Nicolas Kiefer

Nickname(s)	Kiwi[1]
Country	Germany
Residence	Sievershausen, Germany
Date of birth	5 July 1977 (1977-07-05) (age 32)
Place of birth	Holzminden, West Germany
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	177 lb (80 kg; 12.6 st)
Turned pro	1995
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	US$7,414,476
Singles
Career record	364–270
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 4 (10 January 2000)
Current ranking	No. 112 (2 November 2009)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (2006)
French Open	4R (2005)
Wimbledon	QF (1997)
US Open	QF (2000)
Doubles
Career record	92–121
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 56 (17 February 2003)
Australian Open	2R (2004)
French Open	1R (2001, 2003, 2004)
Wimbledon	2R (2003)
US Open	1R (2002)
Olympic Games	Silver medal (2004)
Last updated on: August 3, 2009.

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Germany
Men's tennis
Silver	2004 Athens	Doubles

Nicolas Kiefer (born 5 July 1977 in Holzminden), is a German tennis player. His mother, Nicole, is French. He won a silver medal in men's doubles with partner Rainer Schüttler at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Contents 1 Tennis career 2 Career finals 2.1 Singles: 19 (6–13) 2.2 Doubles: 4 (3–1) 3 Performance timeline 3.1 Singles 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Tennis career

Kiefer was taken notice of as an outstanding junior. He won the Junior Australian Open, US Open and was a finalist and semi-finalist at Wimbledon and the French Open finishing as the number 2 junior behind Mariano Zabaleta when he was 18.

On 10 January 2000, he reached his second quarterfinal at the Australian Open and afterwards was ranked World No. 4, his highest position to date.

Nicolas has been known to have a few tennis superstitions. He is sometimes seen tapping his racquet on the corners of the court after a point,^[2] although the reasons behind this are not clear. He also, when serving, frequently asks for the ball with which he has just won a point to re-use it in the next one.

Kiefer became infamous for an incident on 25 January 2006, during the quarter finals of the Australian Open. While facing Sébastien Grosjean late in the fifth set of a marathon match, Kiefer threw his racquet mid-point. Grosjean lost the point, hitting the ball into the net. Grosjean protested that the racquet distracted his shot. The umpire Carlos Bernades said he did not believe the act was intentional and noted Grosjean had already hit the ball before the flying racquet could have had any effect on his shot. Grosjean eventually lost the fifth and final set to Kiefer. Kiefer went through to the semi-finals where he was defeated by the 2004 champion Roger Federer.

Kiefer injured his wrist while playing at the 2006 French Open, and announced his return on 5 July 2007, having fallen to the 404th position on ATP. He announced that he was "tired of waiting and anxious to start traveling again and to see his name on scoreboards". Kiefer returned at the 2007 Gerry Weber Open, losing in the first round to eventual champion Tomáš Berdych. At Wimbledon, he made the third round after defeating #30 seed Filippo Volandri and Fabrice Santoro, both in straight sets, before losing in 4 sets (3 of which were tiebreakers) to Novak Đoković. At Newport, however, he ended up losing in round 1. At Los Angeles, he reached the semifinals in only his 4th tournament since coming back from injury; he had to default against Radek Štěpánek, another player coming back from injury, because of an injury sustained during his quarterfinal win. He also made an impressive showing at the 2007 Madrid Masters, where he beat number five seed Fernando González in the quarterfinals before losing in the semifinals to world number one Roger Federer 6–4, 6–4.

The start to his 2008 season did not start out well, losing in the first round of the Australian Open to former world #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, first round of 2008 Indian Wells Masters to Dudi Sela, third round of 2008 Miami Masters to world #2 Rafael Nadal, second round of 2008 Monte Carlo Masters to Philipp Kohlschreiber, first round of 2008 Rome Masters to Ferrero. His first notable result was the quarterfinals of the 2008 Hamburg Masters with victories over world #10 Stanislas Wawrinka and world #4 Nikolay Davydenko before losing to Andreas Seppi in three sets. He would lose in the third round of 2008 Wimbledon Championships to Nadal. During the 2008 Canada Masters, at age 31 and ranked #37, he made his first Masters final after 73 previous tries, previously finishing as a semifinalist at the 1999 and 2004 Canada Masters (lost to Thomas Johansson and Andy Roddick respectively) and 2007 Madrid Masters (lost to Federer). Along the way, he defeated Mardy Fish 7–5 7–6(4), #15 seed Mikhail Youzhny 7–6(4) 7–5, #4 seed Nikolay Davydenko 4–6 6–4 6–4, #7 seed James Blake 6–1 6–2, and Gilles Simon 6–7(4) 6–3 7–6(5); the win over Simon was especially notable because Simon had defeated world #1 Roger Federer in the second round. He lost to Nadal in the final 6–3, 6–2. Because of his run, he broke back into the top 20 at #19.

