Radek Štěpánek

Infobox Tennis player
playername= Radek Štěpánek


nickname= Steps, Gollum
country= CZE
residence= Monte Carlo, Monaco
datebirth= birth date and age|1978|11|27
placebirth= Karviná, Czechoslovakia
height= height|m=1.85
weight= convert|75|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro= 1996
plays= Right-handed; two-handed backhand
careerprizemoney= $4,865,491
singlesrecord= 208–152
singlestitles= 2
highestsinglesranking= No. 8 (July 10, 2006)
AustralianOpenresult= 3R (2003, 2005, 2007)
FrenchOpenresult= 4R (2008)
Wimbledonresult= QF (2006)
USOpenresult= 3R (2003, 2008)
doublesrecord= 162–107
doublestitles= 12
highestdoublesranking= No. 13 (September 16, 2002)
updated = October 6, 2008

Radek Štěpánek (born November 27, 1978 in Karviná) is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His sponsors include Volkl, Alea, and České dráhy.

Career

Štěpánek turned professional in 1996. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Stepanek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top level doubles.

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 semifinals 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, Stepanek 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)] .

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 semifinals in the Rome masters losing to Novak Djokovic after he retired. 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.

Personal life

He had been engaged to Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis, but split up in August 2007. [ [http://www.womenstennisblog.com/2007/08/11/martina-hignis-and-radek-stepanek-break-up/ Martina Hignis and Radek Stepanek break up | Martina Hingis ] ] [ [http://uk.reuters.com/article/tennisNews/idUKL1111708120070811?feedType=RSS&feedName=tennisNews Tennis-Hingis and Stepanek split up | Sports | Tennis | Reuters ] ] He also owns a condominium in Bradenton, Florida. He is coached by former Australian Open champion Petr Korda.

ATP Tour Titles (14)

Doubles (12)

*A = did not participate in the tournament.

References

External links

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* [http://steveghelper.com/MatchResults.php?players=Stepanek&weeks=12 Štěpánek Recent Match Results]
* [http://steveghelper.com/RankingHistory.php?player=Stepanek Štěpánek World Ranking History]