Julian Knowle

Julian Knowle

Country (sports)	Austria
Residence	Hard, Austria
Born	(1974-04-29) 29 April 1974 Lauterach, Austria
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	1992
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed both sides)
Prize money	$ 2,906,525
Singles
Career record	10–33
Career titles	0 4 Challengers, 5 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 86 (15 July 2002)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2003)
French Open	1R (2002)
Wimbledon	3R (2002)
US Open	1R (2002)
Doubles
Career record	396–351
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 6 (7 January 2008)
Current ranking	No. 62 (23 May 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2006, 2007)
French Open	SF (2010)
Wimbledon	F (2004)
US Open	W (2007)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour Finals	F (2007)
Olympic Games	2R (2008)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	F (2010)
Wimbledon	QF (2010)
US Open	2R (2006, 2010)
Last updated on: 27 May 2016.

Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle is now one of the few on the ATP Tour who plays his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's most successful doubles player in history by reaching world no. 6 in the ATP doubles rankings in January 2008, before being matched by Jürgen Melzer, who reached no. 6 in September 2010, and overtaken by Alexander Peya, who reached no. 3 in August 2013.

Tennis career

Knowle was a successful player on the ATP Challenger Series, winning the Challenger tournaments in Kyoto (1999), Caracas (2001), Graz (2001)n and Andrezieux (2002)n and reaching the finals in Yokohama (2000), Bristol (2000), Besançon (2000)n and Graz (2003). He also won several Futures tournaments. Knowle's best ATP singles ranking was world mo. 86 in July 2002. His final appearance in the main draw of a singles tournament was in the Graz Challenger in 2005 where he reached the quarterfinals.

2004

Knowle reached his first of two Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon in 2004 with Nenad Zimonjić of Serbia. Eventually, the team was defeated in four sets by Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge. The only Austrian to reach a final at Wimbledon before was Georg von Metaxa in doubles in 1938, where he too lost.

2005-2006

In 2005 Knowle teamed up with Czech Petr Pála for several months without being able to continue his successful run with Zimonjić. This changed when he formed a team with fellow Austrian player and left-hander Jürgen Melzer, joining him throughout most of 2005 and 2006. Together, they won two tournaments in doubles and reached another five finals.

2007

Following Melzer's hand injury in early 2007, Knowle found a new partner in Simon Aspelin of Sweden.

At the 2007 US Open, seeded tenth with Aspelin, Knowle achieved the greatest triumph of his career by winning the tournament, his first Grand Slam. In the first two rounds, they won over Kubot/Skoch and got a walkover over Calleri/Horna. They went on to upset eighth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (who would go on to win the 2008 Australian Open men's doubles) in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they shocked the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, having lost to them only weeks before. In the semifinals, they held off unseeded Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, 7–6(2), 1–6, 6–3, before winning the final 7–5, 6–4 over the ninth seeds, Pavel Vízner and Lukáš Dlouhý. They had previously won three tournaments together. This win put them into the no. 5 position in the ATP Doubles Race, and also gave Knowle his first top-10 ranking in doubles.

Knowle was the second of so-far three Austrian tennis players to win a Grand Slam tournament (the first in doubles). The first Austrian to win a Grand Slam tournament was Thomas Muster at the 1995 French Open; the third was Jürgen Melzer, who won the 2010 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles and later the 2011 US Open – Men's Doubles with his German partner Philipp Petzschner.

Their excellent first year as a team enabled Knowle and Aspelin to participate in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China for the first time. They surprisingly made it all the way to the final, beating Pavel Vízner and Lukáš Dlouhý, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, and finally Martin Damm and Leander Paes, before eventually falling in straight sets to Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 2–6, 3–6.

Their first Masters Cup participation put the duo into the no. 3 spot of the ATP Doubles Race for the first time.

In December 2007, Knowle suffered acute hearing loss.

2008

Knowle and Aspelin were not able to continue their successful 2007 run, reaching five semifinals together in the 2008 season and reaching the third round of the French Open as their best Grand Slam result.

