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Julian Knowle

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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.

Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former 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.

Tennis career

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(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

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Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006–2021 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A Q1 Q3 Q2 Q1 2R Q1 Q2 A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
French Open Q1 Q1 Q1 Q1 1R Q1 A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Wimbledon Q1 A Q3 1R 3R Q1 1R Q1 A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
US Open A A Q1 Q3 1R Q2 Q2 A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0 / 6 3–6 33%

Doubles

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Current through the 2021 French Open.

Tournament 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R 3R 1R 1R 1R A 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R A A A A 1R 0 / 15 7–15
French Open A A A A A A A 3R 1R 2R 2R QF 3R 3R 3R 2R SF A 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R A A A 1R 0 / 17 20–16
Wimbledon A A A A A A A 1R 2R 1R F 3R A 1R 1R 1R 3R 3R QF QF QF 2R 1R 2R A A NH A 0 / 16 23–16
US Open A A A A A A A 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R W 2R 3R 1R 2R QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R A A A A 1 / 17 16–16
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–3 1–4 2–4 8–4 5–4 5–2 9–4 3–4 3–4 6–4 3–2 7–4 3–4 3–4 3–4 1–4 2–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 1 / 65 66–63
Year-end championship
ATP Finals Did not qualify F Did not qualify 0 / 1 3–2
ATP Tour Masters
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A A A A A A 1R 1R QF SF 1R 1R 1R 1R A A A A A A A A NH A 0 / 8 5–8
Miami Open A A A A A A A A 3R A 1R 1R 1R 2R QF SF 1R 1R A 1R 1R A A A A A NH A 0 / 11 8–11
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A A A A A A A A 1R 2R SF QF QF 1R A A 1R 1R A A A A A NH A 0 / 8 4–8
Italian Open A A A A A A A A A A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R 1R A A 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 7 2–7
German Open A A A A A A A A A A 2R 2R 2R SF QF Not Masters Series 0 / 5 6–5
Madrid Open Not Held A A 1R A A QF QF 1R QF A A 2R A A A A A A NH A 0 / 6 5–6
Canadian Open A A A A A A A A A A 2R A 1R 2R 2R A 2R A A A A A A A A A NH A 0 / 5 1–5
Cincinnati Masters A A A A A A A A A A 1R A 1R QF A A QF A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 4 2–4
Shanghai Masters Not Held SF 1R A A A A A A A A A NH 0 / 2 3–2
Paris Masters A A A A A A A A A A A A 1R SF QF 2R A A 1R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 5 3–5
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 2–6 1–5 4–8 12–9 6–8 8–7 3–8 0–2 0–1 1–4 0–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 61 39–61
National representation
Olympics Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 2R Not Held A Not Held A Not Held A 0 / 1 1–1
Davis Cup A A A A A PO 1R Z1 Z1 PO 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R Z1 A A 1R A A A Z1 A A NH A 0 / 10 11–13
Career statistics
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Career
Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 2 1 4 0 2 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 19
Finals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 2 2 5 6 1 4 1 1 3 5 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 44
Overall win–loss 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–2 5–10 20–16 25–14 19–22 25–26 37–27 47–27 26–28 36–27 27–28 11–17 27–23 34–27 27–22 22–22 10–18 11–9 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–2 410–371
Year-end ranking 463 488 384 365 184 162 84 58 38 28 32 23 7 24 21 32 81 37 34 40 51 87 74 52%

