Rainer Schüttler (German pronunciation: [ˈraɪnɐ ˈʃʏtlɐ]; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 5 in April 2004.

Rainer Schüttler
Schüttler at the 2011 Queen's Club
ITF nameRainer Schuettler
Country (sports) Germany
ResidenceAltstätten, Switzerland
Born (1976-04-25) 25 April 1976 (age 48)
Korbach, West Germany
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro1995
Retired2012
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$7,407,508
Singles
Career record327–337
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 5 (26 April 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenF (2003)
French Open4R (2003)
WimbledonSF (2008)
US Open4R (2003)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsSF (2003)
Olympic Games2R (2000, 2008)
Doubles
Career record124–172
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 40 (11 July 2005)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (2004, 2007, 2010, 2011)
French OpenQF (2007)
WimbledonQF (2005)
US Open2R (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games Silver medal (2004)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
WimbledonQF (2004)
Medal record
Representing  Germany
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2004 Athens Doubles

Early life

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He began playing tennis at the age of nine. He resides in Switzerland.

Career

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2003–2009

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In 2003, Schüttler became the first German since Boris Becker in 1989 to advance to the fourth round at all Grand Slam tournaments. 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.

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.

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.

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.[1][permanent dead link]

 
Schüttler at the 2011 French Open

2010–2011

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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.

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.

Schüttler officially retired in October 2012.

Significant finals

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Olympic final

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Doubles: 1 (silver medal)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Silver 2004 Athens Olympics Hard   Nicolas Kiefer   Fernando González
  Nicolás Massú
2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6

Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 1 (runner-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 2003 Australian Open Hard   Andre Agassi 2–6, 2–6, 1–6

Masters Series finals

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Singles: 1 (runner-up)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 2004 Monte Carlo Clay   Guillermo Coria 2–6, 1–6, 3–6

ATP Tour finals

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Singles: 12 (4 titles, 8 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–1)
ATP Championship Series (1–0)
ATP International Series (3–6)
Finals by surface
Hard (3–6)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (3–7)
Indoors (1–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jan 1999 Doha, Qatar World Series Hard   Tim Henman 6–4, 5–7, 6–1
Loss 1–1 Apr 1999 Chennai, India World Series Hard   Byron Black 4–6, 6–1, 3–6
Loss 1–2 Jan 2000 Doha, Qatar International Series Hard   Fabrice Santoro 6–3, 5–7, 0–3 ret.
Win 2–2 Sep 2001 Shanghai, China International Series Hard   Michel Kratochvil 6–3, 6–4
Loss 2–3 Sep 2001 Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Series Hard   Marcelo Ríos 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Loss 2–4 Oct 2001 St. Petersburg, Russia International Series Hard (i)   Marat Safin 6–3, 3–6, 3–6
Loss 2–5 Apr 2002 Munich, Germany International Series Clay   Younes El Aynaoui 4–6, 4–6
Loss 2–6 Jan 2003 Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard   Andre Agassi 2–6, 2–6, 1–6
Loss 2–7 Sep 2003 Costa do Sauipe, Brazil International Series Hard   Sjeng Schalken 2–6, 4–6
Win 3–7 Sep 2003 Tokyo, Japan Championship Series Hard   Sébastien Grosjean 7–6(7–5), 6–2
Win 4–7 Oct 2003 Lyon, France International Series Carpet (i)   Arnaud Clément 7–5, 6–3
Loss 4–8 Apr 2004 Monte Carlo, Monaco Masters Series Clay   Guillermo Coria 2–6, 1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (1–0)
ATP International Series (3–4)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (3–1)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (4–3)
Indoors (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2001 Stuttgart, Germany Championship Series Clay   Guillermo Cañas   Michael Hill
  Jeff Tarango
4–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–4
Loss 1–1 Oct 2003 St. Petersburg, Russia International Series Hard (i)   Michael Kohlmann   Julian Knowle
  Nenad Zimonjić
6–7(1–7), 3–6
Win 2–1 Jan 2005 Chennai, India International Series Hard   Lu Yen-hsun   Mahesh Bhupathi
  Jonas Björkman
7–5, 4–6, 7–6(7–4)
Loss 2–2 Jul 2005 Gstaad, Switzerland International Series Clay   Michael Kohlmann   František Čermák
  Leoš Friedl
6–7(6–8), 6–7(11–13)
Loss 2–3 Jun 2006 Halle, Germany International Series Grass   Michael Kohlmann   Fabrice Santoro
  Nenad Zimonjić
0–6, 4–6
Loss 2–4 Feb 2007 San Jose, United States International Series Hard   Chris Haggard   Eric Butorac
  Jamie Murray
5–7, 6–7(6–8)
Win 3–4 Apr 2008 Houston, United States International Series Clay   Ernests Gulbis   Pablo Cuevas
  Marcel Granollers Pujol
7–5, 7–6(7–3)
Win 4–4 May 2008 Munich, Germany International Series Clay   Michael Berrer   Scott Lipsky
  David Martin
7–5, 3–6, [10–8]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles (6–8)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (6–8)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (3–6)
Carpet (3–2)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0-1 Feb 1997 Lübeck, Germany Challenger Carpet   Geoff Grant 3–6, 3–6
Win 1-1 Oct 1997 Eckental, Germany Challenger Carpet   Petr Luxa 6–4, 6–1
Loss 1-2 Dec 1997 Bad Lippspringe, Germany Challenger Carpet   Michael Kohlmann 6–4, 6–7, 5–7
Win 2-2 Nov 1998 Portorož, Slovenia Challenger Hard   Peter Wessels 6–3, 6–2
Loss 2-3 Oct 2000 Bratislava, Slovakia Challenger Hard   Davide Sanguinetti 5–7, 1–6
Win 3-3 Nov 2000 Aachen, Germany Challenger Carpet   Johan Settergren 7–6(7–5), 1–6, 6–1
Loss 3-4 Aug 2006 Graz, Austria Challenger Hard   Florian Mayer 4–6, 7–5, 2–6
Win 4-4 Nov 2006 Aachen, Germany Challenger Carpet   Evgeny Korolev 6–3, 7–5
Win 5-4 Nov 2007 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Challenger Hard   Sergiy Stakhovsky 7–6(7–2), 6–2
Loss 5-5 Apr 2010 Athens, Greece Challenger Hard   Lu Yen-hsun 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 4–6
Loss 5-6 May 2010 Rhodes, Greece Challenger Hard   Dudi Sela 6–7(3–7), 3–6
Loss 5-7 Mar 2011 Dallas, United States Challenger Hard   Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6–7(5–7), 3–6
Loss 5-8 May 2011 Cremona, Italy Challenger Hard   Igor Kunitsyn 2–6, 6–7(2–7)
Win 6-8 Aug 2011 Astana, Kazakhstan Challenger Hard   Teymuraz Gabashvili 7–6(8–6), 4–6, 6–4

