Julian Knowle

Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's most successful doubles player in history by reaching world No. 6 in the ATP doubles rankings in January 2008, before being matched by Jürgen Melzer, who reached No. 6 in September 2010, and overtaken only by Alexander Peya, who reached No. 3 in August 2013.

Julian Knowle
Country (sports) Austria
ResidenceHard, Austria
Born (1974-04-29) 29 April 1974 (age 50)
Lauterach, Austria
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1992
Retired2021
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed both sides)
Prize money$3,048,871
Singles
Career record10–33
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 86 (15 July 2002)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2003)
French Open1R (2002)
Wimbledon3R (2002)
US Open1R (2002)
Doubles
Career record410–368
Career titles19
Highest rankingNo. 6 (7 January 2008)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (2006, 2007)
French OpenSF (2010)
WimbledonF (2004)
US OpenW (2007)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsF (2007)
Olympic Games2R (2008)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenQF (2007)
French OpenF (2010)
WimbledonQF (2010)
US Open2R (2006, 2010)
Last updated on: 1 December 2021.

Tennis career

Knowle was a successful player on the ATP Challenger Series, winning the Challenger tournaments in Kyoto (1999), Caracas (2001), Graz (2001), and Andrezieux (2002), and reaching the finals in Yokohama (2000), Bristol (2000), Besançon (2000), and Graz (2003). He also won several Futures tournaments. Knowle's best ATP singles ranking was world no. 86 in July 2002. His final appearance in the main draw of a singles tournament was in the Graz Challenger in 2005 where he reached the quarterfinals.

Knowle, 2016

2004

Knowle reached his first of two Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon in 2004 with Nenad Zimonjić of Serbia. Eventually, the team was defeated in four sets by Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge. The only Austrian to reach a final at Wimbledon before was Georg von Metaxa in doubles in 1938, where he too lost.

2005-2006

In 2005 Knowle teamed up with Czech Petr Pála for several months without being able to continue his successful run with Zimonjić. This changed when he formed a team with fellow Austrian player and left-hander Jürgen Melzer, joining him throughout most of 2005 and 2006. Together, they won two tournaments in doubles and reached another five finals.

2007

Following Melzer's hand injury in early 2007, Knowle found a new partner in Simon Aspelin of Sweden.

At the 2007 US Open, seeded tenth with Aspelin, Knowle achieved the greatest triumph of his career by winning the tournament, his first Grand Slam. In the first two rounds, they won over Kubot/Skoch and got a walkover over Calleri/Horna. They went on to upset eighth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (who would go on to win the 2008 Australian Open men's doubles) in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they shocked the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, having lost to them only weeks before. In the semifinals, they held off unseeded Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, 7–6(2), 1–6, 6–3, before winning the final 7–5, 6–4 over the ninth seeds, Pavel Vízner and Lukáš Dlouhý. They had previously won three tournaments together. This win put them into the no. 5 position in the ATP Doubles Race, and also gave Knowle his first top-10 ranking in doubles.

Knowle was the second of so-far four Austrian tennis players to win a Grand Slam tournament (the first in doubles). The first Austrian to win a Grand Slam tournament was Thomas Muster at the 1995 French Open; the third was Jürgen Melzer, who won the 2010 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles and later the 2011 US Open – Men's doubles with his German partner Philipp Petzschner as well as the 2011 Wimbledon Championships - Mixed doubles with his later wife Iveta Benešová; the fourth was Dominic Thiem, who won the 2020 US Open - Men's Singles tournament.

Their excellent first year as a team enabled Knowle and Aspelin to participate in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China for the first time. They surprisingly made it all the way to the final, beating Pavel Vízner and Lukáš Dlouhý, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, and finally Martin Damm and Leander Paes, before eventually falling in straight sets to Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 2–6, 3–6.

Their first Masters Cup participation put the duo into the no. 3 spot of the ATP Doubles Race for the first time.

In December 2007, Knowle suffered acute hearing loss.

2008

Knowle and Aspelin were not able to continue their successful 2007 run, reaching five semifinals together in the 2008 season and reaching the third round of the French Open as their best Grand Slam result.

With Jürgen Melzer, Knowle participated at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. They defeated the German duo of Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler in three sets in the first round, before being knocked out of the tournament by Bob and Mike Bryan, 6–7(2), 4–6.

