Jozef Kovalík

Jozef Kovalík (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈjɔzef ˈkɔʋaliːk]; born 4 November 1992) is a Slovak professional tennis player playing mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour. His highest ATP singles ranking was No. 80 reached on 22 October 2018, while his highest doubles ranking was No. 245 reached on 2 April 2018.

Jozef Kovalík

Kovalík at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships
Country (sports)	Slovakia
Residence	Bratislava, Slovakia
Born	(1992-11-04) 4 November 1992 (age 30) Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	2010
Plays	Right-handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Prize money	$1,661,988
Singles
Career record	26–49 (34.7%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 80 (22 October 2018)
Current ranking	No. 152 (31 July 2023)^[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2016, 2020)
French Open	1R (2017, 2018, 2019)
Wimbledon	1R (2019)
US Open	1R (2016, 2019, 2020)
Doubles
Career record	1–4
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 245 (2 April 2018)
Current ranking	No. 1069 (12 June 2023)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open	2R (2019)
Last updated on: 14 June 2023.

Career

2010–2014: First Challenger title

Kovalík together with Filip Horanský won bronze medal in doubles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.

He won his first Challenger title on 17 August 2014, after beating second seed Andrey Kuznetsov.^[2] He became the fourth player to win an ATP Challenger title while ranked outside the top 300.^[3]

2016: ATP, Masters and Grand Slam debuts

He played his first match at ATP level on 5 January 2016 in Chennai, where he lost in the first round.^[4]

He played his first match at a Grand Slam on 18 January 2016 at the Australian Open, where he lost to fellow qualifier Marco Trungelliti in the first round.^[5]

At the 2016 BNP Paribas Open Kovalík won his first match at ATP level, defeating another qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round.^[6] He lost in two tight tie-breaks in the subsequent round, to fellow up-and-coming talent Dominic Thiem. Despite the loss his tennis was of an extremely high quality. Kovalík was able to win cheap points off his first serve, utilised an effective kicking second serve, and consistently hit his groundstrokes with great accuracy, power and depth. In addition he remained mentally composed on key points and played intelligent tennis throughout. During the match he was watched by fellow Slovak and coach of Novak Djokovic, Marián Vajda. Kovalík won the 2016 Capri Watch Cup, his second title on the ATP Challenger Tour.

2017: French Open debut

2018: Top 100

At the 2018 Sofia Open he had his best ATP tournament, reaching the semifinals and losing to Marius Copil in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2.^[7] Kovalík reached another ATP level semifinal at 2018 German Open in Hamburg, where he lost to the defending champion Leonardo Mayer.^[8] After this tournament Kovalík moved into Top 100 for the first time.^[9][10]

2019: Wimbledon debut

Performance timelines

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

Current through the 2022 Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	Q2	1R	Q1	Q2	A	1R	Q1	Q1	Q1	0 / 2	0–2
French Open	Q2	A	A	Q1	1R	1R	1R	Q1	Q3	Q1	Q1	0 / 3	0–3
Wimbledon	Q1	A	Q1	Q3	Q2	Q1	1R	NH	Q1	Q1	Q1	0 / 1	0–1
US Open	A	A	Q1	1R	Q1	Q1	1R	1R	A	Q2	Q1	0 / 3	0–3
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–3	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 9	0–9
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	2R	Q1	A	Q1	NH	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1
Miami Open	A	A	A	Q1	Q1	A	A	NH	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	A	NH	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Madrid Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A	Q1	0 / 0	0–0
Italian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q3	Q1	A	Q1	0 / 0	0–0
Canadian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
Shanghai Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH		A		0 / 0	0–0
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 1	1–1
National representation
Davis Cup	A	A	A	PO	Z1	Z1	A	PO				0 / 0	2–4
Career statistics
	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	Career
Tournaments	0	0	0	9	6	6	9	6	6	3	1	46
Titles / Finals	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0
Overall win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–9	3–6	7–6	1–9	1–6	6–6	1–3	1–2	24–47
Year-end ranking	339	202	259	117	165	85	139	131	148	137		34%

Doubles

Current through the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 1.

Tournament	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Wimbledon	A	A	NH	A		0 / 0	0–0
US Open	A	2R	A	A		0 / 1	1–1
Win–loss	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 1	1–1
Career statistics
	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	Career
Tournaments	1	2	0	0	1	4
Titles / Finals	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0
Overall win–loss	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–4
Year-end ranking	332	392	439	1009		20%

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles 25 (14–11)

Legend (singles) ATP Challenger Tour (5–7) ITF Futures Tour (9–4)