Doubles (2–0)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (2–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Oct 1997 Eckental, Germany Challenger Carpet   Lars Rehmann   Georg Blumauer
  Max Mirnyi
6–4, 1–6, 6–3
Win 2–0 Jan 2007 Heilbronn, Germany Challenger Hard   Michael Kohlmann   Sander Groen
  Michaël Llodra
walkover

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A Q3 Q1 Q2 1R 2R 4R 3R F 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R Q2 0 / 13 15–13 54%
French Open A A Q1 Q2 1R 1R 1R 2R 4R 1R 1R 1R Q3 1R 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 12 4–12 25%
Wimbledon A Q1 Q1 1R 2R 3R 2R 3R 4R 3R 1R 1R A SF 2R 2R 2R A 0 / 13 19–13 59%
US Open A A Q2 Q2 1R 3R 2R 1R 4R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R A A 0 / 12 7–12 37%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–4 5–4 5–4 5–4 15–4 2–4 2–4 0–4 0–2 6–4 1–4 2–4 1–3 0–0 0 / 50 45–50 47%
Year-end championships
Tennis Masters Cup did not qualify SF did not qualify 0 / 1 2–2 33%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics NH A not held 2R not held 1R not held 2R not held A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A A A A A 1R QF SF 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R A 0 / 11 11–11 50%
Miami A Q1 Q1 A 1R 1R 2R 2R 3R 2R 2R Q1 Q1 1R 3R 1R 2R A 0 / 11 5–11 31%
Monte Carlo A A A A A 1R 1R 1R 2R F 1R A A A 1R A A A 0 / 7 6–7 46%
Rome A A A Q2 A A 1R 1R QF 1R 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Hamburg Q1 A Q1 Q1 3R 2R 1R 2R 3R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A A A A 0 / 10 7–10 41%
Madrid (Clay) not held held on hard 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Canada A A A A 1R A A 1R SF 1R A A A A 2R A A A 0 / 5 5–5 50%
Cincinnati A A A A 3R A A QF SF 1R A A A A Q2 A A A 0 / 4 9–4 69%
Stuttgart A Q2 A Q1 1R 1R 1R not held 0 / 3 0–3 0%
Madrid (Hard) not held 1R 2R 2R A A A 1R held on clay 0 / 4 0–4 0%
Shanghai not held 1R A A A 0 / 1 2–1 67%
Paris A A A A 1R A A 1R QF 1R A A A 1R A A A A 0 / 5 2–5 29%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–6 1–4 1–6 7–9 21–9 5–9 2–5 2–2 0–2 0–5 4–6 1–2 2–2 0–0 0 / 67 50–67 43%
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 446 332 117 109 47 45 43 33 6 42 88 97 99 33 85 84 132 855

