Karol Kučera (; born 4 March 1974) is a Slovak tennis 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 same year.
Tennis career Kučera turned professional in 1992. He was a member of the Czechoslovak 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 in Atlanta where he lost to eventual gold medalist Andre Agassi.
A year later he won his second ATP title in Ostrava defeating Magnus Norman. He was runner-up in two other tournaments in Nottingham on grass to Greg Rusedski and Stuttgart 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. During the year Kučera won 2 titles in Sydney defeating Tim Henman and New Haven defeating Goran Ivanišević.
He reached another two finals, losing to Gustavo Kuerten in Stuttgart Outdoor and to World No. 1 Pete Sampras in Vienna. 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 where on his way he defeated Sergi Bruguera, Daniel Vacek, Daniel Nestor, Richard Fromberg and defending champion Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion Petr Korda 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 defeating Tim Henman 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 defeating Olivier Rochus in the final.
Later, Kučera was one of the contributing members on the Slovak team which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 2005, eventually losing to Croatia 2–3. He announced his retirement after the final.
Style of play Miloslav Mečíř 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's coach Marian Vajda.
Post-career In 2020, Kučera was elected an MP of the National Council of Slovakia representing the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities movement, along with fellow former tennis players Ján Krošlák and Romana Tabak.
Career finals
Singles 12 (6–6)
LegendGrand Slam (0-0)Tennis Masters Cup (0-0)ATP Masters Series (0-0)ATP Championships Series (1-0)ATP World Series (5-6) ResultW-LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Aug 1994 Umag, Croatia Clay Alberto Berasategui 2–6, 4–6Win 1–1 Jun 1995 Rosmalen, Netherlands Grass Anders Järryd 7–6(9–7), 7–6(7–4)Win 2–1 Oct 1997 Ostrava, Czech Republic Carpet (i) Magnus Norman 6–2, retiredLoss 2–2 Jun 1997 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Greg Rusedski 4–6, 5–7Loss 2–3 Jul 1997 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Álex Corretja 2–6, 5–7Win 3–3 Jan 1998 Sydney, Australia Hard Tim Henman 7–5, 6–4Loss 3–4 Jul 1998 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Gustavo Kuerten 6–4, 2–6, 4–6Win 4–4 Aug 1998 New Haven, U.S. Hard Goran Ivanišević 6–4, 5–7, 6–2Loss 4–5 Oct 1998 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Pete Sampras 3–6, 6–7(3–7), 1–6Win 5–5 Oct 1999 Basel, Switzerland Carpet (i) Tim Henman 6–4, 7–6(12–10), 4–6, 4–6, 7–6(7–2)Win 6–5 Feb 2003 Copenhagen, Denmark Hard (i) Olivier Rochus 7–6(7–4), 6–4Loss 6–6 Jan 2003 Chennai, India Hard Paradorn Srichaphan 3–6, 1–6
Doubles: 4 (0–4)
ResultW-LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Loss 0–1 Aug 1994 Umag, Croatia Clay Paul Wekesa Diego Pérez Francisco Roig 2–6, 4–6 Loss 0–2 Oct 1996 Ostrava, Czech Republic Carpet (i) Ján Krošlák Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk 6–7, 3–6 Loss 0–3 Jul 1997 Umag, Croatia Clay Dominik Hrbatý Dinu Pescariu Davide Sanguinetti 6–7, 4–6 Loss 0–4 Aug 1998 Amsterdam, Netherlands Clay Dominik Hrbatý Jacco Eltingh Paul Haarhuis 3–6, 2–6
Singles performance timeline
Tournament1990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005SRW–LGrand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAA1R3R2RSFQF1R1R2R2R2RAFrench OpenAAA1R2R1R3R1R1R1R3RA1R1R2RA0 / 116–11WimbledonAAAA1R2R3R1R1R4R2RAA3R2R2R0 / 1011–10US OpenAAAA1R1R1R1RQFA1RA2R3R2R2R0 / 109–10Win–loss0–00–00–00–11–31–46–41–49–47–33–40–12–35–44–42–20 / 4141–41Year-end championshipATP Tour World Championships Did not qualifyRR Did not qualify0 / 10–3Grand Slam Cup Did not qualifySF DNQ Not Held0 / 12–1ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAAAAAAA2RQF1RA3RAAA0 / 46–4MiamiAAAAAA2RA3R4R1R1R1R1R2RA0 / 85–8Monte CarloAAAAAAA1RA2RQF1RA1RAA0 / 53–5HamburgAAAAA2R1R1RSFA1RAA1RAA0 / 64–6RomeAAAAA3R1RA1RQF1RAA1RAA0 / 65–6CanadaAAAAAAAAAA2RAAQFAA0 / 24–2CincinnatiAAAAAAAAAA1RAA1RAA0 / 20–2Madrid1AAAAAAA2R2R2RAAA2RAA0 / 42–4ParisAAAAAAAA3R2R1R2RA1RAA0 / 52–5Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–03–21–31–36–68–64–81–32–24–81–10–00 / 4231–42Year-end ranking8623522101595479632481773101834091310
1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.
