Philipp Kohlschreiber


Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber is a German professional tennis player. The right-hander has won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 16 in July 2012.

Personal life

Kohlschreiber married his long-term girlfriend Lena Alberti on 1 August 2018 in Kitzbühel, Austria.

Career

2007: First ATP career title

In 2007, Kohlschreiber achieved his greatest result at an ATP Masters Series event during the Monte-Carlo Masters, when he reached the quarterfinals after going through qualifying, defeating world No. 12 David Nalbandian in the second round. He won his first career title in Munich defeating Mikhail Youzhny, thereby becoming the first German player to win the event since Michael Stich in 1994.

2008: Four top-ten victories

Kohlschreiber started 2008 by reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament in Doha and winning his second career title in Auckland, where he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.
After his win in Auckland, he defeated world No. 6, Andy Roddick, in the third round of the Australian Open 6–4, 3–6, 7–6, 6–7, 8–6. Kohlschreiber hit a personal record 32 aces and 104 winners. He eventually lost in the fourth round to Jarkko Nieminen 6–3, 6–7, 6–7, 3–6. Kohlschreiber failed to convert 11 set points in the second and third sets.
He reached the final of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, eventually falling to the four-time champion Roger Federer 3–6, 4–6. At the US Open, he had to retire in the match against Viktor Troicki.

2009: 4th Round at the French Open

Kohlschreiber started 2009 by reaching the quarterfinals in Doha and Auckland. The German reached the second round at the Australian Open where he defeated Sam Querrey, before losing to Fabrice Santoro in five sets. In the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Kohlschreiber beat Nicolás Lapentti 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 before being defeated by Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round. Also in 2009, during the French Open, Kohlschreiber defeated world No. 4, Novak Djokovic, in a 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 upset.
In the third round of Wimbledon, he was defeated by Roger Federer 6–3, 6–2, 6–7, 6–1. He was the only person other than finalist Andy Roddick to take a set off of Federer, the eventual champion.

2010: Quarterfinals in Monte Carlo and Canada Masters

Kohlschreiber started the season in Auckland well with three straight sets wins, including wins over Thomaz Bellucci and Frenchman Marc Gicquel before running into eventual finalist Arnaud Clément, losing in straight sets in the semifinals. Kohlschreiber progressed to the third round of the Australian Open with wins over Horacio Zeballos and Wayne Odesnik. He gave second seed Rafael Nadal a test in the third round, before losing 4–6, 2–6, 6–2, 5–7.
He returned to action in San Jose seeing off local boy Rajeev Ram in three sets and crushing Dudi Sela, only losing two games. He then ran into the in-form Denis Istomin and lost in three topsy sets, sparking a three-match losing streak. He crashed out of Memphis to Evgeny Korolev in two tight sets, followed by an easy three set lost to Gaël Monfils in the Davis Cup.
Kohlschreiber got back to winning ways at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as he had a bye then beat fellow German Philipp Petzschner in straight sets. He then lost a final set tie-breaker in round 3 to world No. 2, Djokovic. At the Sony Ericsson Open Kohlschreiber received another bye and took on fellow German Florian Mayer and it was about to go into a first set tie breaker before Florian retired with an injury. Again he went out in the third round this time to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.
To start his clay-court season, Kohlschreiber went to the Monte-Carlo Masters where he caused a couple of upsets. In the first round, he edged out Bellucci in a final set tie-break before he thumped the world No. 4, Andy Murray, for the loss of just three games. He then took on Petzschner, again and again, won in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals. Where he played David Ferrer and was edged out in two tight sets.
At Wimbledon, Kohlschreiber defeated Potito Starace and Teymuraz Gabashvili, before losing to Andy Roddick in the third round.
At Hamburg, he lost to Thomaz Bellucci in the third round. In September, he hired Murray's former coach Miles Maclagan.