With Jürgen Melzer, Knowle participated at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. They defeated the German duo of Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler in three sets in the first round, before being knocked out of the tournament by Bob and Mike Bryan, 6-7(2), 4-6.

2009

Starting early 2009, Knowle formed a team with fellow Austrian Jürgen Melzer once more, though occasionally also teaming with other players. Knowle and Melzer enjoyed little success on the tour in the first half of 2009, before their performance improved significantly in the later weeks, winning titles in New Haven and Tokyo and reaching another final in Vienna. Unfortunately, their success came too late in the year for them to qualify for the Masters Cup.

2010

In 2010, Knowle played the first months of the year with Sweden's Robert Lindstedt. Together, they reached the doubles final in Marseille, where they lost in straight sets. Due to little success on the tour together, Knowle and Lindstedt parted ways, with Knowle teaming with Andy Ram from Israel. Their best performance came at the French Open, where they surprisingly reached the semifinals.

2011

Knowle's 2011 season was plagued by numerous injuries. Following a groin injury, he teamed up once more with Simon Aspelin, but they had little success. A torn muscle fascicle in April ended their partnership, forcing Knowle to pause for six weeks. His planned return to the tour failed, when a partially torn tendon prevented his participation in the French Open to defend his semifinal success from the previous year.

2012

After dropping out of the top 80 of doubles players in late 2011 for the first time in 10 years, Knowle slowly made his way back to the top 50 in 2012, teaming with several different partners, including Michael Kohlmann, Paul Hanley, František Čermák, and Filip Polášek. He reached the doubles final in Estoril with David Marrero and won the Kitzbühel tournament with Cermak, claiming his first title since Tokyo in 2009. He also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon with Daniele Bracciali, and did the same at the US Open with Polášek.

At the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Knowle made a surprise return to singles competition, surviving three qualifying rounds (including a first-round bye) to become the oldest player to ever qualify for an ATP tournament at age 38. He lost in the first round to Albert Ramos in straight sets.