Top 10 wins Season199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005TotalWins00010265551110128
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRdScoreKučeraRank19941. Sergi Bruguera5Moscow, RussiaCarpet (i)1R3–6, 7–5, 6–46219962. Wayne Ferreira9Australian Open, Melbourne, AustraliaHard2R6–1, 6–3, 6–0763. Michael Chang3Long Island, United StatesHardQF6–4, 6–48619974. Marcelo Ríos8Stuttgart, GermanyClay3R6–4, 6–4455. Sergi Bruguera9Stuttgart, GermanyClayQF6–3, 2–6, 7–5456. Goran Ivanišević8Basel, SwitzerlandCarpet (i)1R6–3, 6–3327. Yevgeny Kafelnikov6Vienna, AustriaCarpet (i)1R6–4, 7–5328. Goran Ivanišević4Ostrava, Czech RepublicCarpet (i)SF6–3, ret.329. Thomas Muster8Stockholm, SwedenHard (i)2R4–6, 6–3, 6–325199810. Pete Sampras1Australian Open, Melbourne, AustraliaHardQF6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 6–32011. Petr Korda2Antwerp, BelgiumHardQF3–6, 6–4, 6–21412. Marcelo Ríos2Stuttgart, GermanyClaySF6–1, 6–7(8–10), 6–41613. Richard Krajicek6New Haven, United StatesHardSF7–6(8–6), 6–41314. Andre Agassi8US Open, New York, United StatesHard4R6–3, 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 1–6, 6–39199915. Tim Henman8Rome, ItalyClay3R4–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–31216. Pat Rafter3World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, GermanyClayRR6–3, 7–6(7–5)1217. Yevgeny Kafelnikov4Davis Cup, Moscow, RussiaClayRR6–1, 6–3, 6–41318. Andre Agassi1Basel, SwitzerlandCarpet (i)QF6–4, 7–52019. Tim Henman6Basel, SwitzerlandCarpet (i)F6–4, 7–6(12–10), 4–6, 4–6, 7–6(7–2)20200020. Gustavo Kuerten4Monte Carlo, MonacoClay1R6–4, 0–6, 6–24221. Andre Agassi1French Open, Paris, FranceClay2R2–6, 7–5, 6–1, 6–04022. Thomas Enqvist7Queen's Club, London, United KingdomGrass2R3–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–33623. Yevgeny Kafelnikov5Long Island, United StatesHard2R6–1, 6–34524. Tim Henman10Summer Olympics, Sydney, AustraliaHard1R6–3, 6–243200125. Marat Safin1Davis Cup, Bratislava, SlovakiaHard (i)RR3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–275200226. Andre Agassi2St. Petersburg, RussiaHard (i)2R6–4, 6–479200327. Juan Carlos Ferrero2Montreal, CanadaHard3R6–3, 7–541200528. Mariano Puerta10Davis Cup, Bratislava, SlovakiaHard (i)RR4–6, 6–3, 2–1, ret.145
References
External links