2011: Grand Slam struggles

Kohlschreiber began his year at the Qatar Open where he was the eighth seed. He won his first match against Andreas Seppi 6–2, 6–4 but then lost to Ivo Karlović in a tight match 7–6, 6–7, 7–6. He then went to the Heineken Open in Auckland where he won against Carlos Berlocq 2–6, 6–3, 6–1, and 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 against Marcel Granollers before falling to the top seed David Ferrer, 3–6, 7–6, 3–6, in the quarterfinals.
In February, Kohlschreiber attended the ABN AMRO tournament in Rotterdam. In the first round, he faced Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan whom he defeated 6–4, 7–6. In the second round, he put up a brave showing against top seed and world No. 4, Robin Söderling, but lost 6–3, 5–7, 7–6.
In the first round of the Davis Cup tie against Croatia, Kohlschreiber saved one match point in the second rubber against Ivan Dodig to win in five sets and to draw the score after day one. In the fourth rubber, Marin Čilić was too strong for Kohlschreiber – he was defeated in straight sets to give the tie a 2–2. In the deciding fifth rubber Philipp Petzschner managed to lead Germany to a 3–2 win. After a first round bye in Indian Wells, Kohlschreiber defeated Tim Smyczek in Round two saving 3 MP before beating world No. 4, Robin Söderling, 7–6, 6–4, saving five set points in the opening set tie-break. In round 4, he lost to Juan Martín del Potro, 6–7, 6–7. Kohlschreiber was defeated by Federer in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters after beating Andrey Golubev in round 1.
He captured his third career title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle defeating Philipp Petzschner in the final. On the way to the title, he overcame Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Lleyton Hewitt and Gaël Monfils.

2012: Quarterfinals at Wimbledon

At the Australian Open he lost in the fourth round to Juan Martín del Potro. Kohlschreiber reached the semifinals of Gerry Weber Open, defeating Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, 6–3, 6–4. He lost in the semifinals to Tommy Haas, 6–7, 5–7.
Less than two weeks following his defeat of Nadal, Kohlschreiber beat Tommy Haas, Malek Jaziri and then Lukáš Rosol in straight sets 6–2, 6–3, 7–6 in the third round of Wimbledon Championships. Rosol had defeated Nadal in the previous round of in one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history. Kohlschreiber then advanced to the quarterfinals of a major for the first time by defeating Brian Baker, but was thwarted by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2. At the US Open, he lost in the fourth round to Janko Tipsarević.

2013: 4th Round at the French Open and US Open

At the Australian Open, he lost in the third round to Milos Raonic. He made it to the fourth round of the French Open before losing to world number one, Novak Djokovic. At Wimbledon, he had to retire in his first-round match against Ivan Dodig. At the US Open, he lost in the fourth round to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

2014: Davis Cup quarterfinals

At the 2014 Rotterdam Open, Kohlschreiber defeated Richard Gasquet to reach quarterfinals, where he lost to Igor Sijsling. At Dubai, he won over Andreas Seppi in the second round and was defeated by Tomáš Berdych in the semifinals.
Kohlschreiber won the Düsseldorf Open, then the following week reached the third round of the French Open where he took reigning Wimbledon champion Andy Murray to five sets.
At Hamburg, he reached the semifinals winning over Gilles Simon and Lukáš Rosol. At the US Open, he defeated John Isner in the third round and lost to Djokovic in the round of 16.

2015: Title in Kitzbühel

Kohlschreiber defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets for his first win of the season, before bowing out to Bernard Tomic in a tightly contested four-set match, 7–6, 4–6, 6–7, 6–7. He was very dominant against Japanese Go Soeda to begin the French Open, losing only three games, but could not get past Pablo Andújar despite winning sets three and four. He fell to Djokovic with a score of 4–6, 4–6, 4–6 in the first round of Wimbledon. Kohlschreiber then took part in Kitzbühel, defeating two top-30 players in Fabio Fognini and Dominic Thiem in the quarter- and semifinals, respectively. He then defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu to win the tournament. The US Open saw his best grand slam performance of the year, defeating countryman Alexander Zverev in five sets, and then taking down Lukas Rosol with a score of 7–6, 6–2, 6–2. Federer took down Kohlschreiber in straights in the third round, however.

2016: Munich champion, Stuttgart runner-up, poor Grand Slam results

Kohlschreiber began 2016 ranked 34th in the world and had a season high rank of 22. He lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Kei Nishikori in straight sets. He played in the Sofia Open and lost to Victor Troicki in the quarterfinals. His next tournament was the Rotterdam Open where Kohlschreiber beat former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals. He then lost in the next round. Following the Rotterdam semifinals, Kohlschreiber made the quarterfinals of Dubai where he lost to Stan Wawrinka. Kohlschreiber then represented Germany in their Davis Cup team against the Czech Republic where he beat both Lukáš Rosol and Tomáš Berdych.
Kohlschreiber reached the round of 32 at both the Indian Wells Masters and the Monte-Carlo Masters where he lost to Djokovic and Wawrinka, respectively. He reached the semifinals in Barcelona before winning the Munich Open with wins against Mayer, del Potro, Fognini and Dominic Thiem in the final. He lost early at both Madrid Masters and the Rome Masters before a first-round loss at the French Open to Nicolás Almagro.