2013

In April, Knowle won the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca with Filip Polášek, winning the final over the German team of Dustin Brown and Christopher Kas.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 43 (18 titles, 25 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	18 February 2002	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard (i)	Michael Kohlmann	Jiří Novák Radek Štěpánek	7–6(10–8), 7–5
Runner-up	1.	6 May 2002	Mallorca, Spain	Clay	Michael Kohlmann	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	2–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	22 July 2002	Umag, Croatia	Clay	František Čermák	Albert Portas Fernando Vicente	6–4, 6–4
Winner	3.	6 January 2003	Chennai, India	Hard	Michael Kohlmann	František Čermák Leoš Friedl	7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–3)
Runner-up	2.	3 March 2003	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard (i)	Michael Kohlmann	Tomáš Cibulec Pavel Vízner	5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	14 July 2003	Newport, United States	Grass	Jürgen Melzer	Jordan Kerr David Macpherson	6–7(4–7), 3–6
Winner	4.	27 October 2003	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Nenad Zimonjić	Michael Kohlmann Rainer Schüttler	7–6(7–1), 6–3
Runner-up	4.	3 May 2004	Munich, Germany	Clay	Nenad Zimonjić	James Blake Mark Merklein	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	5.	5 July 2004	London, Great Britain	Grass	Nenad Zimonjić	Jonas Björkman Todd Woodbridge	1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Winner	5.	2 May 2005	Munich, Germany	Clay	Mario Ančić	Florian Mayer Alexander Waske	6–3, 1–6, 6–3
Winner	6.	31 October 2005	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Jürgen Melzer	Jonas Björkman Max Mirnyi	4–6, 7–5, 7–5
Runner-up	6.	17 April 2006	Houston, United States	Clay	Jürgen Melzer	Michael Kohlmann Alexander Waske	7–5, 4–6, [5–10]
Winner	7.	1 May 2006	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Jürgen Melzer	Michael Kohlmann Alexander Waske	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	9 October 2006	Metz, France	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Richard Gasquet Fabrice Santoro	6–3, 1–6, [9–11]
Runner-up	8.	16 October 2006	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Petr Pála Pavel Vízner	4–6, 6–3, [10–12]
Runner-up	9.	30 October 2006	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Jürgen Melzer	Simon Aspelin Todd Perry	1–6, 6–7(3–7)
Runner-up	10.	26 February 2007	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Eric Butorac Jamie Murray	5–7, 3–6
Winner	8.	28 May 2007	Pörtschach, Austria	Clay	Simon Aspelin	Leoš Friedl David Škoch	7–6(8–6), 5–7, [10–5]
Winner	9.	17 June 2007	Halle, Germany	Grass	Simon Aspelin	Fabrice Santoro Nenad Zimonjić	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Winner	10.	15 July 2007	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Simon Aspelin	Martín García Sebastián Prieto	6–2, 6–4
Winner	11.	7 September 2007	New York, United States	Hard	Simon Aspelin	Lukáš Dlouhý Pavel Vízner	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	18 November 2007	Shanghai, China	Hard (i)	Simon Aspelin	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	12.	24 May 2008	Pörtschach, Austria	Clay	Jürgen Melzer	Marcelo Melo André Sá	7–5, 6–7(3–7), [11–13]
Runner-up	13.	22 February 2009	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Andy Ram	Arnaud Clément Michaël Llodra	6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Winner	12.	29 August 2009	New Haven, United States	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	Bruno Soares Kevin Ullyett	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Winner	13.	11 October 2009	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	Ross Hutchins Jordan Kerr	6–2, 5–7, [10–8]
Runner-up	14.	1 November 2009	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Oliver Marach Łukasz Kubot	6–2, 4–6, [9–11]
Runner-up	15.	21 February 2010	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Robert Lindstedt	Julien Benneteau Michaël Llodra	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	16.	24 September 2011	Bucarest, Romania	Clay	David Marrero	Daniele Bracciali Potito Starace	6–3, 4–6, [8–10]
Runner-up	17.	6 May 2012	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	David Marrero	Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Jean-Julien Rojer	5–7, 5–7
Winner	14.	28 July 2012	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	František Čermák	Dustin Brown Paul Hanley	7–6(7–4), 3–6, [12–10]
Runner-up	18.	21 October 2012	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Filip Polášek	Andre Begemann Martin Emmrich	4-6, 6-3, [10-4]
Runner-up	19.	4 January 2013	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Filip Polášek	Christopher Kas Philipp Kohlschreiber	5-7, 4-6
Winner	15.	10 February 2013	Zagreb, Croatia	Hard (i)	Filip Polášek	Ivan Dodig Mate Pavić	6-3, 6-3
Winner	16.	14 April 2013	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Filip Polášek	Dustin Brown Christopher Kas	6-3, 6-2
Runner-up	20.	20 October 2013	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Daniel Nestor	Florin Mergea Lukáš Rosol	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	21.	27 October 2013	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Oliver Marach	Treat Conrad Huey Dominic Inglot	3-6, 6-3, [4-10]
Winner	17.	11 January 2014	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Alexander Peya Bruno Soares	4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Winner	18.	15 June 2014	Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Germany	Grass	Andre Begemann	Marco Chiudinelli Roger Federer	1–6, 7–5, [12–10]
Runner-up	22.	19 October 2014	Erste Bank Open, Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Andre Begemann	Jürgen Melzer Philipp Petzschner	6–7(6-8), 6–4, [7-10]
Runner-up	23.	9 January 2015	Qatar Open, Doha, Qatar	Hard	Philipp Oswald	Juan Mónaco Rafael Nadal	3-6, 4-6
Runner-up	24.	27 September 2015	St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard	Alexander Peya	Treat Huey Henri Kontinen	5-7, 3-6
Runner-up	25.	23 October 2016	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Jürgen Melzer	Juan Sebastián Cabal Robert Farah	5–7, 6–4, [5–10]

Singles performance timeline

Doubles performance timeline

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Julian Knowle.

• Julian Knowle at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Julian Knowle at the International Tennis Federation
• Julian Knowle at the Davis Cup