Quick Facts
Biography
Martin Kližan (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmartin ˈkliʒan]; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak professional tennis player. Winner of the boys' singles title at the French Open in 2006, Kližan turned pro in 2007 and has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24, achieved in April 2015.
Career
Junior career
In 2005, he won the European Junior Championship in the under-16 category, in both singles and doubles. In doubles, his partner was another Slovak player Andrej Martin. Kližan then went on to win the 2006 French Open boys' singles competition.
As a junior, Kližan posted a 54–21 win–loss record in singles and 58–18 in doubles. He reached the boy's No. 1 combined world ranking on 1 January 2007.
2007
In 2007, Kližan turned pro.
2008
2009
2010: Top 200 debut
In 2010, Kližan qualified for the US Open. In his first main-draw Grand Slam tournament appearance, he lost to former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round. Later in the year Kližan won his first Challenger tournament as a wildcard in his hometown of Bratislava at the Slovak Open.
2011: Top 100 debut
September saw him break the top 100 for the first time in his career.
2012: Top 50 debut
In 2012, Kližan made it to five Challenger tour finals, winning four, in the space of just two months between March and May. He made it to the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at the 2012 French Open, before succumbing to Nicolas Mahut in four sets, despite taking the first. These results propelled him into the top 100 of the rankings for the first time in his career. He also reached the semifinals in Kitzbuhel. In his Wimbledon, debut he defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 11–9 in the fifth set in the first round, before losing in five sets to Viktor Troicki in the second round, despite being 2–1 up in sets.
At the 2012 US Open, Kližan advanced to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career, upsetting fifth seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round in four sets. Prior to the upset, Klizan had never beaten a player ranked higher than 49th on the ATP Tour. He beat Jérémy Chardy in straight sets to reach the fourth round, then lost to Marin Čilić. He then won two Davis Cup matches against Portuguese João Sousa and Gastão Elias.
Kližan continued his good form two weeks after the US Open by winning his first ATP tournament, beating Fabio Fognini in the final of the 2012 St. Petersburg Open. Due to this result he finished the year as World No. 30. At the end of the previous year he was No. 117.
2013
In 2013, considering the past season, Klizan was expected to reach at least the top 20. However, with his inconsistent nature, Klizan alternated good results with very bad ones. After first-round losses at the start of the season, he reached the quarterfinals in Rotterdam. Due to this result, he reached his career-high singles ranking of world no. 26.
He went on with poor results until the semifinals in Casablanca. At the 2013 French Open, he lost in the second round against eventual champion Rafael Nadal, despite winning the first set. Subsequently, he participated in a Challenger tournament in Caltanissetta, Italy, where Klizan suffered a shocking loss to non-ranked player Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round. Afterwards, Klizan returned to the main tour and after reaching the quarterfinals in Umag and winning his first-round match in Montreal against Thomaz Bellucci, lost in the first round of every tournament, peaking at the 2013 US Open, where he lost to Donald Young. He did not play for six weeks due to a wrist injury and withdrew from Saint Petersburg, where he was the defending champion.
2014
Kližan started the year with a first-round loss at the Nouméa, New Caledonia Challenger to world no. 258 Kimmer Coppejans. After such a negative start, he found very good form at the subsequent Australian Open. As a lucky loser, starting from qualifying, he reached the third round, his best result in Australia, but lost to another lucky loser: Stephane Robert.
He continued his good form at the 500 tournament of 2014 Rio de Janeiro. Starting again from qualifying, he reached the second round. This result made Kližan return in the top 100 of the rankings, at world no. 97. In São Paulo, Kližan reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to semifinalist Thomaz Bellucci.
Starting again from qualifying, Kližan surprisingly won the Munich Open, beating Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Haas en route to the final, where he defeated top seeded Fabio Fognini. It was the second final and second title in Kližan's main-circuit career. He won both titles beating Fognini in the final. At the Roland Garros Kližan had his best result to date in the French Open. He reached the third round after defeating world no. 11 Kei Nishikori in straight sets and Robin Haase.
At the beginning of the grass season, he reached the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by Richard Gasquet in Eastbourne. At Wimbledon, he lost in the first round in four sets to former champion Rafael Nadal.