2017: 400th win, best Grand Slam result since 2014

Kohlschreiber started 2017 ranked No. 32. At the Australian Open, he won against Nikoloz Basilashvili and Donald Young, but lost in round 3 to Gael Monfils.
In February, Kohlschreiber played in the Dubai Tennis Championships where he beat eighth seed Gilles Muller in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Kohlschreiber who was aiming to win his 400th match on tour lost in three tight sets to eventual champion and world No. 1, Andy Murray. Kohlschreiber won the first set 7–6, and in the second set tiebreaker lost 18–20. In that tiebreaker, Kohlschreiber had seven match points. Amazingly, Murray saved all seven, won the tiebreaker and won the deciding set 6–1.
Kohlschreiber finally won his 400th match at the BNP Paribas Open against Alexandr Dolgopolov. He subsequently lost his next match to eventual finalist Stan Wawrinka. Later that month at the Miami Open, as the 26th seed, Kohlschreiber won his second-round match in three sets against young American Taylor Fritz. In the third round, despite winning the first set 6–0, Kohlschreiber lost to 15 time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. In August, Kohlschreiber won his second title at Kitzbuhel.
Originally for the US Open, Kohlschreiber was to be unseeded; however, the last-minute withdrawal of Andy Murray saw a draw reshuffle with Kohlschreiber becoming the 33rd seed. Kohlschreiber reached the round of 16 where he lost to Roger Federer, world No. 3, in straight sets. Kohlschreiber did not drop a set in reaching the round of 16.

Playing style

Kohlschreiber is an all-court player with an emphasis on baseline play. He has strong groundstrokes on both wings which are equally as solid. His forehand is his primary weapon, and he is known to hit inside-out forehands to draw opponents out, while his single-handed backhand is considered one of the best on the tour currently. It is known for its consistency, power, and his ability to hit it in a variety of ways, namely flat, with top-spin and slice. Generally playing from the baseline, Kohlschreiber constructs points and uses a sudden injection of pace or a drop-shot to draw opponents out of their comfort zone and dominate the point from there.
Complementing his strong baseline play, as an all-court player, Kohlschreiber is also a proficient volleyer and uses variety to construct points. He is known to employ drop-shots mid-rally to catch opponents off-guard, especially on the backhand side. He occasionally uses a chip-and-charge tactic as well, especially on grass. It is due to the variety of shots he has that has led him to be successful on all surfaces, as can be seen by the fact that he has reached at least the fourth round of all Grand Slam tournaments and won titles on all surfaces.

ATP career finals

Singles: 18 (8 titles, 10 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–02007 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, GermanyInternationalClay Mikhail Youzhny2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win2–02008 Heineken Open – Singles|Auckland Open, New ZealandInternationalHard Juan Carlos Ferrero7–6, 7–5
Loss2–12008 Gerry Weber Open – Singles|Halle Open, GermanyInternationalGrass Roger Federer3–6, 4–6
Loss2–22009 Open de Moselle – Singles|Moselle Open, France250 SeriesHard Gaël Monfils6–7, 6–3, 2–6
Win3–22011 Gerry Weber Open – Singles|Halle Open, Germany250 SeriesGrass Philipp Petzschner7–6, 2–0 ret.
Win4–22012 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, Germany 250 SeriesClay Marin Čilić7–6, 6–3
Loss4–32012 Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbühel – Singles|Kitzbühel Open, Austria250 SeriesClay Robin Haase7–6, 3–6, 2–6
Loss4–42013 Heineken Open – Singles|Auckland Open, New Zealand250 SeriesHard David Ferrer6–7, 1–6
Loss4–52013 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, Germany250 SeriesClay Tommy Haas3–6, 6–7
Loss4–62013 MercedesCup – Singles|Stuttgart Open, Germany250 SeriesClay Fabio Fognini7–5, 4–6, 4–6
Win5–62014 Düsseldorf Open – Singles|Düsseldorf Open, Germany250 SeriesClay Ivo Karlović6–2, 7–6
Loss5–72015 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, Germany250 SeriesClay Andy Murray6–7, 7–5, 6–7
Win6–72015 Generali Open Kitzbühel – Singles|Kitzbühel Open, Austria250 SeriesClay Paul-Henri Mathieu2–6, 6–2, 6–2
Win7–72016 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, Germany 250 SeriesClay Dominic Thiem7–6, 4–6, 7–6
Loss7–82016 MercedesCup – Singles|Stuttgart Open, Germany250 SeriesGrass Dominic Thiem7–6, 4–6, 4–6
Loss7–92017 Grand Prix Hassan II – Singles|Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco250 SeriesClay Borna Ćorić7–5, 6–7, 5–7
Win8–92017 Generali Open Kitzbühel – Singles|Kitzbühel Open, Austria 250 SeriesClay João Sousa6–3, 6–4
Loss8–102018 BMW Open – Singles|Bavarian Championships, Germany250 SeriesClay Alexander Zverev3–6, 3–6