2009

Starting early 2009, Knowle formed a team with fellow Austrian Jürgen Melzer once more, though occasionally also teaming with other players. Knowle and Melzer enjoyed little success on the tour in the first half of 2009, before their performance improved significantly in the later weeks, winning titles in New Haven and Tokyo and reaching another final in Vienna. Their success came too late in the year for them to qualify for the Masters Cup.

2010

In 2010, Knowle played the first months of the year with Sweden's Robert Lindstedt. Together, they reached the doubles final in Marseille, where they lost in straight sets. Due to little success on the tour together, Knowle and Lindstedt parted ways, with Knowle teaming with Andy Ram from Israel. Their best performance came at the French Open, where they surprisingly reached the semifinals.

2011

Knowle's 2011 season was plagued by numerous injuries. Following a groin injury, he teamed up once more with Simon Aspelin, but they had little success. A torn muscle fascicle in April ended their partnership, forcing Knowle to pause for six weeks. His planned return to the tour failed, when a partially torn tendon prevented his participation in the French Open to defend his semifinal success from the previous year.

2012

After dropping out of the top 80 of doubles players in late 2011 for the first time in 10 years, Knowle slowly made his way back to the top 50 in 2012, teaming with several different partners, including Michael Kohlmann, Paul Hanley, František Čermák, and Filip Polášek. He reached the doubles final in Estoril with David Marrero and won the Kitzbühel tournament with Cermak, claiming his first title since Tokyo in 2009. He also reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon with Daniele Bracciali, and did the same at the US Open with Polášek.

At the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Knowle made a surprise return to singles competition, surviving three qualifying rounds (including a first-round bye) to become the oldest player to ever qualify for an ATP tournament at age 38. He lost in the first round to Albert Ramos in straight sets.

2013

In April, Knowle won the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca with Filip Polášek, winning the final over the German team of Dustin Brown and Christopher Kas.

2020-2021

In November 2020, he accompanied Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies as a coach at the 2020 ATP Finals.[1]

In February 2021, Knowle competed in the Australian Open, marking his first Grand Slam appearance since 2017. Knowle and Lloyd Harris lost in the first round to the pairing of Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis.[2]

His last ATP event was the 2021 French Open. He officially retired in November 2021.[3]

Performance timelines

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#P#DNQAZ#POGSBNMSNTIPNH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Tournament199819992000200120022003200420052006–2021SRW–LWin%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAQ1Q3Q2Q12RQ1Q2A0 / 11–150%
French OpenQ1Q1Q1Q11RQ1AAA0 / 10–10%
WimbledonQ1AQ31R3RQ11RQ1A0 / 32–340%
US OpenAAQ1Q31RQ2Q2AA0 / 10–10%
Win–loss0–00–00–00–12–31–10–10–00–00 / 63–633%

Doubles

Current through the 2021 French Open.

Tournament1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAAAAAAAA1R1R2R1R3R3R1R1R1RA2R1R1R2R1RAAAA1R0 / 157–15
French OpenAAAAAAA3R1R2R2RQF3R3R3R2RSFA1R1R1R2R2R2RAAA1R0 / 1720–16
WimbledonAAAAAAA1R2R1RF3RA1R1R1R3R3RQFQFQF2R1R2RAANHA0 / 1623–16
US OpenAAAAAAA1R1R2R2R2R2RW2R3R1R2RQF1R1R1R1R1RAAAA1 / 1716–16
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–02–31–42–48–45–45–29–43–43–46–43–27–43–43–43–41–42–30–00–00–00–21 / 6566–63
Year-end championship
ATP FinalsDid not qualifyFDid not qualify0 / 13–2
ATP Tour Masters
Indian Wells MastersAAAAAAAAAA1R1RQFSF1R1R1R1RAAAAAAAANHA0 / 85–8
Miami OpenAAAAAAAA3RA1R1R1R2RQFSF1R1RA1R1RAAAAANHA0 / 118–11
Monte Carlo MastersAAAAAAAAAAA1R2RSFQFQF1RAA1R1RAAAAANHA0 / 84–8
Italian OpenAAAAAAAAAAA1R2R1R2R2R1RAA1RAAAAAAAA0 / 72–7
German OpenAAAAAAAAAA2R2R2RSFQFNot Masters Series0 / 56–5
Madrid OpenNot HeldAA1RAAQFQF1RQFAA2RAAAAAANHA0 / 65–6
Canadian OpenAAAAAAAAAA2RA1R2R2RA2RAAAAAAAAANHA0 / 51–5
Cincinnati MastersAAAAAAAAAA1RA1RQFAAQFAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 42–4
Shanghai MastersNot HeldSF1RAAAAAAAAANH0 / 23–2
Paris MastersAAAAAAAAAAAA1RSFQF2RAA1RAAAAAAAAA0 / 53–5
Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–02–10–02–61–54–812–96–88–73–80–20–11–40–20–00–00–00–00–00–00–00 / 6139–61
National representation
OlympicsNot HeldANot HeldANot HeldANot Held2RNot HeldANot HeldANot HeldA0 / 11–1
Davis CupAAAAAPO1RZ1Z1PO1R1R1R1R1R1RZ1AA1RAAAZ1AANHA0 / 1011–13
Career statistics
1994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021Career
Titles000000002202140200122001000019
Finals000000003422561411353211000044
Overall win–loss1–10–10–00–00–00–10–25–1020–1625–1419–2225–2637–2747–2726–2836–2727–2811–1727–2334–2727–2222–2210–1811–90–00–00–10–2410–371
Year-end ranking46348838436518416284583828322372421328137344051877452%