In 2009, he represented Germany in the 2009 Hopman Cup together with 19 year old Sabine Lisicki. In the first match he lost against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt 6–7(6) 6–3 6–2—who had been six months inactive due to an injury. In the second singles match Kiefer lost again, this time to USA's James Blake 7–6(4) 6–7(8) 6–4. Nevertheless, Kiefer won both of the doubles matches together with Sabine Lisicki against both Australia and the United States. On the third singles match, Kiefer twisted his ankle against Slovakia's Dominik Hrbatý in the first set when Kiefer was 3–1 up and serving for 4–1. This injury impeded him to participate in the 2009 Australian Open. He re-appeared in the 2009 Davis Cup match against Austria in which he won in the doubles match together with Philipp Kohlschreiber against Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya in 4 sets 6–3 7–6(6) 3–6 6–4. Kiefer also played a singles match, the fourth match, against Jurgen Melzer in which Kiefer won in straight sets 7–6 6–4 6–4 and gave Germany the victory against Austria. Kiefer then participated in the 2009 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in which he beat Bobby Reynolds in straight sets 6–4 6–2 in Second Round, but he then lost in Third Round to Andy Roddick 6–4 7–6(4).

In the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Kiefer beat "the magician" Fabrice Santoro 5–7 7–6(5) 6–2 in Second Round. In Third Round Kiefer was defeated by World #2 Roger Federer 6–4 6–1. At the 2009 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Kiefer lost in his first match against qualifier Andreas Beck 1–6 7–6(1) 6–4. At the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome Kiefer lost again in the first match against Juan Monaco in straight sets 6–2 6–3. In the 2009 BMW Open Kiefer was down against Ernests Gulbis 2–6 0–2 but eventually won 2–6 6–3 6–2. Kiefer said after the match, "Clay and me, we will never be the best of friends". Kiefer suffered from problems in his back which eventually made him lose against Jérémy Chardy in the next round 6–4 7–6(9). At the 2009 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open he lost against Tommy Robredo 3–6 6–2 6–2. Kiefer then played the 2009 ARAG World Team Cup in which he played the doubles matches together with Mischa Zverev. They won all of their matches and Germany reached the final but lost against Serbia as Germany lost both of their single matches. Despite Germany losing, Kiefer won the doubles match in the final against Viktor Troicki and doubles World #1 Nenad Zimonjic 7–5 4–6 10–7. Kiefer then participated at the 2009 French Open in which he beat qualifier Ilija Bozoljac in 4 sets 7–6(4) 3–6 7–5 6–4. However, Kiefer lost in the Second Round against World #14 David Ferrer in 5 sets 6–3 5–7 6–4 3–6 6–2. Despite this loss, Kiefer claimed that he was proud that he had played up to a fifth set against one of the best tennis players of the world in clay, since clay is Kiefer's least favourite surface. The clay season had now ended, and the grass season started with Kiefer's participation in his favourite tournament, the 2009 Gerry Weber Open. In the first match he trashed Viktor Troicki 6–2 6–1, but retired in the Second Round against Jurgen Melzer when he was down 6–1 since he had a muscular strain in his abdomen which forced him to retire not only from the match but from the doubles where he had reached the semifinals with Mischa Zverev. Kiefer participated at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships despite having not fully recovered from his abdomen injury. This was reflected in his match against Fabrice Santoro where Kiefer lost in straight sets 6-4 6-2 6-2. Kiefer then played for Germany in the 2009 Davis Cup quarterfinals against Spain. He did so in the doubles match together with Mischa Zverev against Spain's doubles players Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano López. Kiefer and Zverev lost the match 6-3 7-6(1) 6-7(6) 6-3. In the 1st round of the U.S Open he won to Michael Llodra 6-3,6-4,6-4 , in the second round he lost to number 3 ranked Rafael Nadal 0-6,6-3,3-6,4-6.

[edit] Career finals

[edit] Singles: 19 (6–13)

Wins (6)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP International Series Gold (1)

ATP Tour (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	22 September 1997	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Mark Philippoussis	7–5, 5–7, 6–4
3.	12 April 1999	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	7–6(5), 7–5
3.	7 June 1999	Halle, Germany	Grass	Nicklas Kulti	6–3, 6–2
4.	13 September 1999	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	George Bastl	6–4, 6–2
5.	7 February 2000	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Juan Carlos Ferrero	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
6.	2 October 2000	Hong Kong, China	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	7–6(4), 2–6, 6–2

Runner-ups (13)

1. Singapore (1997)
2. Dubai (1999)
3. Vienna (1999)
4. Moscow (2001)
5. Halle (2002)
6. Halle (2003)
7. Memphis (2004)
8. Scottsdale (2004)
9. Indianapolis (2004)
10. Los Angeles (2004)
11. Moscow (2005)
12. St. Petersburg (2005)
13. Toronto (2008)

[edit] Doubles: 4 (3–1)

Wins (3)

1. 1998 – Ostrava
2. 2002 – Los Angeles
3. 2003 – Tokyo

Runner-ups (1)

