Florian Mayer

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Florian Mayer is a professional male tennis player from Germany. He began playing tennis at the age of five and idolised Boris Becker and Pete Sampras growing up. As a junior he trained at the German Tennis Federation and turned professional at the age of 17 in 2001. Most of his early career was spent largely playing on the Futures tour and in 2002 posted a 16-10 record and 1-4 in Challenger play. During the season he reached one final in Spain, losing to Rafa Nadal. In 2003, Mayer won his first Challenger title in his first final at St.Petersburg (d. Mertinak). He also won his first career Futures title in Spain (d. Navarro Pastor). His breakthrough year came in 2004 when he made one of the biggest jumps of any player to finish in the Top 50, climbing over 200 ranking positions from the previous year. He started the season by qualifying for his first Grand Slam event and reached the second round, beating Richard Gasquet in straight sets before losing to Argentine David Nalbandian. He returned to Europe to play a Challenger event in his home country at Wolfsburg, losing in the final to Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic. In March, he won his first title of the season at the Mexico City Challenger. He then reached his first ATP semi-final on the clay courts in Estoril, losing to Juan Iganacio Chela. On his Roland Garros debut he defeated world number 16 Fernando Gonzalez in the first round before losing to Nicolas Escude in the second. At Wimbledon he posted his best Grand Slam performance to date, reaching the quarter-final (l.Grosjean) and defeating Arthurs, Coria, Ferreira and Johansson en route. Shortly after, Mayer reached his third ATP quarter final of the season at Kitzbuhel, losing to fellow countryman Ranier Schuettler. His next tournament came at the Olympic Games in Athens, losing to Tomas Berdych in the first round 3-6, 5-7. At the US Open he reached the second round, where he was forced to retire against Andre Agassi due to injury. He recovered to play at Bucharest two weeks later and reached the semi-final, losing to Russia's Igor Andreev 6-2, 1-6, 4-6.

In 2005, the German advanced to first ATP final in Sopot, defeating Jarkko Nieminen and Guillermo Coria before losing to Gael Monfils. He also reached the quarter final stages in Bucharest and advanced to the fourth round at the Masters Series event in Miami (d. Kiefer, Gonzalez, l. Dent). During the season he also helped Germany to its fourth ATP World Team Championships title and in doubles reached his first final in Munich, partnered with fellow countryman Alexander Waske. In 2006, Mayer achieved a career-high 26 match wins. In the first half of the year, the German struggled and posted a record of 9-12, before putting together a 17-9 mark in the final five months of action. In July, he finished runner-up in Sopot for the second straight year, losing to world number six Nikolay Davydenko. He also reached a quarter final on the grass courts at Halle in build up for Wimbledon and the same stages on the clay courts of Stuttgart and Bucharest. In limited challenger play he won three titles at Furth, Tampere and Graz and posted a 19-2 match record. In Davis Cup play he won both of his matches in a play-off tie against Thailand, lifting Germany back into the World Group for the 2007 season.

In 2007,Mayer finished in the Top 75 for the fourth consecutive season, highlighted by four quarter final appearances. At the Australian Open he achieved his best finish by reaching the third round, losing to compatriot Tommy Haas and followed this with back-to-back quarter finals at Delray Beach (l. Blake) and Rotterdam (l. Ljubicic). He compiled a 12-4 record in Challenger play and in May reached the first of three Challenger finals at Dresden, Prostejov and Braunscweig. In the first half of the 2008 season, Mayer reached the quarter final at the ATP event in Auckland, losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-6, 4-6. He missed the second half of the season due to injury, playing in just one Grand Slam event at the Australian Open where he made an early first round exit.