Radek Štěpánek

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Radek Štěpánek

Nickname(s)	Štěpec
Country	Czech Republic
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	27 November 1978 (1978-11-27) (age 31)
Place of birth	Karviná, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	76 kg (170 lb; 12.0 st)
Turned pro	1996
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$6,009,540
Singles
Career record	255–177
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 8 (July 10, 2006)
Current ranking	No. 12 (November 16, 2009)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3R (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009)
French Open	4R (2008)
Wimbledon	QF (2006)
US Open	4R (2009)
Major tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (2008)
Doubles
Career record	172–114
Career titles	13
Highest ranking	No. 13 (16 September 2002)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2007)
French Open	SF (2007)
Wimbledon	3R (2004)
US Open	F (2002)
Last updated on: November 9, 2009.

Radek Štěpánek (born 27 November 1978 in Karviná) (Czech pronunciation: [ˈradɛk ˈʃcɛpaːnɛk]) is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.

Contents 1 Career 2 2008 3 2009 4 Personal life 5 Major Finals 5.1 ATP Masters Series Finals 5.1.1 Singles: 2 (0-2) 6 Career Finals 6.1 Singles: 9 (4-5) 7 Doubles (13) 8 ITF Singles titles (3) 9 Singles performance timeline 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Career

Štěpánek turned professional in 1996. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Štěpánek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top-level doubles. He is known for his after the shot grunting, his over the top celebrations and his many relationships with WTA players.

2006 was Štěpánek's best year to date, he found himself on the verge of getting into the top ten of ATP rankings, as he defeated José Acasuso in the semi-finals of the Masters Series event in Hamburg. He went on to lose the final in straight sets against Spain's Tommy Robredo. At that point, he achieved a career-high ATP world ranking of No. 11 in singles.

Earlier in 2006, he won his first ATP singles title, beating Christophe Rochus in Rotterdam, but he had yet to progress beyond the 3rd round of a Grand Slam tournament until he got into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, where he was eliminated by 34-year-old Jonas Björkman, after holding match point at 7–6 in the 4th set tiebreak.

This performance helped Štěpánek break into the top 10 and achieve his highest world ranking of No. 8. However, after Wimbledon, Štěpánek was out of action for the rest of the year due to a chronic neck injury.

In the second round of the 2007 U.S. Open, Štěpánek played a superb match against third seed Novak Djokovic, which he ended up losing after 4h44 of play in the ultimate tie-break of the fifth set. Although he lost the match, his defeat was a close one [7-6 (4), 6–7 (5), 7–5, 5–7, 6–7 (2)].

Earlier in 2007, he won his second ATP singles title, beating James Blake in Los Angeles in three sets.

[edit] 2008

In 2008, he achieved some good results such as reaching the final in San Jose but lost to Andy Roddick. He also made it to the semi-finals in the Rome Masters losing to Novak Djokovic after he retired due to heat exhaustion. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, he lost to Michael Llodra in the first round in 3 sets. The final score was 6-4, 6-7 (5), 9-11. Štěpánek finished the season ranked 27, but attended the end of year Masters Cup as an alternate. He was vacationing in Thailand so was able to come to the tournament held in Shanghai without delay. Since he did not have his own tennis gear which got stuck in customs (they were sent from home), he had to borrow a racquet from Novak Djokovic and socks from Andy Murray.^[1] After Andy Roddick pulled out through injury before his second match, Štěpánek entered the tournament with two round robin ties to play against Roger Federer and Gilles Simon. He gave the Number 2 seed Federer a tough match, losing 7-6(4), 6-4. But he was beaten comprehensively by Simon, losing 6-1, 6-4.

[edit] 2009

Štěpánek started his 2009 season at the Brisbane International with a new Bosworth racquet, where he claimed his third ATP title after coming back from a set down to defeat Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final.^[2] Then, at the Australian Open, he made it to the third round and was overpowered by Verdasco, 6-4, 6-0, 6-0.

At the SAP Open in San Jose, he won his fourth ATP singles title beating American Mardy Fish in a three set final. He also snapped a four-match losing streak in the tournament against Andy Roddick, upsetting him 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in the semi-final. He also captured the doubles title after teaming up with German Tommy Haas, making it his first time ever to win the singles and doubles titles at the same tournament week.

In the Davis Cup first round tie against France, he lost his opening match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets. But he regained his confidence and won the doubles rubber the next day and his second singles match against Gilles Simon in straight sets to give the Czech Republic its way to the quarter-finals. Then, in the Davis Cup quarter-finals, he won the deciding fifth rubber to lead his country to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Stepanek battled Ivo Karlovic to a 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-7 16-14 victory in a marathon opener in which the 82 games played equalled the highest number in a Davis Cup rubber since the introduction of the tiebreak in 1989^[3]. In that match, he was aced 78 times, but overall hit more winners with over 170 (including service winners).^{[citation needed]} The match was one of the longest in the history of the Davis Cup, lasting 5 h 59 min. There were only three breaks of serve in this match.^[4]

[edit] Personal life

He had been engaged to Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis, but they split up in August 2007.^[5][6] Štěpánek is currently dating Czech tennis player Nicole Vaidišová^[7].

Stepanek also owns a condominium in Bradenton, Florida. He is coached by former Australian Open champion Petr Korda.