Doubles: 10 (7 titles, 3 runner-ups)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–02005 Ho Chi Minh City Open|Kingfisher Open, VietnamInternationalCarpet Lars Burgsmüller Ashley Fisher
Robert Lindstedt		5–6, 6–4, 6–2
Win2–02006 Austrian Open – Doubles|Kitzbühel Open, AustriaIntl. GoldClay Stefan Koubek Oliver Marach
Cyril Suk		6–2, 6–3
Win3–02007 BMW Open – Doubles|Bavarian Championships, GermanyInternationalClay Mikhail Youzhny Jan Hájek
Jaroslav Levinský		6–1, 6–4
Win4–02008 Qatar Open – Doubles|Doha, QatarInternationalHard David Škoch Jeff Coetzee
Wesley Moodie		6–4, 4–6,
Loss4–12008 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Doubles|Rotterdam Open, NetherlandsIntl. GoldHard Mikhail Youzhny Tomáš Berdych
Dmitry Tursunov		5–7, 6–3,
Win5–12008 Mercedes Cup – Doubles|Stuttgart Open, GermanyIntl. GoldClay Christopher Kas Michael Berrer
Mischa Zverev		6–3, 6–4
Loss5–22008 Davidoff Swiss Indoors – Doubles|Swiss Indoors, SwitzerlandInternationalHard Christopher Kas Mahesh Bhupati
Mark Knowles		3–6, 3–6
Win6–22009 Gerry Weber Open – Doubles|Halle Open, Germany250 SeriesGrass Christopher Kas Andreas Beck
Marco Chiudinelli		6–3, 6–4
Loss6–32012 Qatar Open – Doubles|Doha, Qatar250 SeriesHard Christopher Kas Filip Polášek
Lukáš Rosol		3–6, 4–6
Win7–32013 Qatar Open – Doubles|Doha, Qatar 250 SeriesHard Christopher Kas Julian Knowle
Filip Polášek		7–5, 6–4

Team competition: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (5–5)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Enschede, NetherlandsFuturesClay Jun Kato6–1, 6–7, 6–3
Loss1–1Montego Bay, JamaicaFuturesHard Cedric Kauffmann2–6, 2–6
Win1–0Tumkur, IndiaChallengerHard Lee Childs7–5, 7–6
Loss1–1Reggio Emilia, ItalyChallengerClay Olivier Mutis2–6, 6–0, 3–6
Win2–1Hilversum, NetherlandsChallengerClay Dennis van Scheppingen4–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss2–2Réunion IslandChallengerHard Michal Tabara1–6, 6–2, 4–6
Loss2–3Fürth, GermanyChallengerClay Albert Portas6–7, 2–6
Win3–3Réunion IslandChallengerHard Teymuraz Gabashvili6–2, 6–3
Loss3–42011 American Express – TED Open – Singles|Istanbul, TurkeyChallengerHard Denis Istomin6–7, 4–6
Win4–42020 Canberra Challenger – Singles|Canberra, AustraliaChallengerHard Emil Ruusuvuori7–6, 4–6, 6–3

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Lille, FranceFuturesHard Markus Wislsperger Jérôme Hanquez
Régis Lavergne		6–4, 6–4

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2020 Davis Cup Qualifying Round.
* Kohlschreiber's second-round match at the 2013 French Open was a walkover.
* Kohlschreiber withdrew before the second round match at the 2020 Australian Open due to a injury.

Doubles

Wins over top 10 players

Season20012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020Total
Wins0001122432230101021025

Record against top 10 players

Kohlschreiber's ATP-only record against players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher.