Radek Štěpánek is a professional tennis player from the Czech
Republic. He uses a Volkl raquet and uses the
Serve-and-Volley tennis strategy.
Štěpánek turned professional in 1996. He started on
tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles.
Since 2003, Štěpánek has focused on being a better
singles player while still playing top level
doubles.
2006 was Štěpánek's best year to date, he found
himself on the verge of getting into the top ten of
ATP rankings, as he defeated José Acasuso in the
semifinals of the Masters Series event in Hamburg.
He went on to lose the final in straight sets
against Spain's Tommy Robredo. At that point, he
achieved a career-high ATP world ranking of No. 11
in singles.
Earlier in 2006, he won his first ATP singles title,
beating Christophe Rochus in Rotterdam, but he had
yet to progress beyond the 3rd round of a Grand Slam
tournament until he got into the quarter-finals at
Wimbledon, where he was eliminated by 34-year-old
Jonas Björkman, after holding match point at 7-6 in
the 4th set tiebreak.
This performance helped Štěpánek break into the top
10 and achieve his highest world ranking of No. 8.
However after Wimbledon, Štěpánek was out of action
for the rest of the year due to a chronic neck
injury.
In the second round of the 2007 U.S. Open, Štěpánek
played a superb match against third seed Novak
Đoković, which he ended up losing after 4h44 of play
in the ultimate tie-break of the fifth set. Although
he lost the match, his defeat was a close one [7-6
(4), 6-7 (5), 7-5, 5-7, 6-7 (2)].
He had been engaged to Swiss tennis star Martina
Hingis, but split up in August 2007. He also owns a
condominium in Bradenton, Florida. He is coached by
former Australian Open champion Petr Korda. Štěpánek
is currently dating Czech tennis player Nicole
Vaidišová.