Doubles

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Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 2R 0 / 10 4–10 29%
French Open A A A A A 1R A 1R 2R 1R QF A A A 2R 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Wimbledon A A A A A 2R A 1R QF 2R A A 1R 1R 1R 0 / 7 5–7 42%
US Open A A A A Q1 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R 2R 2R A A A 0 / 7 5–7 42%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–4 1–2 2–4 4–4 2–4 5–3 1–2 0–2 1–2 2–3 0 / 30 19–30 39%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics not held A not held F-S not held 1R not held 0 / 2 4–2 67%
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A A A A A 1R QF 1R A A A 1R A A 0 / 4 2–4 33%
Miami A A A A A A 2R 1R A A A A 1R A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Monte Carlo A A A 1R Q1 A 2R A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Rome A A A A Q1 A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Hamburg Q2 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 1R 2R not held 0 / 11 7–11 39%
Canada A A A A A 2R 2R 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Cincinnati A A A A A 1R 1R 2R A A A A A A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Stuttgart A A 2R 1R A not held 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Madrid (Hard) not held A A 2R A A A A held on clay 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Paris A A A A A 1R 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Win–loss 0–0 1–1 2–2 1–3 0–1 1–4 3–7 5–6 1–2 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–0 0 / 31 16–31 34%
Career statistics
Year-end ranking 428 276 424 199 135 144 73 72 53 74 69 99 151 243 323

Top 10 wins

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Season 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total
Wins 0 0 1 0 2 0 2 3 7 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 19
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score SR
1997
1.   Thomas Enqvist 7 Chennai, India Hard 1R 6–6 ret. 229
1999
2.   Tim Henman 7 Doha, Qatar Hard F 6–4, 5–7, 6–1 124
3.   Carlos Moyá 2 Chennai, India Hard QF 6–1, 3–0 ret. 71
2001
4.   Juan Carlos Ferrero 5 Hong Kong Hard QF 6–3, 7–6(8–6) 44
5.   Juan Carlos Ferrero 5 St. Petersburg, Russia Hard (i) 1R 7–6(10–8), 6–4 46
2002
6.   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 4 Doha, Qatar Hard QF 7–5, 6–4 43
7.   Thomas Johansson 8 Munich, Germany Clay 1R 7–5, 6–3 29
8.   Yevgeny Kafelnikov 5 Cincinnati, United States Hard 1R 6–3, 6–2 26
2003
9.   Andy Roddick 10 Australian Open, Melbourne Hard SF 7–5, 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 36
10.   Andy Roddick 6 Indian Wells, United States Hard QF 6–3, 6–2 15
11.   Jiří Novák 9 Rome, Italy Clay 3R 6–4, 7–6(7–2) 13
12.   Andre Agassi 1 Montreal, Canada Hard QF 2–6, 6–2, 6–3 8
13.   Sébastien Grosjean 10 Tokyo, Japan Hard F 7–6(7–5), 6–2 8
14.   Guillermo Coria 4 Tennis Masters Cup, Houston Hard RR 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 6
15.   Andy Roddick 1 Tennis Masters Cup, Houston Hard RR 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–3) 6
2004
16.   Tim Henman 7 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay QF 6–3, 6–1 6
17.   Carlos Moyá 8 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay SF 7–6(7–5), 6–4 6
2008
18.   James Blake 8 Wimbledon, London Grass 2R 6–3, 6–7(8–10), 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 94
2009
19.   Gilles Simon 7 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay RR 6–4, 6–4 29

Coaching career

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After retirement, he began his coaching career and has coached Janko Tipsarević, 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.[1]

Personal life

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In 2014 Rainer met Serbian Jovana Sesevic, whose sister Biljana is married to another former top 10 player, Janko Tipsarević.[2] They married in 2015 and have two sons (Noah and Leon) and now mostly reside in Switzerland.

References

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  1. ^ Nguyen, Courtney (13 November 2018). "Coaching Carousel: Wimbledon champ Kerber hires former ATP pro Rainer Schüttler". WTA Tennis. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  2. ^ Twitter message
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Awards and achievements
Preceded by ATP Most Improved Player
2003
Succeeded by
Preceded by ATP Comeback Player of the Year
2008
Succeeded by