His father is the director of the social insurance institute for self employment...Mother is a housewife...Has one older brother, Christoph, who is a financial analyst...Both were very interesting in sports, and he considers Christoph his best friend...Began playing tennis at age 5...Also played soccer until 12-years-old before concentrating on tennis...Spent two years at Vienna Tennis Federation...At age 15, attended a sports school and practiced in Sudstadt and was sponsored by the Austrian Tennis Federation...At 17, went back to Vienna Tennis Federation and began to work with current coach Peter Moshamer...At 19, returned to Austrian Tennis Federation to take advantage of special treatment for sportsmen in military program...Worked at that time with Gunther Bresnik and Joakim Nystrom...Began working with Moshamer again in 2002...Idolized Boris Becker and Thomas Muster...Prefers fasters surfaces like grass, carpet and hard courts...Favorite shots are his volley and backhand...If he weren't a tennis player, he'd play soccer...Physical trainer, Markus Forsthuber...Wife, Natascha; son, Noah (born June 14, 2012).
2011 -- The Austrian compiled his best career season in doubles on ATP World Tour, winning a personal-high 36 matches and capturing his 1st title...Teamed most of season with Kas, as duo put together a 23-17 match record with 3 final appearances - Delray Beach, Gstaad and Winston-Salem…They also advanced to 3 SF, including a Grand Slam-best at Wimbledon...Also partnered with countryman Marach to win title in Hamburg in July and reach final in Belgrade in May...Finished No. 11 in ATP Doubles Team Ranking (w/Kas) and a year-end best No. 18 in doubles…Earned a career-high $232,756...
2010 -- Qualified for Newport...Runner-up in two ITF Futures finals...Won three ATP Challenger Tour doubles titles at Busan (w/ Junaid), Cremona (w/Slanar) and Salzburg (w/Slanar) from five finals...
2009 -- Qualified for Doha, Houston, Munich, Wimbledon and Newport...Reached three ATP World Tour doubles SFs...Won two ATP Challenger Tour titles at Tenerife (w/Petzschner) and Eckental (w/Kohlmann)...Runner-up at Bogota (w/Vicente)...
2008 -- Reached Newport QFs (l. to Spadea)...With Petzschner, was finalist at Vienna on 12 October (l. to Mirnyi-Ram)...Runner-up at Besancon and Sarajevo Challengers...
2007 -- As a qualifier, reached the Zagreb SFs (d. Soderling, Llodra; l. to Baghdatis) in February...Snapped a nine-match losing streak at Kitzbuhel by reaching the 3rd RD (d. No. 13 Youzhny; l. to Lapentti)...Reached two ATP World Tour doubles SFs...Went 3-3 in ATP Challenger Tour finals...
2006 -- Runner-up in one ATP World Tour doubles final at Munich on 7 May (w/Phau), losing to Pavel-Waske 64 62...Won Istanbul Challenger title (d. Karanusic)...Runner-up at Fergana (l. to Udomchoke) and Togliatti (l. to Vico)...
2005 -- Runner-up at Donetsk Challenger (l. to Kubot)...
2004 - The Austrian reached a career high ranking as he had his best results in Grand Slam events...Made Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros, qualifying into the main draw before losing in the 1st RD to Elsner...Played in his first Wimbledon and defeated Salzenstein for his first career Grand Slam win...Lost to Roddick in the 2nd RD...Qualified into US Open, and advanced to 3rd RD...Defeated Reynolds in five sets in 1st RD...Defeated Enqvist in 2nd RD before falling to Robredo...Closed the year at four straight ATP events, including Vienna where he reached the 2nd RD...Was 13-9 in Challenger events...Won Busan Challenger (d. Lu)...Reached at least 2nd RD in first seven Challenger events he played of the year...In doubles, reached 3rd RD at Roland Garros (w/Wasson)...Reached 2nd RD at US Open (w/Melzer)...Also reached 2nd RD in Vienna...In Davis Cup action, teamed Knowle to defeat Henman-Rusedski in tie against Great Britain...Won Challenger title in Graz (w/Knowle)...Finalist at Andrezieux Challenger (w/Wassen)...Reached doubles SF in five Challenger events...