ATP career finals

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

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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)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Feb 2002 Copenhagen Open, Denmark International Hard (i) Germany Michael Kohlmann Czech Republic Jiří Novák
Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek
7–6(10–8), 7–5
Loss 1–1 May 2002 Majorca Open, Spain International Clay Germany Michael Kohlmann India Mahesh Bhupathi
India Leander Paes
2–6, 4–6
Win 2–1 Jul 2002 Croatia Open, Croatia International Clay Czech Republic František Čermák Spain Albert Portas
Spain Fernando Vicente
6–4, 6–4
Win 3–1 Jan 2003 Chennai Open, India International Hard Germany Michael Kohlmann Czech Republic František Čermák
Czech Republic Leoš Friedl
7–6(7–1), 7–6(7–3)
Loss 3–2 Mar 2003 Copenhagen Open, Denmark International Hard (i) Germany Michael Kohlmann Czech Republic Tomáš Cibulec
Czech Republic Pavel Vízner
5–7, 7–5, 2–6
Loss 3–3 Jul 2003 Hall of Fame Championships, US International Grass Austria Jürgen Melzer Australia Jordan Kerr
Australia David Macpherson
6–7(4–7), 3–6
Win 4–3 Oct 2003 St. Petersburg Open, Russia International Carpet (i) Serbia and Montenegro Nenad Zimonjić Germany Michael Kohlmann
Germany Rainer Schüttler
7–6(7–1), 6–3
Loss 4–4 May 2004 Bavarian Championships, Germany International Clay Serbia and Montenegro Nenad Zimonjić United States James Blake
The Bahamas Mark Merklein
2–6, 4–6
Loss 4–5 Jul 2004 Wimbledon, United Kingdom Grand Slam Grass Serbia and Montenegro Nenad Zimonjić Sweden Jonas Björkman
Australia Todd Woodbridge
1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Win 5–5 May 2005 Bavarian Championships, Germany International Clay Croatia Mario Ančić Germany Florian Mayer
Germany Alexander Waske
6–3, 1–6, 6–3
Win 6–5 Oct 2005 St. Petersburg Open, Russia (2) International Carpet (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer Sweden Jonas Björkman
Belarus Max Mirnyi
4–6, 7–5, 7–5
Loss 6–6 Apr 2006 US Clay Court Championships, US International Clay Austria Jürgen Melzer Germany Michael Kohlmann
Germany Alexander Waske
7–5, 4–6, [5–10]
Win 7–6 May 2006 Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco International Clay Austria Jürgen Melzer Germany Michael Kohlmann
Germany Alexander Waske
6–3, 6–4
Loss 7–7 Oct 2006 Open de Moselle, France International Hard (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer France Richard Gasquet
France Fabrice Santoro
6–3, 1–6, [9–11]
Loss 7–8 Oct 2006 Vienna Open, Austria International Hard (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer Czech Republic Petr Pála
Czech Republic Pavel Vízner
4–6, 6–3, [10–12]
Loss 7–9 Oct 2006 St. Petersburg Open, Russia International Carpet (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer Sweden Simon Aspelin
Australia Todd Perry
1–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss 7–10 Feb 2007 US Indoor Tennis Championships, US Intl. Gold Hard (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer United States Eric Butorac
United Kingdom Jamie Murray
5–7, 3–6
Win 8–10 May 2007 ATP Pörtschach, Austria International Clay Sweden Simon Aspelin Czech Republic Leoš Friedl
Czech Republic David Škoch
7–6(8–6), 5–7, [10–5]
Win 9–10 Jun 2007 Halle Open, Germany International Grass Sweden Simon Aspelin France Fabrice Santoro
Serbia Nenad Zimonjić
6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Win 10–10 Jul 2007 Swedish Open, Sweden International Clay Sweden Simon Aspelin Argentina Martín García
Argentina Sebastián Prieto
6–2, 6–4
Win 11–10 Sep 2007 US Open, US Grand Slam Hard Sweden Simon Aspelin Czech Republic Lukáš Dlouhý
Czech Republic Pavel Vízner
7–5, 6–4
