Jan Hájek (tennis)

Jan Hájek
Country  Czech Republic
Residence Olomouc
Born 7 August 1983 (1983-08-07) (age 28)
Olomouc, Czech Republic
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro 2000
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money $672,443
Singles
Career record 17-35
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 71 (6 November 2006)
Current ranking No. 143 (4 July 2011)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 2nd (2010)
French Open 3rd (2007)
Wimbledon 1st (2007, 2010)
US Open 2nd (2006)
Doubles
Career record 7-14
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 189 (3 May 2006)
Last updated on: 10 July 2010.

Jan Hájek is a male professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is right-handed with a double handed backhand. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on November 6, 2006, when he reached world number 71.

Hájek turned professional in 2000 and won his first Futures event in Negril of the same year defeating Johan Ortegren in the final. Between 2000 and 2003 Hájek played primarily on the Futures circuit, then after that he played some Challenger events as well as the Futures tournaments.[1] At the end of 2005 he had won 8 Futures titles all on clay, which is his best surface.

2006 was the breakthrough season for Hájek, as he started the year ranked at 352 and then finished the season ranked at 76th in the world.[2] Hájek won his first challenger in Barletta as a qualifier easily defeating Stefano Galvani 6-2 6-1 in the final. In May Hájek qualified for the challenger in Prague before losing to compatriot Robin Vik in the final. Hájek won three more Challengers during the year including two major ones in Prostějov where he got a retirement victory over Tomáš Berdych and Braunschweig defeated Fernando Vicente in straight sets. He won the Poznań Challenger without losing a set. In addition to the three Challenger titles, Hájek made his debut at Grand Slam level where he defeated Lukáš Dlouhý in straight sets before losing to Fernando González.

Hájek was unable to follow up the previously successful year in 2007, but he achieved his best result at Grand Slam level, where he made the third round at Roland Garros where he defeated Thomas Johansson and Bohdan Ulihrach before retiring against Marcos Baghdatis with a shoulder injury. Since then Hájek has had injury problems with the shoulder and problems with his heart.

At the beginning of 2009 Hájek started the year ranked at 474 [3] and has been playing on the Challenger circuit and he has been playing qualifications and after qualifying for the main draw in Athens he lost in the semi finals to Rui Machado. Hájek won the Ostrava Challenger after qualifying defeating Ivan Dodig 7-5 6-1. He repeated his 2006 victory in Prostějov this time as a qualifier defeating Belgian Steve Darcis in the final and former top 10 player Ivan Ljubičić in the quarter finals. Hájek won his third challenger of the year in Freudenstadt defeating Laurent Recouderc in the final. He also made his debut in the Czech Davis Cup team in the semi final tie against Croatia where he defeated Roko Karanušić and also played in the final losing to Rafael Nadal. Hájek has a 1-2 record in Davis Cup singles with none of these matches being a live rubber.[4]

After ending the 2009 season ranked at 103. In 2010 Hájek made a return to the Grand Slam arena at the Australian Open defeating Robby Ginepri before losing to Mikhail Youzhny. He also made his first quarter final on the ATP at Munich losing to Youzhny again. Hájek became the first man to win the Prostějov Challenger three times after Radek Štěpánek had to retire from the final due to illness [5]

Contents

Singles titles

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (0)
Challengers (8)
Futures (9)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 2000 Negril Clay Johan Ortegren 6–3, 6–1
2. 2001 Spišská Nová Ves Clay Juraj Hasko 6–4, 6–7(2), 7–5
3. 2002 Sopot Clay Mariusz Fyrstenberg 6–3, 1–6, 6–2
4. 2002 Nové Zámky Clay Ladislav Švarc 6–1, 6–2
5. 2002 Poprad Clay David Novak 6–1, 6–4
6. 2003 Cala Ratjada Clay Mariano Albert-Ferrando 4–2, RET
7. 2005 Jablonec nad Nisou Clay Tomas Jecminek 6–4, 6–2
8. 2005 Frýdlant nad Ostravicí Hard Lukáš Lacko 1–6, 7–5, 6–4
9. 2006 Barletta Clay Stefano Galvani 6–2, 6–1
10. 2006 Prostějov Clay Dominik Hrbatý 6–3, 5–7, 6–2
11. 2006 Braunschweig Clay Fernando Vicente 6–1, 6–3
12. 2006 Poznań Clay Ilija Bozoljac 6–4, 6–3
13. 2008 Porto Clay Dušan Lojda 6–0, 7–6(2)
14. 2009 Ostrava Clay Ivan Dodig 7–5, 6–1
15. 2009 Prostějov Clay Steve Darcis 6–2, 1–6, 6–4
16. 2009 Freudenstadt Clay Laurent Recouderc 2-6 6-3 7-6 (5)
17. 2010 Prostějov Clay Radek Štěpánek 6–0 RET

Grand Slam performance timeline

Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 SR W–L
Australian Open 1R 2R 1R 0 / 3 1–3
French Open 3R 1R 1R 0 / 3 2–3
Wimbledon 1R 1R 0 / 2 0–2
US Open 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–2
Win–Loss 1–1 2–3 0–0 0–0 1–4 0–2 0 / 10 4–10
Year End Ranking 76 240 479 103 95

References

  1. ^ "Jan Hajek Playing Activity". ITF. 2009-12-04. http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/activity.asp?player=30021771. 
  2. ^ "Jan Hajek Ranking History". ATP. 2009-12-04. http://www.atpworldtour.com/tennis/5/en/players/playerprofiles/rankhistory.asp?playernumber=H571&selyear=2006. 
  3. ^ "Jan Hajek Ranking History". ATP. 2009-09-07. http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ha/J/Jan-Hajek.aspx?t=rh&y=2009#. 
  4. ^ "Davis Cup Record". Davis Cup. 18-05-2010. http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=30021771. 
  5. ^ "Health complications prevented Stepanek to fight till the end". Czech Open. 05-06-2010. http://www.czech-open.cz/index.php?novinka=218&lan=EN. 

External links