Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler is a retired German professional tennis player. He was runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and semifinalist at 2008 Wimbledon. Schüttler also won a silver medal in doubles at the 2004 Summer Olympics and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 5 in April 2004.
Personal life
He began playing tennis at the age of nine. He resides in Switzerland.Career
2003
In 2003, Schüttler became the first German since Boris Becker in 1989 to advance to the fourth round at all Grand Slams. He became the first German to reach a Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, since Michael Stich was the runner-up at Roland Garros in 1996. En route to the final, which he lost in straight sets to Andre Agassi, he defeated Andy Roddick who would end the season as world No 1.2004
In 2004, Schüttler reached his first career ATP Masters Series final in Monte Carlo by beating Gustavo Kuerten in the first round, Lleyton Hewitt in the third round, Tim Henman in the quarterfinal and Carlos Moyá in the semifinal. In the final, he lost to Guillermo Coria. That week, he would reach a career-high ranking of No. 5. Schüttler won a silver medal for Germany in men's doubles with partner Nicolas Kiefer at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. 2004 was the sixth straight year in which he finished in the ATP top 50.2008
Schüttler reached his first career semifinal at Wimbledon by beating Santiago Ventura, James Blake, Guillermo García-López, Janko Tipsarević, and Arnaud Clément 6–3, 5–7, 7–6, 6–7, 8–6. His match with Clément was over five hours, completed in two days to reach the semifinals, in which Schuettler saved a match point at 6–5 down in the fifth set. He was defeated by eventual champion Rafael Nadal 1–6, 6–7, 4–6. His achievement was a big surprise, since he entered the tournament ranked 94th and with a streak of 13 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments without making it past the second round.2009
His 2009 season Schüttler started off at the Chennai Open, beating Prakash Amritraj 6–2, 4–6, 6–1. In the second round, he beat Simon Greul 6–4, 6–2, and in the quarterfinals Björn Phau, 6–2, 7–5. Unfortunately Schuettler had to withdraw from his semifinal match against Somdev Devvarman because of a wrist injury. He also withdrew from the tournament in Sydney. At the Australian Open, he was seeded 30th but lost in the first round to Israeli Dudi Sela 1–6, 6–2, 6–4, 6–4. He also participated in the doubles with Lu Yen-hsun, but they were defeated by Łukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach. In the first round in Rotterdam, he lost to Mario Ančić. He played the Open 13 in Marseille, defeating Laurent Recouderc in the first round 6–1, 6–4.He competed at the ARAG World Team Cup in Germany, helping his country reach the final, where they lost to Serbia.
In the second round at Wimbledon, though seeded 18th, he was upset by Dudi Sela, 7–6, 6–3, 6–2.
2010
He reached the second round of the Australian Open defeating Sam Querrey in four sets. However he lost to Feliciano López in four sets, too. At the French Open, he again suffered a first-round exit, this time against Guillermo García-López in straight sets. He reached the semifinal of the Aegon Championships at the Queens Club in London but lost to Sam Querrey in three sets 7–6, 5–7, 3–6. Despite his good form he was defeated by Denis Istomin in the second round of Wimbledon in five sets. At the quarterfinal of the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, Schüttler could not manage to close out the match against Querrey despite serving for it at 5–4 and 6–5 in the deciding set.He was knocked out in the first round of the US Open losing to Benoît Paire.
At the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Schüttler beat Ricardo Mello in round one for a second round berth against Ernests Gulbis. He lost 6–7, 7–6, 4–6 in a close match.
In 2010, Schüttler and his former Davis Cup companion Alexander Waske founded the Schüttler Waske Tennis-University, a tennis academy for professional tennis players.
2011
Schüttler started the tour at the Qatar Open where he confronted Teymuraz Gabashvili in the singles, but lost 3–5, 6–7. He also played doubles with Guillermo García-López confronting Marco Chiudinelli and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to whom they lost 1–6, 2–6.At the Australian Open, he played ninth seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round, but lost 1–6, 3–6, 2–6. He then played several Challenger series tournaments.
At Wimbledon, he defeated Thomaz Bellucci in the first round, but lost to Feliciano López in the second 6–7, 7–6, 2–6, 2–6.
Retirement
Schüttler retired in October 2012 and has coached Sergiy Stakhovsky and Vasek Pospisil.Since November 2018, he coached former world No. 1, Angelique Kerber. In July 2019, Kerber announced they had split on social media.
Major finals
Olympic final
Doubles: 1 silver medal
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 runner-up
Masters Series finals
Singles: 1 runner-up
ATP Career finals
Singles: 12 (4 titles, 8 runner-ups)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 4 January 1999 | Doha, Qatar | Hard |  Tim Henman | 6–4, 5–7, 6–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 5 April 1999 | Chennai, India | Hard |  Byron Black | 4–6, 6–1, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 3 January 2000 | Doha, Qatar | Hard |  Fabrice Santoro | 6–3, 5–7, 0–3 ret. |
| Winner | 2. | 17 September 2001 | Shanghai, China | Hard |  Michel Kratochvil | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 24 September 2001 | Hong Kong, China | Hard |  Marcelo Ríos | 6–7, 2–6 |
| Runner-up | 4. | 22 October 2001 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Hard |  Marat Safin | 6–3, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 5. | 29 April 2002 | Munich, Germany | Clay |  Younes El Aynaoui | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 6. | 13 January 2003 | Australian Open, Melbourne | Hard |  Andre Agassi | 2–6, 2–6, 1–6 |
| Runner-up | 7. | 8 September 2003 | Costa do Sauipe, Brazil | Hard |  Sjeng Schalken | 2–6, 4–6 |
| Winner | 3. | 29 September 2003 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Sébastien Grosjean | 7–6, 6–2 |
| Winner | 4. | 6 October 2003 | Lyon, France | Carpet | Arnaud Clément | 7–5, 6–3 |
| Runner-up | 8. | 19 April 2004 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Clay |  Guillermo Coria | 2–6, 1–6, 3–6 |
Doubles: 6 (4–2)
;Wins| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent | Score |
| 1. | 16 July 2001 | Stuttgart, Germany | Clay | Guillermo Cañas |  Michael Hill Jeff Tarango | 4–6, 7–6, 6–4 |
| 2. | 3 January 2005 | Chennai, India | Hard |  Lu Yen-hsun |  Mahesh Bhupathi Jonas Björkman | 7–5, 4–6, 7–6 |
| 3. | 14 April 2008 | Houston, United States | Clay |  Ernests Gulbis |  Pablo Cuevas Marcel Granollers Pujol | 7–5, 7–6 |
| 4. | 4 May 2008 | Munich, Germany | Clay |  Michael Berrer | Scott Lipsky David Martin | 7–5, 3–6, |
;Runner-ups
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| 1. | 20 October 2003 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Hard | Michael Kohlmann |  Julian Knowle Nenad Zimonjić | 6–7, 3–6 |
| 2. | 4 July 2005 | Gstaad, Switzerland | Clay | Michael Kohlmann |  František Čermák Leoš Friedl | 6–7, 6–7 |