Julian Knowle

Julian Knowle Country AustriaResidence Hard, AustriaDate of birth April 29, 1974(1974-04-29) (age 34) Place of birth Lauterach, AustriaHeight 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in) Weight 71 kg(160 lb) Turned pro 1992 Plays Left-handed; two-handed on both sides Career prize money $1,605,899 Singles Career record: 10-32 Career titles: 0 Highest ranking: No. 86 (July 5, 2002) Grand Slam results Australian Open2nd (2003) French Open1st (2002) Wimbledon3rd (2002) US Open1st (2002) Doubles Career record: 193 - 161 Career titles: 11 Highest ranking: No. 6 (January 7, 2008)

Infobox last updated on: May 26, 2008.

Julian Knowle is an Austrian male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander Knowle is one of now only few on the ATP Tour who plays his forehand, backhand and even volleys two-handed. He is currently Austria's most successful doubles player in history by reaching no. 10 in the ATP doubles ranking in September 2007.

Knowle was a successful player on the ATP Challenger Series, winning the Challenger tournaments in Kyoto (1999), Caracas (2001), Graz (2001) and Andrezieux (2002) and reaching the finals in Yokohama (2000), Bristol (2000), Besancon (2000) and Graz (2003). He also won several Futures tournaments. Knowle's best ATP singles ranking was no. 86 in July 2002. He appeared last in the main draw of a singles tournament in the Graz Challenger in 2005 where he reached the quarter final.

Knowle reached his first of two Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon in 2004 together with Nenad Zimonjić of Serbia. Eventually the team was defeated in four sets by Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge. The only Austrian to reach a final at Wimbledon before was Georg von Metaxa in doubles in 1938 where he too lost.

In 2005 Knowle teamed up with Czech Petr Pála for several months without being able to continue his successful run with Zimonjić. This changed when he formed a team with fellow Austrian player and left-hander Jürgen Melzer, joining him throughout most of 2005 and 2006. Together they won two tournaments in doubles and reached another five finals.

Following Jürgen Melzer's hand injury in early 2007, Knowle found a new partner in Simon Aspelin of Sweden.

At the 2007 U.S. Open, seeded tenth with his partner Simon Aspelin, Knowle achieved the greatest triumph of his career by winning the U.S. Open, his first Grand Slam. In the first two rounds, they won over Kubot/Skoch 6–2 6–2 and got a walkover over Calleri/Horna. They went on to upset the eighth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (who would go on to win the 2008 Australian Open men's doubles) in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they shocked the top seeds Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan 7–5 6–4, having lost to them only weeks before. In the semifinals, they held off unseeded Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7–6(2) 1–6 6–3, before winning the final 7–5 6–4 over the ninth seeds, Pavel Vizner and Lukas Dlouhy. They had previously won three tournaments together. This win put them into the No. 5 position in the ATP Doubles Race, and also gave Knowle his first top 10 ranking in doubles.

Julian Knowle is only the second Austrian tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament (the first in doubles). The only other Austrian to win a Grand Slam tournament before was Thomas Muster at the 1995 French Open.

Their excellent first year as a team enabled Knowle and Aspelin to participate in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China for the first time. They surprisingly made it all the way to the finals, beating Pavel Vizner and Lukas Dlouhy, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra and finally Martin Damm and Leander Paes before eventually falling in straight sets to Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor 2–6, 3–6.

Their first Masters Cup participation put the duo into the no. 3 spot of the ATP Doubles Race for the first time.