1. 2004 – Summer Olympics, Athens, Greece

[edit] Performance timeline

[edit] Singles

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career WR	Career win–loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open	1R	A	QF	3R	QF	2R	1R	A	1R	1R	SF	A	1R	A	0 / 10	16–10
French Open	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	4R	3R	A	A	2R	0 / 11	9–10
Wimbledon	A	QF	3R	2R	1R	4R	3R	1R	1R	3R	A	3R	3R	1R	0 / 12	18–12
US Open	A	A	3R	3R	QF	1R	1R	2R	4R	4R	A	2R	1R	2R	0 / 11	17–11
Year-End Championship
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 1	2–2
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	3R	3R	1R	3R	2R	2R	1R	QF	2R	A	1R	3R	0 / 11	12–11
Miami Masters	A	2R	3R	QF	2R	2R	1R	1R	QF	2R	4R	A	3R	3R	0 / 12	16–12
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	2R	A	A	1R	1R	A	2R	2R	3R	A	2R	1R	0 / 8	6–8
Rome Masters	A	A	A	3R	A	3R	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	A	1R	1R	0 / 8	6–8
Madrid Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	SF	1R	1R	0 / 4	4–4
Canada Masters	A	A	3R	SF	2R	2R	1R	A	SF	3R	A	2R	F	1R	0 / 10	20–10
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	1R	3R	1R	3R	2R	A	2R	2R	A	2R	A	1R	0 / 9	8–9
Shanghai Masters	Not ATP Masters Series													A	0 / 0	0–0
Paris Masters	A	A	2R	A	A	1R	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	2R		0 / 5	2–5
Hamburg Masters	1R	2R	1R	A	A	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	A	QF	NM1	0 / 10	8–10
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	A	Not Held			1R	Not Held			3R	Not Held			3R	NH	0 / 3	5–3

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Nicolas Kiefer at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Nicolas Kiefer at the International Tennis Federation
• Nicolas Kiefer at Davis Cup
• Kiefer Recent Match Results
• Kiefer World Ranking History
• Official web site (German)

v • d • e Australian Open boy’s singles champions 2009 Yuki Bhambri  • 2008 Bernard Tomic  • 2007 Brydan Klein  • 2006 Alexandre Sidorenko  • 2005 Donald Young  • 2004 Gaël Monfils  • 2003 Marcos Baghdatis  • 2002 Clement Morel  • 2001 Janko Tipsarević  • 2000 Andy Roddick  • 1999 Kristian Pless  • 1998 Julien Jeanpierre  • 1997 Daniel Elsner  • 1996 Björn Rehnquist  • 1995 Nicolas Kiefer  • 1994 Ben Ellwood  • 1993 James Baily  • 1992 Grant Doyle  • 1991 Thomas Enqvist  • 1990 Dirk Dier  • 1989 Nicklas Kulti  • 1988 Johan Anderson  • 1987 Jason Stoltenberg  • 1985 Shane Barr  • 1984 Mark Kratzmann  • 1983 Stefan Edberg  • 1982 Mark Kratzmann  • 1981 Jorgen Windahl  • 1980 Craig Miller  • 1979 Greg Whitecross  • 1978 Pat Serret  • 1977 (Jan) Brad Drewett  • 1977 (Dec) Ray Kelly  • 1976 Ray Kelly  • 1975 Brad Drewett  • 1974 Harry Brittain  • 1973 Paul McNamee  • 1972 Paul Kronk  • 1971 Cliff Letcher  • 1970 John Alexander  • 1969 Allan McDonald

v • d • e US Open boy's singles champions 2009 Bernard Tomic  • 2008 Grigor Dimitrov  • 2007 Ričardas Berankis  • 2006 Dušan Lojda  • 2005 Ryan Sweeting  • 2004 Andrew Murray  • 2003 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  • 2002 Richard Gasquet  • 2001 Gilles Müller  • 2000 Andy Roddick  • 1999 Jarkko Nieminen  • 1998 David Nalbandian  • 1997 Arnaud di Pasquale  • 1996 Daniel Elsner  • 1995 Nicolas Kiefer  • 1994 Sjeng Schalken  • 1993 Marcelo Ríos  • 1992 Brian Dunn  • 1991 Leander Paes  • 1990 Andrea Gaudenzi  • 1989 Jonathan Stark  • 1988 Nicolás Pereira  • 1987 David Wheaton  • 1986 Javier Sánchez  • 1985 Tim Trigueiro  • 1984 Mark Kratzmann  • 1983 Stefan Edberg  • 1982 Pat Cash  • 1981 Thomas Hogstedt  • 1980 Mike Falberg  • 1979 Scott Davis  • 1978 Per Hjertquist  • 1977 Van Winitsky  • 1976 Ricardo Yzaga  • 1975 Howard Schoenfield  • 1974 Billy Martin  • 1973 Billy Martin