At the Beijing Open, Kližan turned the tables on Nadal in a shock victory bringing him to a semifinal against Berdych.
2015: Top 25 debut
Kližan played at the 2015 Australian Open as 32nd seed. He retired from his second-round match against João Sousa.
Kližan won his third ATP doubles title at Rio Open, partnering Philipp Oswald.
He played two singles matches and also a doubles match in the Davis Cup tie against Slovenia. Slovakia won 5-0. Originally the Slovak nomination was announced without Kližan, but he later changed his decision and decided to play in the Davis Cup match.
In April, Kližan won his third ATP title in Casablanca, defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the final. In Barcelona, he reached the semifinals, where he lost to the eventual champion Kei Nishikori.
At the 2015 French Open, Kližan defeated Frances Tiafoe in the first round and lost to Gilles Simon in the second round. He then received wild card into challenger in Prostějov. He defeated fellow Slovak player Norbert Gombos in the first round, but lost in the second round to young Serbian player Laslo Djere.
At Wimbledon, Kližan lost in the first round to Fernando Verdasco.
In July, Kližan played for Slovakia in the Davis Cup again. He won both his singles matches in Romania.
At the US Open, he won his first match against Florian Mayer. However, in the second round he lost to 27th seed Jérémy Chardy. In September, he reached semifinals in Metz.
2016: 2 ATP 500 titles
Kližan started the season with first-round losses in Doha and Sydney. In the first round of the Australian Open, he lost in a five-setter to 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
In February, Kližan reached the semifinals in Sofia, where he lost to Victor Troicki.
He subsequently won his fourth title in Rotterdam, beating Gaël Monfils in the final, coming back from a set down. On his way to the title, Kližan saved eight match points (five against Roberto Bautista Agut and three against Nicolas Mahut).
Kližan seized his second ATP 500 title this year in the 2016 German Open, defeating Pablo Cuevas in the final in straight sets.
2017
Kližan started the season with in Chennai where he received bye in first round and lost in second round to Aljaž Bedene. This was followed by first-round losses in Sydney, where he retired with foot injury, and in a tight five-set match against No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open.
Kližan reached quarterfinals in Sofia (lost to Nikoloz Basilashvili) and Rotterdam (lost to Tomáš Berdych). As he was the defending champion in Rotterdam, his rankings dropped substantially after these tournaments. In Acapulco Kližan lost in the first round to the top seed Novak Djokovic.
At American Masters, Kližan lost in Indian Wells in second round to Pablo Cuevas and in Miami in first round to Benoît Paire. This was followed by first round loss in Marrakesh to the qualifier Laslo Đere. Kližan qualified into the main draw of Monte Carlo Masters, but in the first round he lost to Nicolás Almagro, after receiving two game penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct in the third set. In Budapest, Kližan defeated two qualifiers Maximilian Marterer and Bjorn Fratangelo, before losing to the top seed and eventual winner Lucas Pouille. In Munich, Kližan defeated Nicolás Kicker and Mischa Zverev, before losing to Chung Hyeon in quarterfinals.
At French Open, Kližan defeated Laurent Lokoli in first round before losing to world No.1 Andy Murray. This was followed by two challengers, where he played as the top seed. In Prostějov, Kližan lost in the second round to the qualifier Markus Eriksson (ranked 476 at the time). In Poprad-Tatry he lost in quarterfinals to Roberto Carballés Baena.
Kližan played one grass tournament before Wimbledon. In Antalya, he retired hist match against Marsel İlhan in the first round.At Wimbledon, Kližan retired in the first round again, this time he played Novak Djokovic. After the points from winning 2016 German Open were deduced, Kližan got out of Top 100.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
| Tournament | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | SR | W–L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 5 | 3–5 | 38% |
| French Open | Q2 | A | A | Q3 | A | 2R | 2R | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 0 / 6 | 6–6 | 50% |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | Q1 | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 6 | 1–6 | 14% |
| US Open | A | A | A | 1R | A | 4R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 6 | 5–6 | 45% | |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 5–3 | 1–4 | 5–4 | 3–4 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0 / 23 | 15–23 | 39% |