev | 7–5, 6–7(3–7), 2–6 |
Loss | 6–12 | Oct 2005 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Carpet (i) | Thomas Johansson | 4–6, 2–6 |
Loss | 6–13 | Jul 2008 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | Rafael Nadal | 3–6, 2–6 |
Doubles (3 titles, 1 runner-up)
Legend |
Grand Slam (0–0) |
Olympics (0–1) |
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0) |
ATP Masters Series (0–0) |
ATP International Series Gold (1–0) |
ATP Tour (3–0) |
Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1–0 | Oct 1998 | Ostrava, Czech Republic | Carpet | David Prinosil | David Adams Pavel Vízner |
6–4, 6–3 |
Win | 2–0 | Jul 2002 | Los Angeles, United States | Hard | Sébastien Grosjean | Justin Gimelstob Michaël Llodra |
6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 3–0 | Sep 2003 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Justin Gimelstob | Mark Merklein Scott Humphries |
6–7(6–8), 6–3, 7–6(7–4) |
Loss | 3–1 | Aug 2004 | Olympics, Athens, Greece | Hard | Rainer Schüttler | Fernando González Nicolás Massú |
2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6 |
Performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Singles
Tournament | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | SR | W–L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | A | 1R | A | QF | 3R | QF | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | SF | A | 1R | A | A | 0 / 10 | 16–10 |
French Open | A | Q1 | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 3R | A | A | 2R | A | 0 / 11 | 9–10 |
Wimbledon | Q2 | A | QF | 3R | 2R | 1R | 4R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 3R | A | 3R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 13 | 18–13 |
US Open | A | A | A | 3R | 3R | QF | 1R | 1R | 2R | 4R | 4R | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | 0 / 11 | 17–11 |
Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–1 | 4–2 | 9–4 | 5–4 | 8–4 | 4–4 | 2–4 | 2–3 | 4–4 | 8–3 | 7–2 | 3–2 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0 / 45 | 60–44 |
Year-end championship | ||||||||||||||||||
Tennis Masters Cup
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Did not qualify | SF | Did not qualify | 0 / 1 | 2–2 | |||||||||||||
ATP Masters Series | ||||||||||||||||||
Indian Wells Masters
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A | A | A | 3R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | QF | 2R | A | 1R | 3R | A | 0 / 11 | 12–11 |
Miami Masters | A | A | 2R | 3R | QF | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | QF | 2R | 4R | A | 3R | 3R | A | 0 / 12 | 16–12 |
Monte Carlo Masters
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A | A | A | 2R | A | A | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | 3R | A | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 8 | 6–8 |
Rome Masters | A | A | Q1 | A | 3R | A | 3R | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | A | 0 / 8 | 6–8 |
Hamburg Masters[a] | Q2 | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | A | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | QF | 1R | Q1 | 0 / 11 | 8–11 |
Canada Masters | A | A | A | 3R | SF | 2R | 2R | 1R | A | SF | 3R | A | 2R | F | 1R | A | 0 / 10 | 20–10 |
Cincinnati Masters
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A | A | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 2R | A | 2R | 2R | A | 2R | A | 1R | A | 0 / 9 | 8–9 |
Madrid Masters[b] | 1R | 2R | QF | 2R | 2R | A | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | A | SF | 1R | A | A | 0 / 9 | 9–9 |
Paris Masters | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | 0 / 5 | 2–5 |
Win–loss | 0–1 | 1–2 | 5–3 | 9–8 | 13–6 | 1–4 | 10–9 | 2–7 | 1–3 | 10–7 | 9–9 | 6–5 | 6–4 | 12–8 | 2–7 | 0–0 | 0 / 83 | 87–83 |
National representation | ||||||||||||||||||
Olympic Games | NH | A | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | 3R | Not Held | 3R | NH | 0 / 3 | 5–3 | |||||||
Davis Cup | A | A | A | QF | 1R | A | QF | 1R | PO | PO | PO | 1R | A | QF | QF | A | 0 / 7 | 10–11 |
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
Titles | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
Finals | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | |
Year-end ranking | 206 | 128 | 32 | 35 | 6 | 20 | 42 | 72 | 58 | 21 | 22 | 48 | 49 | 38 | 116 | 722 |
Top 10 wins
Season | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Total |
Wins | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
# | Player | Rank | Event | Surface | Rd | Score | KR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | |||||||
1. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 6 | Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom | Grass | 4R | 6–2, 7–5, 2–6, 6–1 | 98 |
2. | Marcelo Ríos | 8 | Singapore , Singapore
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Carpet (i) | QF | 6–1, 7–5 | 48 |
3. | Greg Rusedski | 5 | Stuttgart, Germany | Carpet (i) | 2R | 5–7, 6–2, 6–4 | 34 |
1998 | |||||||
4. | Jonas Björkman | 7 | Miami, United States | Hard | 3R | 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–3) | 27 |
5. | Petr Korda | 2 | World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany | Clay | F | 7–5, 6–3 | 24 |
6. | Petr Korda | 5 | Basel, Switzerland | Hard (i) | 1R | 6–2, 6–4 | 28 |
1999 | |||||||
7. | Carlos Moyá | 5 | Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia | Hard | 1R | 6–7(7–9), 6–4, 7–6(8–6), 6–3 | 37 |
8. | Pat Rafter | 5 | Indian Wells , United States
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Hard | 2R | 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 7–5 | 33 |
