1998 IN REVIEW
Finished with his second-best ATP Tour Ranking with consistent results in Challenger play with a title and two finals in his home country...In February, reached back-to-back Challenger finals in Lippstadt (l. to Martelli) and Wolfsburg (l. to Heuberger)...Followed with QF at Birmingham Challenger and won his lone title of season at Dresden Challenger (d. Hantschk)...In June, advanced to SF at Eisenach Challenger...One month later, reached QF at Merano Challenger...Added a QF at Brest Challenger in late October...Lone ATP Tour outing came in first week of season in Adelaide where he qualified and lost to Golmard in 1st RD...In doubles, reached final at Ulm Challenger (w/Kohlmann).
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1989-Won his first Tour match in Munich (d. Maurer)...1990-Qualified for his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon and lost to countryman Michael Stich in 1st RD...Best result was QF at Dijon Challenger, where he defeated Jacco Eltingh 7-6 in third set...1991-Reached SF at Azores Challenger and QF at Seville Challenger...1992-Advanced to SF of Oporto-1 and Neu Ulm Challengers along with three Challenger QF...1993-Qualified for four ATP Tour events...Won first Challenger title at Sevilla (d. O. Fernandez) and SF at Dresden, Eisenach and Dublin Challengers...In doubles, reached first final at Hong Kong Challenger (w/Mronz)...1994-Reached final of Furth Challenger (l. to Goossens), SF at Weiden Challenger and QF at New Ulm and Poznan Challengers...1995-Compiled personal-best 34-18 record in Challenger play, with title in Sevilla (d. Rascon), finals in Eisenach (l. to Kowalski) and Guayaquil (l. to Goossens) and SF in four other events...In doubles, won titles in Jerusalem (w/Saceanu) and back-to-back in Weiden and Eisenach...Also a finalist in Wolfsburger (all w/Koslowski)...1996-Played in personal-best 10 Tour matches (3-7 record)...Compiled 11-17 record in Challengers, reaching final in Mallorca (l. to Hrbaty) and QF at Bermuda and Ostend...Posted first Grand Slam match victory over Chuck Adams at U.S. Open before losing to Thomas Muster in next round...In doubles, won title at Wolfsburg Challenger (w/Thoms)...1997-Played entirely on Challenger level (23-13 record), capturing title in Weiden (d. El Sawy), runner-up in Lippstadt (l. to Thoms), SF in Cairo and QF in Eisenach and Wismar...Reached doubles final in Bad Lippspringe (w/Koslowski).
GRAND SLAM RECORD
CAREER9690
FRENCH OPEN 0-11ST-
WIMBLEDON 0-1-1ST
US OPEN 1-12ND-
PERSONAL
Began playing tennis at age four with his parents, Dieter, a retired school teacher, and Christel, who still teaches...Only child in family...Enjoyed an outstanding junior career, winning titles in Melbourne and Adelaide in 1990...Finished No. 12 in world junior rankings that year...Won 12s and 14s German Championships and Port Washington 14s...Also captured 14s Rolex title in New York and reached SF of Orange Bowl 14s...Enjoys playing golf, basketball (favorite team is Chicago Bulls), soccer (1. FC Kaiferslautern).