2003 – Opened year in Davis Cup tie against Norway and won singles match in straight sets (d. Andersen)...Received wild card into Kitzbuhel and reached 2nd RD (d. Blanco, l. to Davydenko)...Also got wild card into Vienna (l. to Kiefer)...Reached SF at four Challenger events, three on clay and one on hard...Won Aachen Challenger (d. Melzer)...Was 29-20 in Challengers...Doubles finalist in ATP event in Kitzbuhel (w/Melzer) and won Challenger doubles titles at Togliatti (w/ Kato), Brasov (w/Wassen) and Ischgl (w/Knowle)...
2002 – Made Davis Cup debut against Romania and lost dead rubber to Pavel...Had excellent month of July...Began month by reaching final of Bristol Challenger (l. to Beck)...The following week won Togliatti Challenger (d. Vlasov)...Closed the month in SF of Wrexham Challenger (l. to Burgsmuller)...Finished year with a 23-22 Challenger record...Won Ho Chi Mihn doubles title (w/ Hadad)...
2001 – Made ATP debut as a wild card in Kitzbuhel...Won first ATP match there (d. F Gonzalez)...Reached 2nd RD (l. to Ferrero)...Qualified into field in Long Island and again reached 2nd RD (d. Burgsmuller, l. to Sampras)...Began year in March with win in Japan Futures #1 (d. Iwami)...The following week reached final of Japan #2 (l. to Terachi)...One week later reached SF of Japan #3 (l. to Uebel)...In April, won Kuwait Futures #3 (d. Gamonal)...Was 18-3 through first five Futures events of the year...Reached first career Challenger final at Bristol (l. to J Delgado)...Won first Challenger title at Togliatti (d. Beck)...Ended year with 20-6 Futures record and 15-12 Challenger record...Won doubles title at first three Japan Futures events of the year (w/ Uebel)...Also claimed title at Austria #2 (w/Strengberger)...Reached final at Kuwait #3 (w/Uebel)...
2000 – Started year with four straight losses before reaching final at Hungary Futures #6 (l. to Pless)...Won two Futures titles in Finland at #1 (d. Nurminen) and #3 (d. Adaktusson)...Won doubles titles at Sweden Futures #2 and Finland Futures #3 (w/Kreitz)...
1999 – Played eight Futures events and won at least won match in all but one event...Finalist at Austria #3 (d. Eschauer)...Reached SF at Romania #1 (l. to Craciun) and France #10 (l. to Roux)...Won title at USA Futures #21 (d. Dent)...Finished year with a 20-7 Futures record...Won doubles title at Nettingsdorf Challenger (w/ Blumauer)...Reached finals at three Futures events and SF at five...
1998 – Played six Futures events and reached at least the 2nd RD in all of them...Earned first ATP points by qualifying into Austria Futures #3 and reaching QF...Won Austria #6 (d. Castrichella)...Reached SF at Austria #8 (l. to J Vacek)...Reached doubles SF at Austria #5 (w/ Gruber)...
2013
With Soares, the pair won their fourth team title with victory at Sao Paulo (d. Cermak-Mertinak 10-7 in Match TB)…Improved to 6-8 in ATP World Tour doubles finals…
Fell in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells double SFs (l. to Huey-Janowicz)…Partnering Soares, fell to Benneteau-Zimonjic in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo 2R…
On 28 April, saved a championship point with Soares versus Lindstedt-Nestor in 10-4 Match TB Barcelona final win for their second team title of season at Barcelona and fifth crown overall…
On 12 May, appeared in his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid final with Soares…Lost to Bryans and fell to 5-2 lifetime in team finals together…Reached Roland Garros doubles SFs (l. to Bryans)…
On 16 June, lost to Bryans 10-3 in Match TB in Queen’s Club final to drop to 2-2 in title matches this season…