ATP career finals

Doubles: 44 (19 titles, 25 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (1–1)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–1)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (1–3)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (16–20)
Finals by surface
Hard (7–16)
Clay (8–6)
Grass (2–2)
Carpet (2–1)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (15–12)
Indoor (4–13)
ResultW–L   Date   TournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Feb 2002Copenhagen Open, DenmarkInternationalHard (i) Michael Kohlmann Jiří Novák
Radek Štěpánek
7–6(10–8), 7–5
Loss1–1May 2002Majorca Open, SpainInternationalClay Michael Kohlmann Mahesh Bhupathi
Leander Paes
2–6, 4–6
Win2–1Jul 2002Croatia Open, CroatiaInternationalClay František Čermák Albert Portas
Fernando Vicente
6–4, 6–4
Win3–1Jan 2003Chennai Open, IndiaInternationalHard Michael Kohlmann František Čermák
Leoš Friedl
7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–3)
Loss3–2Mar 2003Copenhagen Open, DenmarkInternationalHard (i) Michael Kohlmann Tomáš Cibulec
Pavel Vízner
5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Loss3–3Jul 2003Hall of Fame Championships, USInternationalGrass Jürgen Melzer Jordan Kerr
David Macpherson
6–7(4–7), 3–6
Win4–3Oct 2003St. Petersburg Open, RussiaInternationalCarpet (i) Nenad Zimonjić Michael Kohlmann
Rainer Schüttler
7–6(7–1), 6–3
Loss4–4May 2004Bavarian Championships, GermanyInternationalClay Nenad Zimonjić James Blake
Mark Merklein
2–6, 4–6
Loss4–5Jul 2004Wimbledon, United KingdomGrand SlamGrass Nenad Zimonjić Jonas Björkman
Todd Woodbridge
1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Win5–5May 2005Bavarian Championships, GermanyInternationalClay Mario Ančić Florian Mayer
Alexander Waske
6–3, 1–6, 6–3
Win6–5Oct 2005St. Petersburg Open, Russia (2)InternationalCarpet (i) Jürgen Melzer Jonas Björkman
Max Mirnyi
4–6, 7–5, 7–5
Loss6–6Apr 2006US Clay Court Championships, USInternationalClay Jürgen Melzer Michael Kohlmann
Alexander Waske
7–5, 4–6, [5–10]
Win7–6May 2006Grand Prix Hassan II, MoroccoInternationalClay Jürgen Melzer Michael Kohlmann
Alexander Waske
6–3, 6–4
Loss7–7Oct 2006Open de Moselle, FranceInternationalHard (i) Jürgen Melzer Richard Gasquet
Fabrice Santoro
6–3, 1–6, [9–11]
Loss7–8Oct 2006Vienna Open, AustriaInternationalHard (i) Jürgen Melzer Petr Pála
Pavel Vízner
4–6, 6–3, [10–12]
Loss7–9Oct 2006St. Petersburg Open, RussiaInternationalCarpet (i) Jürgen Melzer Simon Aspelin
Todd Perry
1–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss7–10Feb 2007US Indoor Tennis Championships, USIntl. GoldHard (i) Jürgen Melzer Eric Butorac
Jamie Murray
5–7, 3–6
Win8–10May 2007ATP Pörtschach, AustriaInternationalClay Simon Aspelin Leoš Friedl
David Škoch
7–6(8–6), 5–7, [10–5]
Win9–10Jun 2007Halle Open, GermanyInternationalGrass Simon Aspelin Fabrice Santoro
Nenad Zimonjić
6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Win10–10Jul 2007Swedish Open, SwedenInternationalClay Simon Aspelin Martín García