Loss 11–11 Nov 2007 Tennis Masters Cup, China Masters Cup Hard (i) Sweden Simon Aspelin The Bahamas Mark Knowles
Canada Daniel Nestor
2–6, 3–6
Loss 11–12 May 2008 ATP Pörtschach, Austria International Clay Austria Jürgen Melzer Brazil Marcelo Melo
Brazil André Sá
5–7, 7–6(7–3), [11–13]
Loss 11–13 Feb 2009 Open 13, France 250 Series Hard (i) Israel Andy Ram France Arnaud Clément
France Michaël Llodra
6–3, 3–6, [8–10]
Win 12–13 Aug 2009 Connecticut Open, US 250 Series Hard Austria Jürgen Melzer Brazil Bruno Soares
Zimbabwe Kevin Ullyett
6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Win 13–13 Oct 2009 Japan Open, Japan 500 Series Hard Austria Jürgen Melzer United Kingdom Ross Hutchins
Australia Jordan Kerr
6–2, 5–7, [10–8]
Loss 13–14 Nov 2009 Vienna Open, Austria 250 Series Hard (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer Poland Łukasz Kubot
Austria Oliver Marach
6–2, 4–6, [9–11]
Loss 13–15 Feb 2010 Open 13, France 250 Series Hard (i) Sweden Robert Lindstedt France Julien Benneteau
France Michaël Llodra
4–6, 3–6
Loss 13–16 Sep 2011 Romanian Open, Romania 250 Series Clay Spain David Marrero Italy Daniele Bracciali
Italy Potito Starace
6–3, 4–6, [8–10]
Loss 13–17 May 2012 Estoril Open, Portugal 250 Series Clay Spain David Marrero Pakistan Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi
Netherlands Jean-Julien Rojer
5–7, 5–7
Win 14–17 Jul 2012 Austrian Open, Austria 250 Series Clay Czech Republic František Čermák Germany Dustin Brown
Australia Paul Hanley
7–6(7–4), 3–6, [12–10]
Loss 14–18 Oct 2012 Vienna Open, Austria 250 Series Hard (i) Slovakia Filip Polášek Germany Andre Begemann
Germany Martin Emmrich
4–6, 6–3, [4–10]
Loss 14–19 Jan 2013 Qatar Open, Qatar 250 Series Hard Slovakia Filip Polášek Germany Christopher Kas
Germany Philipp Kohlschreiber
5–7, 4–6
Win 15–19 Feb 2013 Zagreb Indoors, Croatia 250 Series Hard (i) Slovakia Filip Polášek Croatia Ivan Dodig
Croatia Mate Pavić
3–6, 3–6
Win 16–19 Apr 2013 Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco (2) 250 Series Clay Slovakia Filip Polášek Germany Dustin Brown
Germany Christopher Kas
6–3, 6–2
Loss 16–20 Oct 2013 Vienna Open, Austria 250 Series Hard (i) Canada Daniel Nestor Romania Florin Mergea
Czech Republic Lukáš Rosol
5–7, 4–6
Loss 16–21 Oct 2013 Swiss Indoors, Switzerland 500 Series Hard (i) Austria Oliver Marach Philippines Treat Huey
United Kingdom Dominic Inglot
3–6, 6–3, [4–10]
Win 17–21 Jan 2014 Auckland Open, New Zealand 250 Series Hard Brazil Marcelo Melo Austria Alexander Peya
Brazil Bruno Soares
4–6, 6–3, [10–5]
Win 18–21 Jun 2014 Halle Open, Germany (2) 250 Series Grass Germany Andre Begemann Switzerland Marco Chiudinelli
Switzerland Roger Federer
1–6, 7–5, [12–10]
Loss 18–22 Oct 2014 Vienna Open, Austria 250 Series Hard (i) Germany Andre Begemann Austria Jürgen Melzer
Germany Philipp Petzschner
6–7(6–8), 6–4, [7–10]
Loss 18–23 Jan 2015 Qatar Open, Qatar 250 Series Hard Austria Philipp Oswald Argentina Juan Mónaco
Spain Rafael Nadal
3–6, 4–6
Loss 18–24 Sep 2015 St. Petersburg Open, Russia 250 Series Hard (i) Austria Alexander Peya Philippines Treat Huey
Finland Henri Kontinen
5–7, 3–6
Loss 18–25 Oct 2016 Kremlin Cup, Russia 250 Series Hard (i) Austria Jürgen Melzer Colombia Juan Sebastián Cabal
Colombia Robert Farah
5–7, 6–4, [5–10]
Win 19–25 Jul 2017 Swedish Open, Sweden (2) 250 Series Clay Germany Philipp Petzschner Netherlands Sander Arends
Netherlands Matwé Middelkoop
6–2, 3–6, [10–7]

References

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  1. ^ "Julian Knowle joins the Krawietz and Mies team". 11 November 2020.
  2. ^ ""KraMies" coach Julian Knowle makes a lightning comeback". 7 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Retirees Honoured at 2021 Nitto ATP Finals | ATP Tour | Tennis".
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