Łukasz Kubot

2007–2009

In 2007 Kubot's two main-draw wins came in Davis Cup ties. In 2008 Kubot did not play a single main-draw match.

Kubot started 2009 by competing in the qualifying rounds of Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the Australian Open, but he fell in the final round. He then qualified for the Brasil Open, where he recorded his first main-draw win in over one and a half year against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, but lost in the following round to Thomaz Bellucci. He then continued to play in qualifying, but failed to qualify. However, in the 2009 Serbia Open, he fell in the final round of the qualifying draw, but was granted a Lucky Loser spot after Steve Darcis withdrew due a shoulder injury. He defeated Arsenije Zlatanović, Igor Andreev, Kristof Vliegen, and an upset victory over second seed Ivo Karlović. He then lost in straight sets against World No. 3 and top seed Novak Djokovic, in his first final. He became the first Pole to reach an ATP final in 26 years (since Wojciech Fibak in 1983). He also reached the doubles final at the same event partnering Oliver Marach, which he won.

At Roland Garros, he qualified, but lost to Viktor Troicki in the first round, in just around 4 hours. His next main-draw appearance came in MercedesCup in Stuttgart, where he recorded wins over Pablo Andújar and Philipp Kohlschreiber, but lost to Nicolas Kiefer in the quarterfinals. He then qualified in Cincinnati, but lost to José Acasuso, in the first round. In Beijing, he recorded the biggest win of his career by upsetting Andy Roddick in the very first round, but lost to Ivan Ljubičić the following round. He then lost in the first rounds of Shanghai and Vienna. In the 2009 BNP Paribas Masters, he defeated Andreas Beck, but lost to Marin Čilić, after qualifying.

In doubles, he won the 2009 Grand Prix Hassan II, the 2009 Serbia Open, and the 2009 Bank Austria-TennisTrophy, all with his regular doubles partner Oliver Marach. They also reached the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, losing to Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. They were able to qualify in the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, falling in the round-robin stage despite winning two matches over the teams of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram, and Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes, only losing to Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan

2010

Łukasz Kubot can-can dancing

Kubot started his 2010 campaign in Doha, where he reached the quarterfinals, losing to Viktor Troicki, after recording straight-set wins over Karim Maamoun and Sergiy Stakhovsky. He then played in the Australian Open, where he reached his first fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament. He earned this spot by defeating Mischa Zverev, and Santiago Giraldo, and through the withdrawal of 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny. He was defeated by Novak Djokovic. In the Movistar Open, he lost to Marcel Granollers, after defeating Horacio Zeballos. In the 2010 Brasil Open, he reached the final, his second of his career. He earned that by defeating Óscar Hernández, Albert Montañés, and Fabio Fognini, in straight sets. He came back against fourth seed Igor Andreev in the semifinals. In the final, he lost to top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, failing to hold serve in the whole match.

He then suffered early losses in his next three tournaments to credible players in the 2010 Copa Telmex, losing to Juan Mónaco, in the 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel to Fernando Verdasco, and the 2010 BNP Paribas Open to David Nalbandian. He then regained form, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2010 Grand Prix Hassan II, losing to Potito Starace. However, he lost in the first round of the 2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to Viktor Troicki.

2011

Łukasz Kubot in 2013

At the 2011 French Open, Kubot was down two sets to none in his first-round match against 11th seed Nicolás Almagro. Kubot stormed back and won the match in five sets. He progressed to the third round, before he was ousted. He earned the nickname "Lukasz the Lionhearted" for his aggressive style of play.

He then qualified for the 2011 Wimbledon Championships and advanced to the fourth round, defeating Arnaud Clément in five sets, Ivo Karlović in straight sets, and Gaël Monfils in four sets. In the fourth round, he led Feliciano López by two sets to love and had two match points in the third set tiebreak, but eventually lost in five sets.

2012: Stuttgart Open doubles title

Kubot made the quarterfinals in Memphis, before losing to Benjamin Becker. He also made the quarterfinals in Bucharest, only to meet and lose to Gilles Simon.

He made the third round of the French Open, losing to Belgian David Goffin.

He made the quarterfinals in Gstaad, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov. At Winston-Salem, he made the third round, only to lose again to Goffin.

In doubles, he made three finals, including the Masters 1000 event in Rome, partnering Janko Tipsarević. He won the tournament in Stuttgart, partnering Jérémy Chardy.

