Jürgen Melzer turns 40 - a legend in singles and doubles
Jürgen Melzer celebrates his 40th birthday today. The Lower Austrian already showed great performance as a junior - and still not enough of professional tennis.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
May 21, 2021, 09:40 pm
Jürgen Melzer probably would not have thought that on his 40th birthday he was in the middle of preparing for the French Open 2021, yes, even arrived in Roland Garros, as the Austrian tennis legend posted on Instagram on Friday evening. Actually, Melzer had wanted to mark the end of his outstanding career at the Australian Open this year, now it will be another three majors and one appearance at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. If the latter take place
Jürgen Melzer always took place, especially when it came to starting for Austria. The Davis Cup career of the left-hander had ups and downs, in total Melzer took part in 38 international matches, contributed 37 points for red-white-red. The last legendary appearance probably came in the spring of 2018 in Moscow, when Melzer made the Austrians' surprising victory perfect with his success against Evgeny Donskoy.
Two major titles with Petzschner
Tennis fans really noticed Jürgen Melzer in 1998. Then Jojo won the title at the junior tournament in Wimbledon, to this day the only Austrian who has won a major in the junior category.
Jürgen Melzer also won his most emotional title on the men's tour at Wimbledon in 2010: together with Philipp Petzschner in doubles. Another major triumph with Petzschner was to follow a year later at the US Open (as well as another in mixed doubles - 2011 with Iveta Benesova at Wimbledon). Melzer has won 17 tournaments in pair skating, the first in 2005 with Julian Knowle in St. Petersburg - the last, 15 years later, fittingly there alongside Edouard Roger-Vasselin, with whom Melzer also at the ATP Finals in London got to the finals.
Legendary win against Djokovic, legendary loss against Agassi
While there are still a few highlights in the doubles for the current sports director of the Austrian Tennis Association, the final balance is already available in the singles: First of all, it provides for two home wins in the Wiener Stadthalle and a place in the semi-finals of the French Open 2010. Which not much later went hand in hand with a single-digit place in the ATP world rankings. Particularly noteworthy: The fact that a player is in the top ten in singles and doubles may have been commonplace in the times of John McEnroe and later Stefan Edberg. In the 2010s, this was a sensation that Jürgen Melzer created.
Speaking of Roland Garros 2010: There Melzer defeated Novak Djokovic after a 2-0 set deficit, probably one of those matches that everyone involved will remember forever. Not nearly as legendary, but still part of the story: The win against Alexander Zverev in Munich 2014, in which Melzer introduced the very young Zverev to the subtleties of the dropshot. Over and over again.
And Jürgen Melzer also made history with one defeat: After the 4: 6 and 1; 6 in Houston in 2003 against Andre Agassi, he became the oldest number one in ATP history at the time. The anniversary boy will not be bored in the future either, apart from his family responsibilities with wife Fabienne and son Noel. Because recently Melzer has also been hired as Dennis Novak's tour coach. And in his new role at ÖTV he repeatedly ticks off tours to the tennis bases in Austria.
