Stefan Koubek

Stefan Koubek
Stefan Koubek 2007 at the US Open
Nation:	Austria
Birthday:	January 2, 1977
Size:	175 cm
1st professional season:	1994
Resignation:	2011
Playing hand:	Left, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Günter Bresnik
Prize money:	$ 3,365,024
singles
Career record:	215: 253
Career title:	3
Highest ranking:	20 (March 13, 2000)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	20:41
Career title:	1
Highest ranking:	94 (July 23, 2007)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Stefan Koubek (born January 2, 1977 in Klagenfurt , Carinthia ) is a former Austrian tennis player .

Career

Koubek started playing tennis at the age of two and a half, and his talent was recognized at an early age. From 1993 he was looked after by the trainer Günter Bresnik . He made his debut on the ATP Tour in 1994. However, he did not cause a sensation until 1996 at the Umag tournament when he reached the round of 16 there. The following year he mainly played Challenger tournaments.

A first small highlight in his career was in 1997 reaching the quarter-finals in Kitzbühel , where he was able to beat the defending champion with Alberto Berasategui .

In 1998 he played for Austria in the Davis Cup for the first time , but lost both games against Israel . During the year he was among the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time.

1999 turned out to be the most successful year in Koubek's career. At the Atlanta tournament he celebrated his first tournament victory on the ATP Tour. He defeated there Michael Chang , Magnus Larsson and Sébastien Grosjean, among others . Further highlights of the season were the quarter-finals in St. Pölten , the round of 16 at the French Open , the finals in Bournemouth and the quarter-finals in Vienna . He achieved great success with the Austrian Davis Cup team when he and Markus Hipfl eliminated the highly favored Swedes. At the end of the season he was listed in the top 50 in the world for the first time.

In the 2000 season, Koubek won his second tournament victory with the success in Delray Beach . Another good result was the semi-finals in Mexico City with victories over Gastón Gaudio and Albert Portas . Otherwise it was a bad year and things didn't go much better for Koubek. A ligament injury and weak nerves were a hindrance. A good result was his advance into the semi-finals in Vienna, where he beat Goran Ivanišević and the up-and-coming Roger Federer , among others .

Koubek opened the 2002 season with the best Grand Slam result of his career. At the Australian Open , he defeated Cyril Saulnier , James Blake (both after 0: 2 set deficit) and Fernando González before he had to admit defeat to Czech Jiří Novák 2: 6, 3: 6 and 2: 6 in the quarter-finals . Another notable success was the quarter-finals at the Masters tournament in Hamburg with wins over Albert Costa and Younes El Aynaoui .

In 2003 Koubek achieved his third tournament victory; at the Qatar Open in Doha he defeated Jan-Michael Gambill in the final . The only other highlight was the semi-finals in Munich, where he beat the top players Rainer Schüttler and Tim Henman .

After a bad start to the 2004 season, Koubek achieved some good results at the end of the season such as the third round at the US Open , the round of 16 at the Masters in Madrid and the semifinals at the Swiss Indoors , including a win over Ivan Ljubičić . Another highlight was the Davis Cup relegation game in Pörtschach , where he didn't give Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski a chance.

2005 was a bad year in Koubek's career. After a positive doping test for triamcinolone acetonide at the French Open , he was banned for three months in December 2004. He blamed a doctor, but the World Tennis Federation certified him “naive behavior”. Injuries and pneumonia also prevented good results.

In 2006 things didn't go as planned for Koubek either. Except for a final in Zagreb and a semi- final in Mumbai , he could not show any success.

The year 2007 started with a bang for Koubek. At the very first tournament in Chennai , he moved into the final; he defeated it Carlos Moyá and Paradorn Srichaphan , where he only gave four games. However , he lost the final against Belgian Xavier Malisse . In February he reached the quarterfinals of the Memphis tournament, which he lost to Andy Murray . After a long dry spell, he achieved another good result in the quarter-finals in Sopot in the summer . At the US Open he failed after clear victories over Sam Querrey and Michel Llodra in the third round in four sets to local hero James Blake . In September Koubek had a share in the victory of the Austrians in the Davis Cup relegation game against Brazil with a victory over Ricardo Mello . After a quarter-final in Mumbai and a round of 16 at the Madrid Masters , Stefan Koubek was again number 1 in Austrian men's tennis; he replaced Jürgen Melzer , who had held this position since January 2004.