2013: Wimbledon quarterfinal

Łukasz Kubot in 2013

Ranked no. 130 in the world, Kubot reached the quarterfinals of 2013 Wimbledon Championships. He beat Igor Andreev in the first round before getting a walkover after second round opponent (and conqueror of Rafael Nadal in the first round) Steve Darcis withdrew through injury. He then beat Benoît Paire and Adrian Mannarino before losing in a historic all-Polish slam quarterfinal against Jerzy Janowicz.

2014: Australian Open doubles title

In January Kubot and Sweden's Robert Lindstedt won the Australian Open men's doubles title. The pair had played just two tennis tournaments together, losing in the first round of both, before entering the Australian Open. In the final they defeated American Eric Butorac and South African Raven Klaasen, who had knocked out top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. Lindstedt said he had been slated to play with Jürgen Melzer, but the Austrian withdrew with injury before the tournament. "I had to scramble up a partner in December and I'm thankful that Kubot said yes," stated Lindstedt.^[3]

2016: Third Vienna Open doubles title and race to Rio

Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, 2016 Vienna Open Champions

In August Kubot participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Partnered with Marcin Matkowski, he defeated Indian tennis pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna. Subsequently, Kubot and Matkowski lost to the eighth seeded Spanish pair of Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer in the second round.^[4] Kubot also participated in the mixed doubles, where he was partnered with the 2015 WTA Finals winner, Agnieszka Radwańska. Radwanska and Kubot lost to the Romanian pair of Irina Camelia Begu and Horia Tecau in the first round. In October, Kubot partnered with Marcelo Melo defeated Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin to win the Vienna Open Doubles Title for the third time in his career.

2017: Wimbledon doubles title and year-end No. 1 ATP doubles ranking

Łukasz Kubot with Marcelo Melo at the Citi Open in 2017

In March Kubot with his doubles partner Marcelo Melo reached the doubles final at Indian Wells Masters. Eighth seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo reached the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals after breezing past tricky wild card duo, Nick Kyrgios and Nenad Zimonjić. The Polish-Brazilian pair then defeated fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to reach the final against the 6th seeds, South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and his American doubles partner, Rajeev Ram.^[5] At the 2017 Miami Open Kubot and Melo dropped only three sets en route to the final, defeating Marcus Daniell & Marcelo Demoliner, Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecău, Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares in QF and Daniel Nestor & Brian Baker in SF to reach their second straight ATP Masters 1000 final.^[6] The sixth-seeded Kubot and Melo defeated American duo Nick Monroe and Jack Sock in straight sets. They made it all the way together at an ATP event for the first time this season. It was their first ever Masters 1000 title won as a team as well. Kubot and Melo have continued their streak of claiming at least one ATP doubles title together in a season for the third straight year. They're back-to-back Vienna doubles champions, having won the tournament together in 2015 and 2016.^[7] Miami Open was their 11th career tournament together, with a current overall 22-8 record and 12-6 record in 2017.

In April Kubot and Melo reached the quarter-finals at the Monte-Carlo Masters, the season's third Masters 1000 tournament. The following month they reached their third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final of the season after they defeated seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers at the Mutua Madrid Open (tennis).^[8] In the Mutua Madrid Open final they defeated French duo consisting of Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin to win their second Masters 1000 doubles title this season.^[9] Seeded fourth at the French Open Kubot and Melo overcame a first round challenge from Julien Benneteau and Jeremy Chardy to advance to the second round. In the 2nd round they lost to Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus.^[10]

Kubot and Melo continued their outstanding season by taking the doubles title at the Ricoh Open, living up to their top seed status in 's-Hertogenbosch by defeating second seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram. “We’ve had a really good year. It’s another title for us, so we’re very happy with the way we’re playing,” said Kubot.^[11] As top seeds Kubot and Melo continued their dominance on grass courts by taking the doubles title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, outlasting brothers Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev. Their victory in Halle also further extended their lead in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.^[12] They stayed perfect on the grass courts, ousting top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the Wimbledon semi-finals. In the Wimbledon final, the fourth seeds defeated 16th seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.^[13] The final lasted a marathon 4 hours 41 minutes and was only the fourth Wimbledon men's doubles final to go to five sets in the last 20 years.^[14]

In November Kubot and Melo won the men’s doubles title at the Paris Masters tennis tournament. The pair beat Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers in the final. The Polish-Brazilian duo made the final after easing past Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in the semifinal and Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez in the quarterfinals. The Paris victory marks Kubot and Melo’s sixth title of the season, after wins at Wimbledon, Miami, Madrid, Halle and s'Hertogenbosch. Following the Paris Masters Kubot officially moved up to world No. 2 in the Association of Tennis Professionals’ (ATP) doubles rankings.

