Frantisek Cermak

First-year team Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak became the seventh team to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after a strong finish to the season.

2009 Review

The Czech-Slovak tandem  played the most tournaments (30) together of teams to qualify during season and won five of seven ATP World Tour finals. All but two of their finals came on clay.

In February they advanced to final in Vina del Mar (l. to Cuevas-Dabul) and three weeks later they rallied for a 10-7 Match Tie-break title win in Acapulco (d. Kubot-Marach). They struggled in their next 10 tournaments with a 9-10 record, reaching one SF.

Turned things around in July with title in Stuttgart (d. Hanescu-Tecau) and two weeks later added another crown in Umag (d. Brunstrom-Rojer). After a second round exit at US Open (went 4-4 in Grand Slams), returned to clay and won title in Bucharest (d. Brunstrom-Rojer).

In October, reached first indoor final together in Moscow (l. to Cuevas-Granollers) and two weeks later earned first indoor title together in Valencia, defeating Spaniards Granollers-Robredo. Following week turned in SF at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris, falling in a Match Tie-break to World No. 1 Nestor-Zimonjic.

Finals History

Cermak and Mertinak will be making both their team and individual debuts at the circuit finale.

Nicknamed Cermis by his countrymen...Began playing tennis at age seven with father, Frantisek, who is an office manager and also coaches junior players part-time in Kostice...Mother, Ivana, is a bookkeeper in a local hospital...Has one younger brother (15 months), Ivo, who is a policeman in Kostice...Speaks Czech, English and German...Played hockey at age three to 11 before concentrating full-time on tennis...Follows New York Rangers of NHL and enjoys listening to music from 1980s-90s (big fan of U2)...Growing up admired Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg...Favorite surface is clay and slow hard courts and considers serve his best shot... Coached by countryman Nikola Martin (since September 2006).

1998 -- Won two Futures doubles titles and reached on ther final...

1999 -- Captured doubles titles at two Futures and reached Challenger SF at Eisenach (w/Dezort)...

2000 -- Captured Challenger titles in Prague and Osaka while reaching finals in Seoul and Brest (all w/Fukarek)...Went 2-1 in Futures finals...

2001 -- Made his ATP debut in Chennai and advanced to SF (w/Fukarek)...Won back-to-back Challenger titles in Mumbai (w/Fukarek) and Chandigarh (w/R. Stepanek)...Won Ulm Challenger and San Marino Challenger (both w/Skoch), Seoul Challenger winner (w/Levinsky)...Also had runner-up finishes at Barcelona (w/Skoch) and Bratislava (w/Fukarek) Challengers...

2002 -- Again reached SF in Chennai (w/Luxa) and followed with runner-up at Heilbronn Challenger (w/Fukarek)...Won titles at Prague and Prostejov Challengers (w/Fukarek) and reached final at Braunschweig Challenger (w/Luxa)...Captured back-to-back ATP titles in Umag (w/Knowle) and Sopot (w/Friedl) and followed with St. Petersburg Challenger title (w/Levinsky)...Advanced to final in Palermo (w/Friedl)...

2003 -- Doubles runner-up in Chennai and Vina del Mar...In April, picked up title in Casablanca and followed with SF at AMS Monte Carlo...Runner-up in Gstaad, Sopot and Palermo (all w/Friedl)...Reached 3rd RD at Roland Garros and US Open...

2004 -- Won titles in Kitzbuhel and Sopot along with SF in Vina del Mar, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Long Island, Palermo, and Lyon (all w/Friedl)...

2005 -- Won career-high five clay titles w/ countryman Friedl...Captured titles in Buenos Aires, Costa do Sauipe, Casablanca, Estoril and Gstaad...Advanced to SF at Queen's and Metz...Played in Davis Cup World Group playoff tie against Germany and lost to Haas-Waske in five sets...

2006 -- Captured three ATP titles in seven finals...Turned in a successful first half of year (w/countryman Friedl), taking home three clay court titles...Compiled a 24-14 record (w/Friedl), including 19-6 mark on clay courts...The pair started season with two final appearances in Sydney and Vina del Mar...Then earned titles in Buenos Aires and Acapulco...In July, advanced to SF in Gstaad and following month took home Sopot title...Paired with four different partners...Advanced to SF in New Haven and finals in Moscow and Lyon (w/Levinsky)...Finished No. 24 individually in Stanford ATP Doubles Rankings and No. 12 in Stanford ATP Doubles Race (w/Friedl) with a 35-25 record...Earned a career-high $155,100.

2009

The veteran Czech Republic native qualified (w/Michal Mertinak) for their first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London...They played the most tournaments (30) together during season and won five of seven ATP World Tour finals...All but two of their finals came on clay...In February they advanced to final in Vina del Mar (l. to Cuevas-Dabul) and three weeks later they rallied for a 10-7 Match Tie-break title win in Acapulco (d. Kubot-Marach)...They struggled in their next 10 tournaments with a 9-10 record, reaching one SF...Turned things around in July with title in Stuttgart (d. Hanescu-Tecau) and two weeks later added another crown in Umag (d. Brunstrom-Rojer)...After a second round exit at US Open (Went 4-4 in Grand Slams), returned to clay and won title in Bucharest (d. Brunstrom-Rojer)...In October, reached first indoor final together in Moscow (l. to Cuevas-Granollers) and two weeks later earned first indoor title together in Valencia, defeating Spaniards Granollers-Robredo...Following week turned in SF at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris, falling in a Match Tie-break to World No. 1 Nestor-Zimonjic.