Michal Mertinak

Began playing at age seven…Father, Miroslav and mother, Alena…Has one older brother, Richard…Considers clay as favorite surface and eight of his 11 career ATP World Tour titles have come on that surface…Says his serve and forehand are his best shots…His off-court interests are playing poker and following political news…Says his best moments of his career so far are reaching Davis Cup final in 2005 (vs. Croatia) and qualifying for his first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London…Players he admired growing up were countrymen Miloslav Mecir, Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty…His goal is to be healthy and fit to play for next 10 years on ATP World Tour…Fitness trainer is Rudolf Patek and does not have a coach.

2003 -- Won first doubles title at Belgaum Challenger in India and reached final at Tumkur Challenger (both w/Sekac).

2004 -- In doubles, won titles at Cherbourg (w/Waske) and Bukhara (w/Snobel)…In singles advanced to QF at Tehran Challenger…

2005 -- Played in Davis Cup final vs. Croatia’s Ancic in fifth and decisive rubber and lost in
straight sets…In doubles won Heilbronn (w/De Chaunac) and Sarajevo Challengers (w/Stakhovsky), reached finals in Besancon (w/Scherrer), Bratislava (w/Hrbaty) and St. Brieuc (w/Vacek)…Reached QFs at Wimbledon (w/Hrbaty l. to Bryans)…Later advanced to first ATP World Tour doubles final in Umag (w/Skoch)…In singles reached final at Sarajevo Challenger along with QFs at Wroclaw, St Brieuc, Prague and Cherbourg Challengers… In ATP World Tour play reached QFs in Munich and Newport…

2006 -- Won first ATP World Tour doubles title in Chennai (w/Pala), later added Zagreb crown (w/Levinsky)…Won Dresden and Zagreb Challengers (both w/Allegro)…In singles, won first Challenger title in Bratislava and reached QFs at Kyoto, Helsinki and Oberstaufen and SFs at Wolfsburg and Chiasso Challengers…

2007 -- Captured Cherbourg Challenger title (w/Vik) and reached finals at Wroclaw (w/Scherrer), Casablanca (w/Vik) and Marrakech (w/Friedl)…In ATP World Tour play, won titles in Umag (w/Dlouhy) and Bucharest (w/Marach) while reaching SFs in Amersfoort (w/Hrbaty)…In singles, reached QFs at Furth, Oberstaufen, Graz and SFs at Durban Challengers…

2008 -- Captured ATP World Tour doubles titles in Acapulco (w/Marach) and Umag (w/Pala) along with Mons Challenger (w/ Zovko) while reaching final at Barletta (w/Marach) and Trnava Challengers (w/Koellerer)…

2009

The Slovak Republic native teamed with Cermak to qualify for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London…They played most tournaments (31) together of teams to appear in season finale 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 Viña 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 Paris*, falling in a Match Tie-break to World No. 1 Nestor-Zimonjic…In London they went 2-1 in round robin play and reached SF, losing to Mirnyi-Ram…Finished a year-end best No. 14 individually and No.6 in ATP Team Rankings…Earned a career-high $347,933.