At the Nitto ATP Finals top seeds Kubot and Melo outclassed No. 7 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers to clinch year-end No. 1 ATP doubles ranking. "This year has been amazing for me and Lukas, the first year we're playing together. Finishing as the No. 1 team in the world for me, it means a lot", Melo said, "We achieved this as a team. I'm very proud".^[15] They also defeated four-time former season finale champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan^[16] and subsequently qualified for the semi-finals.^[17] In the semifinal they knocked out eighth seed Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus for a place in the title match. In the final Kubot and Melo, who were 49-17 for the season, fell to second seeds and defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers.^[18]

2018 No. 1 in the ATP doubles rankings, tied with Marcelo Melo

At the start of the season top-seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo defeated Jan-Lennard Struff and Viktor Troicki to capture the Sydney International men's doubles title.^[19]

Following Sydney Kubot attained No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings, and has become the 51st player since 1976 to reach the pinnacle of the sport. "It’s great for Poland," said Kubot. "I’m happy that I’m one of the ambassadors for tennis in my country, putting Polish tennis on the map of the world. I’m grateful to Wojtek Fibak, who was No. 2 in doubles (1979) and Top 10 in singles (1977). He gave me a lot of advice from his experience, and motivation".^[20]

Top seeds Kubot and Melo advanced to the Australian Open quarter-finals after coming from a set down to beat 16th seeds Rajeev Ram and Divij Sharan. Unbeaten in 2018, they lost to Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarterfinal.^[21]

In Halle, Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot—who went undefeated on grass last year—defended their title, beating Alexander and Mischa Zverev in the final. It was Melo and Kubot’s first title victory since January in Sydney. At Wimbledon, seeded second, Kubot and Melo lost to Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski in the second round.

Fifth seeds Kubot and Melo advanced to the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open for the second year in a row, beating Rogers Cup finalists Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus. The Polish-Brazilian duo avenged a loss they suffered against the same team one week ago in Toronto. In the quarterfinal Kubot and Melo lost to fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who triumphed in Acapulco and Washington, D.C. earlier this season. It was the first Head2Head meeting between the two teams this year^[22].

Seeded seventh at the US Open, Kubot and Melo defeated Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak in the second round. In the third round they overpowered the 2018 French Open champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. They continued their great form with a straight set win over Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren to reach their first US Open semifinal. In the semifinal they defeated Malek Jaziri and Radu Albot for a spot in the final of the Men’s doubles event at the 2018 US Open^[23]. Kubot and Melo came into the tournament having lost five of their previous seven matches and also ended up losing to the third-seeded Americans Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in the final.^[24].

No. 2 seeds Kubot and Melo beat top-seeded Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the China Open final to claim their third team title of the season^[25]. Following China Open they also won the Rolex Shanghai Masters doubles title. In the Shanghai final they defeated sixth-seeded Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to continue their strong form and win back-to-back titles^[26].

For the second consecutive season Kubot and Melo qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals and will be playing at The O2 Arena in London. No. 3 seeds Kubot and Melo secured a spot for the prestigious season-ending event after beating second-seeded Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic in the Rolex Shanghai Masters semi-final^[27].

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	2014	Australian Open	Hard	Robert Lindstedt	Eric Butorac Raven Klaasen	6–3, 6–3
Win	2017	Wimbledon	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Oliver Marach Mate Pavić	5–7, 7–5, 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 13–11
Loss	2018	US Open	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Mike Bryan Jack Sock	3–6, 1–6

Year-End Championships

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2017	ATP Finals, London	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Henri Kontinen John Peers	4–6, 2–6

Masters 1000 finals

Doubles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	2012	Italian Open	Clay	Janko Tipsarević	Marcel Granollers Marc López	3–6, 2–6
Loss	2017	Indian Wells Masters	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Raven Klaasen Rajeev Ram	7–6 (7–1) , 4–6, [8–10]
Win	2017	Miami Open	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Nicholas Monroe Jack Sock	7–5, 6–3
Win	2017	Madrid Open	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Nicolas Mahut Édouard Roger-Vasselin	7–5, 6–3
Loss	2017	Shanghai Masters	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Henri Kontinen John Peers	4–6, 2–6
Win	2017	Paris Masters	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Ivan Dodig Marcel Granollers	7–6(7–3), 3–6, [10–6]
Win	2018	Shanghai Masters	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Jamie Murray Bruno Soares	6–4, 6–2