9. | Pat Rafter | 5 | Miami, United States | Hard | 3R | 7–6(7–5), 6–4 | 30 |
10. | Richard Krajicek | 5 | Rome, Italy | Clay | 2R | 6–3, 6–2 | 23 |
11. | Pat Rafter | 2 | Montreal, Canada | Hard | QF | 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–4) | 17 |
12. | Greg Rusedski | 8 | Basel, Switzerland | Carpet (i) | QF | 2–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3 | 12 |
13. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 2 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | QF | 6–0, 6–4 | 11 |
14. | Richard Krajicek | 8 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) | SF | 7–6(11–9), 6–4 | 11 |
15. | Todd Martin | 7 | ATP Tour World Championships, Hanover, Germany | Hard (i) | RR | 6–3, 6–2 | 6 |
16. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 2 | ATP Tour World Championships, Hanover, Germany | Hard (i) | RR | 6–1, 4–6, 6–2 | 6 |
2000 | |||||||
17. | Magnus Norman | 3 | US Open, New York, United States | Hard | 4R | 6–2, 6–7(3–7), 6–1, 6–3 | 14 |
18. | Tim Henman | 10 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Hard | SF | 6–4, 6–2 | 13 |
2001 | |||||||
19. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 6 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Hard (i) | 2R | 6–4, 6–2 | 55 |
20. | Pat Rafter | 8 | World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany | Clay | RR | 1–6, 6–2, 6–4 | 28 |
2002 | |||||||
21. | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 4 | Munich, Germany | Clay | 1R | 6–4, 6–7(7–9), 6–3 | 47 |
22. | Marat Safin | 2 | World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany | Clay | RR | 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–5) | 63 |
23. | Roger Federer | 10 | Halle, Germany | Grass | SF | 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 | 66 |
2004 | |||||||
24. | Rainer Schüttler | 7 | Miami, United States | Hard | 2R | 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–3) | 44 |
25. | Carlos Moyá | 5 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | 3R | 6–4, 2–6, 6–4 | 25 |
2005 | |||||||
26. | Marat Safin | 4 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Hard | 1R | 7–6(7–2), 6–4 | 30 |
27. | Gastón Gaudio | 8 | Indian Wells, United States | Hard | 3R | 6–3, 6–1 | 31 |
28. | David Nalbandian | 10 | Indian Wells, United States | Hard | 4R | 6–1, 6–3 | 31 |
29. | Nikolay Davydenko | 8 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Carpet (i) | QF | 6–1, 6–1 | 29 |
2006 | |||||||
30. | Gastón Gaudio | 10 | World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany | Clay | RR | 6–2, 6–3 | 13 |
2007 | |||||||
31. | Fernando González | 6 | Madrid, Spain | Hard (i) | QF | 7–6(7–5), 6–2 | 112 |
2008 | |||||||
32. | Stan Wawrinka | 10 | Hamburg , Germany
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Clay | 2R | 7–5, 7–5 | 41 |
33. | Nikolay Davydenko | 4 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | 3R | 7–5, 6–3 | 41 |
34. | Nikolay Davydenko | 4 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | 3R | 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 | 37 |
35. | James Blake | 8 | Toronto, Canada | Hard | QF | 6–1, 6–2 | 37 |
Record against No. 1 players
Kiefer's match record against players who have been ranked world No. 1.
Player | Years | Matches | Record | Win % | Hard | Clay | Grass | Carpet |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patrick Rafter
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1999–2001 | 5 | 4–1 | 80% | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Carlos Moyá | 1998–2004 | 5 | 3–2 | 60% | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Marat Safin | 1999–2007 | 7 | 4–3 | 57% | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Thomas Muster | 1998 | 2 | 1–1 | 50% | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Marcelo Ríos | 1997–1998 | 2 | 1–1 | 50% | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 1997–2003 | 15 | 6–9 | 40% | 4–4 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 |
Juan Carlos Ferrero | 2000–2008 | 5 | 2–3 | 40% | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Gustavo Kuerten | 1998–2002 | 3 | 1–2 | 33% | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Pete Sampras | 1998–2002 | 4 | 1–3 | 25% | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
Roger Federer | 2000–2009 | 15 | 3–12 | 20% | 1–8 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 |
Jim Courier | 1996 | 1 | 0–1 | 0% | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
Boris Becker | 1997–1999 | 2 | 0–2 | 0% | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
Novak Djokovic | 2007 | 2 | 0–2 | 0% | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
Lleyton Hewitt | 1999–2003 | 3 | 0–3 | 0% | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Rafael Nadal | 2008–2009 | 5 | 0–5 | 0% | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
Andy Roddick | 2002–2009 | 5 | 0–5 | 0% | 0–5 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
Andre Agassi | 1998–2005 | 6 | 0–6 | 0% | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
Notes
- ^ Held as Hamburg Masters (outdoor clay) until 2008, Madrid Masters (outdoor clay) 2009 – present.
- ^ Held as Essen / Stuttgart Masters from 1995 to 2001, held as Madrid Masters (indoor hard) from 2002 to 2008, and Shanghai Masters (outdoor hard) 2009 – present.
References
- ISBN 978-3-411-04067-4.
- ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
- ^ "Strange Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Players" by Christopher Clarey, 21 June 2008 in The New York Times.