Titles by surface Hard (1–3) Clay (13–8) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2011	Turkey F14, Antalya	Futures	Hard	Arnau Brugués Davi	5–7, 2–6
Win	1–1	Jun 2011	Bosnia and Herzegovina F5, Kiseljak	Futures	Clay	Aldin Šetkić	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–2	Jul 2011	Estonia F2, Kuressaare	Futures	Clay	Hans Podlipnik Castillo	6–1, 2–6, 0–6
Win	2–2	Aug 2011	Slovakia F2, Tatranska Lomnica	Futures	Clay	Daniel Lustig	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
Loss	2–3	Jan 2012	Israel F2, Eilat	Futures	Hard	Daniel Smethurst	4–6, 2–6
Win	3–3	Jul 2012	Italy F15, Viterbo	Futures	Clay	Riccardo Bellotti	6–2, 4–6, 6–2
Win	4–3	Sep 2012	Italy F25, Trieste	Futures	Clay	Sandro Ehrat	7–6^(7–2), 6–4
Win	5–3	Sep 2012	Serbia F12, Subotica	Futures	Clay	Laslo Djere	3–6, 6–0, 6–3
Win	6–3	Sep 2012	Serbia F14, Sokobanja	Futures	Clay	Lucas Pouille	6–3, 5–7, 6–4
Loss	6–4	Apr 2013	Itajaí, Brasil	Challenger	Clay	Rogério Dutra da Silva	6–4, 3–6, 1–6
Loss	6–5	Feb 2014	Turkey F3, Antalya	Futures	Hard	Artem Smirnov	6–7^(4–7), 6–1, 4–6
Win	7–5	Mar 2014	Greece F1, Heraklion	Futures	Hard	Jan Hernych	6–3, 7–6^(8–6)
Win	8–5	Apr 2014	Greece F4, Heraklion	Futures	Hard	Dejan Katic	6–0, 6–2
Win	9–5	Jun 2014	Slovenia F2, Maribor	Futures	Clay	Julien Cagnina	7–6^(7–2), 6–1
Win	10–5	Aug 2014	Meerbusch, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Andrey Kuznetsov	6–1, 6–4
Loss	10–6	Jun 2015	Mestre, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Máximo González	1–6, 3–6
Win	11–6	Apr 2016	Napoli, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Arthur De Greef	6–3, 6–2
Loss	11–7	May 2017	Rome, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Marco Cecchinato	4–6, 4–6
Loss	11–8	Oct 2017	Lima, Perù	Challenger	Clay	Gerald Melzer	5–7, 6–7^(4–7)
Win	12–8	Jun 2018	Poprad, Slovakia	Challenger	Clay	Arthur De Greef	6–4, 6–0
Loss	12–9	Oct 2018	Braunschweig, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Yannick Hanfmann	2–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win	13–9	Aug 2019	Szczecin, Poland	Challenger	Clay	Guido Andreozzi	6–7^(5–7), 6–2, 6–4
Loss	13–10	Oct 2019	Barcelona, Spain	Challenger	Clay	Salvatore Caruso	4–6, 2–6
Win	14–10	Sep 2022	Tulln an der Donau, Austria	Challenger	Clay	Jelle Sels	7–6^(8–6), 7–6^(7–3)
Loss	14–11	Oct 2022	Parma, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Timofey Skatov	5–7, 7–6^(7–2), 4–6

Doubles

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	8 January 2012	São Paulo	Hard	José Pereira	Fernando Romboli   Júlio Silva	7–5, 6–2
Loss	2.	9 April 2017	Sophia Antipolis	Clay	Uladzimir Ignatik	Tristan Lamasine   Franko Škugor	2–6, 2–6
Loss	3.	23 June 2017	Scheveningen	Clay	Stefanos Tsitsipas	Sander Gillé   Joran Vliegen	2–6, 6–4, [10–12]
Win	4.	30 September 2017	Rome	Clay	Martin Kližan	Sander Gillé   Joran Vliegen	6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
Loss	5.	31 March 2018	Marbella	Clay	Martin Kližan	Guido Andreozzi   Ariel Behar	3–6, 4–6

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score
2017
1.	Marin Čilić	6	Chennai, India	Hard	2R	7–6^(7–5), 5–7, 7–5

References

1. ATP Profile
2. Josh Meiseles (17 August 2014). "Challenger Spotlight: Albert Montanes Celebrates Eighth Title". Retrieved 7 June 2015.
3. "21-year-old Jozef Kovalik wins first ATP Challenger title". Retrieved 2 March 2015.
4. "Nevyužil vedenie 6:1 a 3:1. Kovalíkovi nevyšiel debut v hlavnej súťaži" (in Slovak). 5 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
5. "Kovalík v grandslamovej premiére neuspel s Trungellitim". SME (in Slovak). Retrieved 18 January 2016.
6. "Slovenský tenista vyhral prvý zápas na turnaji ATP". SME (in Slovak). Retrieved 12 March 2016.
7. "Basic Stuns Wawrinka To Reach Maiden ATP World Tour Final". 10 February 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
8. "Mayer Saves MP, Returns To Hamburg Final". 28 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
9. "Basilashvili Makes Top 40 Debut, Mover Of The Week". 30 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
10. "Kovalík debutuje v najlepšej stovke, Horanský si vylepšil kariérne maximum". SME (in Slovak). 30 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.

External links

• Jozef Kovalík at the Association of Tennis Professionals  
• Jozef Kovalík at the International Tennis Federation  
• Jozef Kovalík at the Davis Cup  
• Jozef Kovalík at Olympedia  
• Jozef Kovalík at Olympics.com
• Jozef Kovalík at Olympic.sk (in Slovak)