Lukáš Rosol (; born 24 July 1985) is a Czech professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
player. He competes on the
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...
and the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...
, both in singles and doubles. Rosol was coached by former Czech player,
1999 US Open quarterfinalist Ctislav Doseděl
Ctislav Doseděl (born 10 August 1970), also known as Sláva Doseděl, is a former tennis player from the Czech Republic, who turned professional in 1989.
Doseděl won three singles titles and one doubles titles during his career. The right-han ...
. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 26, achieved on 22 September 2014.
His first notable victory was against world No. 8,
Jürgen Melzer, at the
2011 French Open, whom he defeated in five sets in the second round a year after Melzer had reached the semifinal. A year later, Rosol defeated world No. 2,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
, in the second round of
Wimbledon to achieve one of the biggest wins in his career. Rosol has had sustained success since then having played an integral part in the Czech Republic's
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...
winning team in 2012, and winning his first tour-level title in April 2013.
Rosol also played in the longest ever ATP doubles match, alongside
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
, defeating
Marco Chiudinelli and
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
in the first round of the
2013 Davis Cup. The match was played on 2 February 2013, lasting 7 hours, 1 minute. It was the second longest ATP match of any kind, after the
Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships
The Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships is the longest tennis match in history. It was a first-round Men's singles match, in which the American 23rd seed John Isner played against French qualifier Nicolas Mahut. The match ...
.
Personal life
Rosol was born in
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
. In November 2008, he married Czech athlete
Denisa Rosolová (née Ščerbová). In 2011, they divorced. In 2013, Rosol became engaged to news presenter Michaela Ochotská. Their son André was born in January 2015. The pair married in July 2015 and were divorced in July 2017. In 2018 Rosol entered into his third marriage with Petra Kubinová.
His surname means ''jelly'' in Czech.
Controversies
He has had several confrontations with top-ten players including Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.
Tennis career
Rosol has won eight
Challenger
Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to:
Entertainment
Comics and manga
* Challenger (character), comic book character
* ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga
Film and TV
* ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 197 ...
and seven
Futures
Futures may mean:
Finance
*Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract
*Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded
* ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine
Music
* ''Futures'' (album), a ...
tournaments. In April 2013, he won his first tour-level tournament, the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy
ATP World Tour 250
The ATP 250 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 250'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series'', and ''ATP World Series'') are the lowest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour, after the four Grand Slam to ...
, and in August 2014, he won his first tour-level tournament on hard courts, the Winston-Salem Open.
2012
Rosol rose to prominence in 2012 at the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...
, after having participated in the Wimbledon qualifying draw multiple times, not reaching the main draw until then. In the first round, he defeated
Ivan Dodig, then he was drawn against the two-time champion and world No. 2,
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
. After losing the first set in a very close tiebreak, Rosol regrouped and broke in the first game of the second. A dominant serving performance allowed him to take the second set 6–4. Rosol's service game held up in the third set, where he capitalized on a sloppy game by Nadal and took the set 6–4. Down two sets to one, Nadal raised his level in the fourth, taking the set 6–2 and sending the match into a deciding fifth set. At this point the match was delayed by 35 minutes in order to close the
Centre Court roof. Rosol returned from the break revitalized, taking the fifth set 6–4 by striking 20 winners to two unforced errors. His groundstroke speed averaged 85 mph and peaked at 114 mph. In the final game of the match, Rosol delivered three aces and a forehand winner to close out one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history by a score of 6–7
(9–11), 6–4, 6–4, 2–6, 6–4. He went on to lose his third-round match against
Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets.
In the doubles draw, Rosol and partner
Mikhail Kukushkin defeated the British duo of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins in five sets in the first round. They lost in the second round to James Cerretani and Édouard Roger-Vasselin.
2013
At the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
, Rosol defeated
Jamie Baker in the first round before he lost to 13th seed
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in the second.
In April, he won his first
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...
singles tournament with a victory in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...