In 2008 he started at the Australian Open and lost in the third round against Paul-Henri Mathieu in five sets. At the Challenger tournament in East London he reached the final with his doubles partner Thomas Johansson as well as in the singles. He lost the individual final 6: 7, 4: 6 against Ivan Ljubičić . In March he lost to Robin Söderling in the first round of the Masters tournament in Miami . He then underwent disc surgery and had to take a break of around six months. He fell out of the top 100 and was replaced as the best-placed Austrian. His first game after the injury break he played on September 29, 2008 at the Challenger tournament in Mons, which he lost to Christophe Rochus . At the tournament in Vienna Koubek made his comeback on the ATP Tour, but lost the first match 1: 6, 2: 6 against the lucky loser Santiago Giraldo . This was followed by more first-round defeats at Challenger tournaments and Koubek fell back in the world rankings to 234th place. At the Challenger von Eckental he reached the quarter-finals and in Dnepropetrovsk the semifinals; thus he just made it into the top 200 at the end of the season.

At the beginning of the 2009 season he had many points to defend from the previous year. Except for his first round match at the Australian Open, he couldn't win any more games and he fell back to 304th place in the world rankings in mid-February. In the course of the spring he improved to place 213. At the tournament in Kitzbühel he reached the second round and improved back to the top 200, at the beginning of August even to the top 150, despite poor performance in the Challenger tournaments.

In 2010, Koubek went to qualify for the Australian Open and reached the third round, in which he gave up against Fernando Verdasco due to a viral illness after the first set.

At Wimbledon he failed in the third qualifying round after a 2-0 set lead with 2: 3. As a lucky loser, he was still allowed to take part in the main competition, but lost in round one. Two weeks later he became Austrian champion .

In July 2011, Koubek ended his professional career as part of the ATP tournament in Kitzbühel .

In January 2014 he was named captain of the Austrian Davis Cup team as the successor to Clemens Trimmel .

Style of play

Stefan Koubek was a classic baseline player who was often compared to Thomas Muster in the past because of his fighter heart and good running work . However, Koubek's successes were limited. He was also a running player and felt most comfortable on outdoor hard courts, where he could celebrate his greatest successes. His trademark was the jumped-in, two-handed backhand that had once made Marcelo Ríos famous, with which he beat many winners. His greatest weakness was in the mental realm; he often made unforced mistakes in tight game situations. He managed to temporarily reduce the number of such errors.

successes

Legend (victories in brackets)

Grand Slam

Tennis Masters Cup

ATP Masters Series

ATP International Series Gold (1)

ATP International Series (3)

singles

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 26, 1999	Atlanta	sand	Sébastien Grosjean	6: 1, 6: 2
2.	February 28, 2000	Delray Beach	Hard court	Alex Calatrava	6: 1, 4: 6, 6: 4
3.	December 30, 2002	Doha	Hard court	Jan-Michael Gambill	6: 4, 6: 4

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	September 13, 1999	Bournemouth	sand	Adrian Voinea	6: 1, 5: 7, 6: 7
2.	January 30, 2006	Zagreb	Carpet (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	3: 6, 4: 6
3.	January 1, 2007	Chennai	Hard court	Xavier Malisse	1: 6, 3: 6

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	July 30, 2006	Kitzbühel	sand	Philipp Kohlschreiber	Oliver Marach Cyril Suk	6: 1, 6: 3

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	January 11, 2004	Doha	Hard court	Andy Roddick	Martin Damm Cyril Suk	2: 6, 4: 6

Web links

Commons : Stefan Koubek  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Stefan Koubek (English)
• ITF profile of Stefan Koubek (English)
• Davis Cup statistics from Stefan Koubek (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stefan Koubek in court , derstandard.at, accessed on January 30, 2015.
2. ↑ Koubek exonerated, ban confirmed , derstandard.at, February 14, 2005
3. ^ Fallen heroes: Austrian athletes in the doping trap news.at October 21, 2008
4. ^ Koubek: Party instead of pension shock. In: kurier.at. July 31, 2011, accessed March 27, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Stefan Koubek succeeds Clemens Trimmel as ÖTV captain , tennisnet.com, accessed on January 30, 2015.