Karol KuÄera
Karol Kučera (* March 4, 1974 in Bratislava ) is a former Slovak tennis player. The sixth place was his highest placing in the tennis world rankings.
Career
In 1992, Kučera in the professional camp. He was a member of the Czechoslovak Galea Cup team in 1991 and 1992 as well as 1992 European Championship team. In 1993 he qualified for his first Grand Slam tournament at the French Open. In 1995, Kučera his first ATP title in Rosmalen. In 1996 he was defeated at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in the later gold medalist Andre Agassi. A year later, he won his second tournament in Ostrava against Magnus Norman.
Kucera best year was 1998 when he finished the year eighth in the world rankings. This qualified him for participation in the ATP Tour World Championship in Hannover. This year Kučera won in Sydney against Tim Henman and Goran Ivanisevic in New Haven against and the Hopman Cup on the side of Karina Habšudová. Two more finals he reached against Gustavo Kuerten in Stuttgart and against Pete Sampras in Vienna, which he lost, however. All in all, it reached 1998 53 match wins and earned just over 1.4 million U.S. dollars.
Kučera scored 1998 his best Grand Slam result, when he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, where he won in the quarterfinals against the previous year's winner and former world ranking leader Pete Sampras. He lost to eventual winner Petr Korda in four sets. 1999 Kučera won his fifth ATP title in Basel against Tim Henman. After an injury of the right wrist in 1999, he was held in 2003 almost back to his old form back and came back into the top 50 during this year he won his sixth and last Tour title in Copenhagen against Olivier Rochus.
After the defeat in the Davis Cup against Croatia in 2005, he announced his retirement from professional tennis.