. He was unseeded in the tournament and beat three seeded players en route to the final: third seed
Andreas Seppi, eighth seed
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 ...
and second seed
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
. In the final, he defeated
Guillermo García-López, only dropping one set throughout the entire tournament and tearfully dedicating the triumph to his father, who introduced him to tennis and had died two weeks before the tournament.
At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...
, Rosol lost in the second round to
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...
in four sets.
2014: Career-high ranking
Rosol began his 2014 season at the
Qatar Open in Doha, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.
He reached the second round in the
Apia International Sydney, and the quarterfinals of the
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...
, where he lost to eventual champion
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
.
At
Indian Wells, Rosol faced reigning
Wimbledon champion
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...
in the second round and was defeated in three sets after leading by a set and a break.
At
Wimbledon, he was one point from a two-set lead against Rafael Nadal in the second round, but Nadal came back to win in four sets.
At the
Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Rosol reached the final beating
Mikhail Youzhny along the way, in the final he lost in three sets to
Roberto Bautista Agut.
In August, Rosol won his second ATP title at the
Winston-Salem Open
The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional tennis tournament played on the ATP Tour at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in 2011 and is part of the 250 tier of ...
, defeating
Jerzy Janowicz
Jerzy Filip Janowicz Jr. (; born 13 November 1990) is a Polish professional tennis player. Janowicz is best known for becoming the first Polish man to reach a major semifinal at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships.
Noted for his very powerful serv ...
in three sets. Lukas moved up to a career-high ranking of No. 26 in the world, a career high, in the ATP rankings released 22 September 2014.
2015
In 2015, he was the 28th seed but lost in second round of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
in five sets to
Dudi Sela.
At Indian Wells, he was the 27th seed and thus received a bye into the second round and defeated
Martin Kližan and
Robin Haase to reach the fourth round, his best showing at a Masters 1000 level in his career, where he lost to
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
. At Miami, he was the 26th seed and once again received a bye into the second round, where he beat qualifier and future top ten
Alexander Zverev
Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2, and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to N ...
. In the third round, he lost to
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
in straight sets.
At the
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...
, Rosol defeated seeded player Bautista Agut to reach the third round. He also reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in doubles with
Radu Albot.
At
Wimbledon, Rosol defeated former No. 10 player
Ernests Gulbis to reach the second round, where he fell to
Pablo Andújar
Pablo Andújar Alba (; born 23 January 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Andújar has won four ATP Tour singles titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 32 in July 2015. His best results are reaching the fourt ...
in five sets.
2016
At the
2016 Australian Open he reached the third round, his best showing in this Grand Slam in his career where he lost to
Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highligh ...
.
In February he participated in the inaugural edition of the
Sofia Open netting the first win of the event against
Robin Haase. He was defeated by 7th seed
Martin Kližan in the second round.
In May ranked No. 68, he reached the quarterfinals of the
2016 Geneva Open
The 2016 Geneva Open (also known as the 2016 Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 14th edition of the Geneva Open and part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
defeating
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
. He defeated
Andrey Kuznetsov (tennis)
Andrey Alexandrovich Kuznetsov (russian: Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Кузнецо́в, born 22 February 1991) is a Russian professional tennis player. On 25 April 2016, he achieved his singles career-high of world No. 39.
Ku ...
to reach the semifinals before losing again to top seed and eventual champion Stan Wawrinka.
2022: First Wimbledon main draw participation in 5 years
He qualified for the main draw at the
2022 Wimbledon Championships
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tier tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title ...
after five years of absence. It was his first main draw participation at Wimbledon since 2017.
He reached the final at the
2022 Istanbul Challenger where he lost to
Radu Albot. As a result he moved back into the top 250 at No. 239 on 19 September 2022.
Performance timelines
Singles
''Current through the
2021 US Open''
Doubles
ATP career finals
Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
Doubles: 3 (3 titles)
Wins against top-10 players per season
*He has a record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
Wins over top-ten players per season
Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour Finals
Singles: 30 (18–12)
Doubles: 50 (25–25)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosol, Lukas
1985 births
Living people
Czech male tennis players
Sportspeople from Brno
Olympic tennis players of the Czech Republic
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics