2007 IN REVIEW
The Czech Republic native finished outside Top 100 for second straight year… Went 3-4 in ATP singles play and 21-21 in Challengers…Made appearances at ATP Masters Series Indian Wells, Wimbledon, Washington and Vienna....Reached 2nd RD at All England Club for third straight year, defeating Hartfield (l. to Haas)...On Challenger circuit, finished runner-up at Wroclaw (l. to Eschauer) in February and Trnava (l. to Hernych) in September... Also turned in SF performance in Heilbronn.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1994 -- Picked up 10 points at Romania Satellite...Advanced to his first Challenger QF in Prostejov...1995 -- Played in six Satellites, finishing third at Romania circuit (20 points)...1996 -- Finished second at Philippines Satellite (38 points) and reached QF at Kosice Challenger...1997 -- Played in six Satellites during season, winning at Slovakia circuit (50 points) and USTA #7 circuit (57 points)...1998 -- Compiled a 25-13 record in Challenger play, winning his first title in Tampere (d. Lenho) and following with title in Istanbul (d. Luxa)...Also advanced to SF in San Luis Potosi and Rancho Mirage...In his first ATP Tour match, retired in 1st RD in Bucharest...In doubles, won Segovia Challenger title (w/Stepanek)…1999 – Won first ATP match in Prague (d. Safin, l. to Di Pasquale)…Won Graz Challenger (d. Ferrero)…Reached three doubles SFs in Challengers…2000 – Reached 2nd RD at five ATP events…Reached seven Challenger SFs, compiling a 24-19 Challenger record…Reached three Challenger doubles SFs…2001 – Reached 2nd RD at three ATP events…Posted a 10-18 Challenger record…Reached three Challenger QFs…In doubles, reached two Challenger SFs…2002 – Claimed first Challenger title since 1999 in Eisenach (d. Mutis)…Also won Hilversum (d. Serra)…Finalist at Oberstaugen (l. to Thomann)…Compiled a 25-20 Challenger record…Also won one Futures title…In doubles, reached final at three Challengers and one Futures event…2003 – Made first Grand Slam appearance since 2000 as qualifier at Wimbledon (l. to Henman)…Only ATP match win came over Wawrinka at Basel…Finalist a Kosice (l. to Ramirez Hidalgo_ and Segovia (l. to Nadal) Challengers in July…Was 14-16 in Challengers…Reached doubles SFs at two Challengers…2004 – Reached 2nd RD at three ATP events, including wins over Henman in Dubai and Philippoussis in Tokyo…Played first US Open in five years (l. to Ferrero)…Won Poznan Challenger…Posted 30-17 Challenger record…Ostrava Challenger doubles finalist (w/Kubot)...2005--Finished in Top 100 for first time in his career at year-end best No. 59... Posted career-high win total with a 18-30 record... He began year with his first career ATP SF in Chennai... Posted wins over Burgsmuller, Kim and Gimelstob before losing to Srichaphan... Won his first career Grand Slam match in his seventh try at Australian Open (d. Wang)... Lost to Robredo in 2nd RD... In March, made ATP Masters Series debut at Indian Wells, defeating Volandri before falling to Ljubicic... Followed that up with a SF at Sunrise Challenger (l. to Beck)... In first clay event of the year, reached SF in Monaco (l. to Monaco)... Following week won Bermuda Challenger title (d. Vliegen)... Also reached SF at Prostejov Challenger (l. to Minar)... On grass, reached 3rd RD at Queen’s Club, beating Haehnel and Kim before falling to Karlovic... Reached 2nd RD at Wimbledon (d. Acasuso, l. to Gonzalez)... Returned to clay and reached Stuttgart QF (l. to Nadal)... Reached Washington D.C. 3rd RD (l. to Blake)... Played US Open to compete in all four Grand Slam in one year for first time in his career... Was 0-3 in Davis Cup singles and 0-1 in doubles... Compiled a 12-3 Challenger record... In doubles, reached first career ATP final with Vanek in Acapulco (l. to Ferrer-Ventura)... Also reached SF in St. Poelten (w/Pala) and Gstaad (w/Kohlschreiber)... Reached 2nd RD at Roland Garros (w/Berdych) and Wimbledon (w/Hernych)... Finalist at Bermuda Challenger (w/Tabara)... Earned a career high $335,110...2006 -- Dropped out of Top 100 (to No. 131) and highlights included three Challenger runner-up showings -- Heilbronn (l. to Soderling), Wroclaw (l. to Dlouhy) and Helsinki (l. to Berrer)...Also QF in four other Challengers.
PERSONAL
Began playing tennis at age six with his father, Jaroslav, who is a tennis coach... Mother, Marie, is a tutor for children… Has one older brother, Ales…Growing up admired Ivan Lendl and enjoyed watching John McEnroe... Played hockey growing up and his ambition as a child was to be a pro hockey or tennis player, choosing the latter… As a child, was a ball kid at Davis Cup ties in Prague along with ATP tournament... The Czech junior champion in 1994… Collects model classic cars... Enjoys watching hockey and used to play as a teenager... Considers backhand as best shot and clay as favorite surface… Considers countryman Bohdan Ulihrach as best friend on circuit…Fitness coach is countryman Ivan Machwtka.