Sebastián Prieto
6–2, 6–4
Win11–10Sep 2007US Open, USGrand SlamHard Simon Aspelin Lukáš Dlouhý
Pavel Vízner
7–5, 6–4
Loss11–11Nov 2007Tennis Masters Cup, ChinaMasters CupHard (i) Simon Aspelin Mark Knowles
Daniel Nestor
2–6, 3–6
Loss11–12May 2008ATP Pörtschach, AustriaInternationalClay Jürgen Melzer Marcelo Melo
André Sá
5–7, 7–6(7–3), [11–13]
Loss11–13Feb 2009Open 13, France250 SeriesHard (i) Andy Ram Arnaud Clément
Michaël Llodra
6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Win12–13Aug 2009Connecticut Open, US250 SeriesHard Jürgen Melzer Bruno Soares
Kevin Ullyett
6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Win13–13Oct 2009Japan Open, Japan500 SeriesHard Jürgen Melzer Ross Hutchins
Jordan Kerr
6–2, 5–7, [10–8]
Loss13–14Nov 2009Vienna Open, Austria250 SeriesHard (i) Jürgen Melzer Łukasz Kubot
Oliver Marach
6–2, 4–6, [9–11]
Loss13–15Feb 2010Open 13, France250 SeriesHard (i) Robert Lindstedt Julien Benneteau
Michaël Llodra
4–6, 3–6
Loss13–16Sep 2011Romanian Open, Romania250 SeriesClay David Marrero Daniele Bracciali
Potito Starace
6–3, 4–6, [8–10]
Loss13–17May 2012Estoril Open, Portugal250 SeriesClay David Marrero Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
Jean-Julien Rojer
5–7, 5–7
Win14–17Jul 2012Austrian Open, Austria250 SeriesClay František Čermák Dustin Brown
Paul Hanley
7–6(7–4), 3–6, [12–10]
Loss14–18Oct 2012Vienna Open, Austria250 SeriesHard (i) Filip Polášek Andre Begemann
Martin Emmrich
4–6, 6–3, [4–10]
Loss14–19Jan 2013Qatar Open, Qatar250 SeriesHard Filip Polášek Christopher Kas
Philipp Kohlschreiber
5–7, 4–6
Win15–19Feb 2013Zagreb Indoors, Croatia250 SeriesHard (i) Filip Polášek Ivan Dodig
Mate Pavić
3–6, 3–6
Win16–19Apr 2013Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco (2)250 SeriesClay Filip Polášek Dustin Brown
Christopher Kas
6–3, 6–2
Loss16–20Oct 2013Vienna Open, Austria250 SeriesHard (i) Daniel Nestor Florin Mergea
Lukáš Rosol
5–7, 4–6
Loss16–21Oct 2013Swiss Indoors, Switzerland500 SeriesHard (i) Oliver Marach Treat Huey
Dominic Inglot
3–6, 6–3, [4–10]
Win17–21Jan 2014Auckland Open, New Zealand250 SeriesHard Marcelo Melo Alexander Peya
Bruno Soares
4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Win18–21Jun 2014Halle Open, Germany (2)250 SeriesGrass Andre Begemann Marco Chiudinelli
Roger Federer
1–6, 7–5, [12–10]
Loss18–22Oct 2014Vienna Open, Austria250 SeriesHard (i) Andre Begemann Jürgen Melzer
Philipp Petzschner
6–7(6–8), 6–4, [7–10]
Loss18–23Jan 2015Qatar Open, Qatar250 SeriesHard Philipp Oswald Juan Mónaco
Rafael Nadal
3–6, 4–6
Loss18–24Sep 2015St. Petersburg Open, Russia250 SeriesHard (i) Alexander Peya Treat Huey
Henri Kontinen
5–7, 3–6
Loss18–25Oct 2016Kremlin Cup, Russia250 SeriesHard (i) Jürgen Melzer Juan Sebastián Cabal
Robert Farah
5–7, 6–4, [5–10]
Win19–25Jul 2017Swedish Open, Sweden (2)250 SeriesClay Philipp Petzschner Sander Arends
Matwé Middelkoop
6–2, 3–6, [10–7]

References