[edit] Major Finals

[edit] ATP Masters Series Finals

[edit] Singles: 2 (0-2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	2004	Paris	Carpet (i)	Marat Safin	6–3, 7-6(5), 6-3
Runner-up	2006	Hamburg	Clay	Tommy Robredo	6-1, 6-3, 6-3

[edit] Career Finals

[edit] Singles: 9 (4-5)

Wins (4)

Legend (pre/post 2009) Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals (0) ATP Masters Series / ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0) ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 Series (1) ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 Series (3) No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final 1. 13 June 2006 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard (i) Christophe Rochus 6–0, 6–3 2. 22 July 2007 Los Angeles, USA Hard James Blake 7–6(7), 5–7, 6–2 3. 11 January 2009 Brisbane, Australia Hard Fernando Verdasco 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 4. 15 February 2009 San José, USA Hard (i) Mardy Fish 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 Runner-ups (5) No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final 1. 2004 Paris, France Carpet (i) Marat Safin 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–3 2. 2005 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Hard (i) Jonas Björkman 6–3, 7–6(4) 3. 2005 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Robin Söderling 6–3, 6–7(2), 7–6(5) 4. 2006 Hamburg, Germany Clay Tommy Robredo 6–1, 6–3, 6–3 5. 2008 San José, USA Hard Andy Roddick 6–4, 7–5 6. 2009 Memphis, USA Hard (i) Andy Roddick 7–5, 7–5 [edit] Doubles (13) No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents in the final Score 1. 26 April 1999 Prague, Czech Republic Clay Martin Damm Mark Keil Nicolás Lapentti 6–0, 6–2 2. 9 April 2001 Estoril, Portugal Clay Michal Tabara Donald Johnson Nenad Zimonjić 6–4, 6–1 3. 30 April 2001 Munich, Germany Clay Petr Luxa Jaime Oncins Daniel Orsanic 5–7, 6–2, 7–65 4. 8 October 2001 Vienna, Austria Hard (i) Martin Damm Jiří Novák David Rikl 6–3, 6–2 5. 29 April 2002 Munich, Germany Clay Petr Luxa Petr Pála Pavel Vízner 6–0, 64–7, [11-9] 6. 27 January 2003 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Petr Luxa Tomáš Cibulec Pavel Vízner 6–4, 7–64 7. 16 February 2004 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard (i) Paul Hanley Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram 5–7, 7–65, 7–5 8. 12 July 2004 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Jiří Novák Simon Aspelin Todd Perry 6–2, 6–4 9. 13 September 2004 Delray Beach, U.S. Hard Leander Paes Gastón Etlis Martín Rodríguez 6–0, 6–3 10. 7 February 2005 Marseille, France Hard (i) Martin Damm Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor 7–64, 7–65 11. 21 February 2005 Dubai, U.A.E Hard Martin Damm Jonas Björkman Fabrice Santoro 6–2, 6–4 12. 13 February 2006 Marseille, France Hard (i) Martin Damm Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor 6–2, 64–7, [10-3] 13. 15 February 2009 San Jose, U.S. Hard (i) Tommy Haas Rohan Bopanna Jarkko Nieminen 6–2, 6–3 [edit] ITF Singles titles (3) No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score 1. 3 August 1998 Segovia, Spain Hard Alex Rădulescu 7–5 7–5 2. 2 June 2003 Czech Open, Prostějov, Czech Republic Clay Mariano Puerta 7–5 6–3 3. 31 May 2004 Czech Open, Prostějov, Czech Republic Clay Michal Tabara 7–6 7–5

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through to the Monte Carlo Masters, which ended 19 April 2009.

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	LQ	A	A	3R	2R	3R	2R	3R	1R	3R	10–7
French Open	A	A	A	LQ	A	A	A	LQ	2R	1R	3R	3R	2R	4R	3R	11–7
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	LQ	LQ	LQ	3R	3R	2R	2R	QF	1R	3R	4R	15–8
US Open	A	A	A	A	A	LQ	A	1R	3R	1R	2R	A	2R	3R	4R	9–7
Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2-2	7-4	2-4	6-4	7-3	4-4	7-4	10-4	45-29
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	3R	2R	1–7
Key Biscayne	A	A	A	A	LQ	A	A	A	4R	3R	4R	4R	4R	4R	4R	15–7
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R	3–7
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	2R	QF	3R	2R	SF	3R	15–7
Madrid	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	A	1R	2R	1R	3–4
Montreal / Toronto	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	1R	A	1R	A	SF	1R	1R	6–6
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	LQ	1R	LQ	1R	A	2R	1R	3R	3–5
Shanghai	NH	Not ATP Masters Series							Not Held		Not ATP Masters Series				QF	3–1
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	F	SF	A	A	2R	SF	13–6
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	F	1R	A	NM1	6–4
Year-End Championship
ATP World Tour Finals	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	RR	A	0–2
Total Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	4
Year End Ranking	1065	484	401	165	165	277	542	63	46	33	20	19	29	26	12	230–165

• A = did not participate in the tournament.
• LQ = lost in the qualifying draw

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Radek Štěpánek at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Radek Štěpánek at the International Tennis Federation
• Radek Štěpánek at Davis Cup
• Štěpánek Recent Match Results
• Štěpánek World Ranking History

v • d • e Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Czech male singles tennis players as of October 19, 2009 1. Radek Štěpánek (14 ▲2) 2. Tomáš Berdych (19 ▲1) 3. Jan Hernych (62 ▲1) 4. Ivo Minář (69 ▲4) 5. Jan Hájek (115 ▼2) 6. Lukáš Rosol (163 ▼1) 7. Jiří Vaněk (170 ▼1) 8. Robin Vik (202 ▲5) 9. Jan Minář (227 ▲20) 10. Dušan Lojda (291 ▼6)