Martin Klizan

Full name is Martin Klizan...Nickname is "Klizko"...Speaks Slovak, English, Czech, Croatian, Polish and some Russian...Father, Milan, is the general manager at an electric transformator company; Mother, Darina, is a university teacher...Sister, Natalia, played tennis until the age of 12, now works in London, England...Started playing tennis aged three with this father...Won 2006 Roland Garros junior title...Favourite surface is clay...Favourite shot is forehand...Idols growing up were Marat Safin and Goran Ivanisevic...Hobbies include playing computer games, football, floorball and ice hockey...Cousin Radovan Kaufman won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics in track cycling...Fitness trainer is Juraj Dulik.

First Time ATP Winner Spotlight (Sept. 2012)

2012 -- The top player from Slovakia had a breakthrough season, winning his 1st ATP World Tour title in St. Petersburg (d. Fognini) and finishing in Top 50. Became 1st Slovak winner since Dominik Hrbaty in Marseille in 2004...Voted by fellow players as ATP Newcomer of Year...Prior to 2012, had never won back-to-back matches or reached a QF in an ATP World Tour event...On clay, advanced to 1st ATP World Tour SF in Kitzbühel (l. to Haase) and in final Grand Slam at US Open, reached 4R, posting 1st Top 10 win over No. 6 Tsonga in 2R (l. to Cilic)...After US Open, won 2 Davis Cup matches vs. Portugal and then lost only 1 set en route to indoor title in St. Petersburg...In 1st half of season, won 4 Challenger clay titles and compiled 28-5 match record, winning back-to-back in Rabat (d. Volandri) and Marrakech (d. Ungur). In May, reached final in Prague (l. to Zeballos) and followed with title in Bordeaux (d. Gabashvili). In August, won title in San Marino (d. Bolelli)...Made Wimbledon debut and defeated Chela 11-9 in 5th set and lost to Troicki in next round in 5 sets...Compiled records of 13-7 on hard, 5-5 on clay and 1-3 on grass. Earned a career-high $462,599... 

2011 -- Qualified for Belgrade in April, losing to F. Gonzalez in 1st RD...Failed to qualify for Wimbledon...Won one ATP Challenger Tour title at Genova (d. L. Mayer)...Runner-up at Rome (l. to Schoorel) and San Marino (l. to Starace)...Qualified for the inaugural eight-player ATP Challenger Tour Finals in Sao Paulo in November...Broke into Top 100 for first time at No. 86 on 12 September...

2010 -- Won first ITF Challenger Tour title at Bratislava (d. Koubek) in November...Won two ITF Futures titles at Morocco F1 (d. Brizzi) and Kuwait F2 (d. Vasiliev)...Failed to qualify for the Australian Open, Munich, Roland Garros, Umag...Qualified for Casablanca, beating No. 70 Dolgopolov in 1st RD, lost to No. 23 Wawrinka...Made Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at US Open, losing to No. 24 Ferrero in 1st RD...

2009 -- Won two back-to-back ITF Futures titles in August at Slovak Republic F1 (d. Skoloudik) and Italy F23 (l. to Oswald)...Also runner-up at Kazakhstan F1 (l. to Kedryuk) and F2 (l. to Semjan)...Finished the year at World No. 234...

2008 -- Reached one ITF Futures final at Croatia F1 (l. to Skugor)...Finished the year at World No. 606...

2007 -- Reached one ITF Futures final at Romania F1 (l. to Desein)...Failed to qualify at Roland Garros and Los Angeles...Made ATP debut at Washington, beating Economidis before losing to Monfils in 2nd RD...

2013

In Rotterdam QFs, retired due to cramping versus Simon at 03 in 3rd set…On 18 February, failed to convert one M.P versus Tomic in 76(7) 3rd set TB loss in Marseille 1R…Fell in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells 2R (l. to Lu)…Fell in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami 2R (l. to Nieminen)…Fell in the Casablanca SFs (l. to Anderson) and partnered Zelenay to the doubles SFs (l. to Knowle-Polasek)…