Singles: 2 (2 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2009	Serbia Open, Serbia	250 Series	Clay	Novak Djokovic	3–6, 6–7(0–7)
Loss	0–2	Feb 2010	Brasil Open, Brazil	250 Series	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	1–6, 0–6

Doubles: 39 (24 titles, 15 runners-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Apr 2007	Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco	International	Clay	Oliver Marach	Jordan Kerr David Škoch	6–7(4–7), 6–1, [4–10]
Loss	0–2	Oct 2007	Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, France	International	Carpet (i)	Lovro Zovko	Sébastien Grosjean Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	4–6, 3–6
Loss	0–3	Mar 2009	Mexican Open, Mexico	500 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	František Čermák Michal Mertiňák	6–4, 4–6, [7–10]
Win	1–3	Apr 2009	Grand Prix Hassan II, Morocco (2)	250 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Simon Aspelin Paul Hanley	7–6(7–4), 3–6, [10–6]
Win	2–3	May 2009	Serbia Open, Serbia	250 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Johan Brunström Jean-Julien Rojer	6–2, 7–6(7–3)
Win	3–3	Nov 2009	Vienna Open, Austria	250 Series	Hard (i)	Oliver Marach	Julian Knowle Jürgen Melzer	2–6, 6–4, [11–9]
Win	4–3	Feb 2010	Chile Open, Chile	250 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Potito Starace Horacio Zeballos	6–4, 6–0
Loss	4–4	Feb 2010	Brasil Open, Brazil	250 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Pablo Cuevas Marcel Granollers	5–7, 4–6
Win	5–4	Feb 2010	Mexican Open, Mexico (2)	500 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Fabio Fognini Potito Starace	6–0, 6–0
Win	6–4	Sep 2010	Romanian Open, Romania	250 Series	Clay	Juan Ignacio Chela	Marcel Granollers Santiago Ventura	6–2, 5–7, [13–11]
Loss	6–5	Feb 2011	Chile Open, Chile	250 Series	Clay	Oliver Marach	Bruno Soares Marcelo Melo	3–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss	6–6	Apr 2012	Romanian Open, Romania (2)	250 Series	Clay	Jérémy Chardy	Robert Lindstedt Horia Tecău	6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss	6–7	May 2012	Italian Open, Italy	Masters 1000	Clay	Janko Tipsarević	Marcel Granollers Marc López	3–6, 2–6
Win	7–7	Jul 2012	Stuttgart Open, Germany	250 Series	Clay	Jérémy Chardy	Michal Mertiňák André Sá	6–1, 6–3
Win	8–7	Feb 2013	Mexican Open, Mexico (3)	500 Series	Clay	David Marrero	Simone Bolelli Fabio Fognini	7–5, 6–2
Win	9–7	Jan 2014	Australian Open, Australia	Grand Slam	Hard	Robert Lindstedt	Eric Butorac Raven Klaasen	6–3, 6–3
Win	10–7	Jun 2015	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	250 Series	Grass	Ivo Karlović	Pierre-Hugues Herbert Nicolas Mahut	6–2, 7–6(11–9)
Win	11–7	Jul 2015	Swedish Open, Sweden	250 Series	Clay	Jérémy Chardy	Juan Sebastián Cabal Robert Farah	6–7(6–8), 6–3, [10–8]
Win	12–7	Sep 2015	Moselle Open, France	250 Series	Hard (i)	Édouard Roger-Vasselin	Pierre-Hugues Herbert Nicolas Mahut	2–6, 6–3, [10–7]
Win	13–7	Oct 2015	Vienna Open, Austria (2)	500 Series	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Jamie Murray John Peers	4–6, 7–6(7–3), [10–6]
Loss	13–8	May 2016	Estoril Open, Portugal	250 Series	Clay	Marcin Matkowski	Eric Butorac Scott Lipsky	4–6, 6–3, [8–10]
Loss	13–9	Jun 2016	Halle Open, Germany	500 Series	Grass	Alexander Peya	Raven Klaasen Rajeev Ram	6–7(5–7), 2–6
Loss	13–10	Jul 2016	Washington Open, US	500 Series	Hard	Alexander Peya	Daniel Nestor Édouard Roger-Vasselin	6–7(3–7), 6–7(4–7)
Win	14–10	Oct 2016	Vienna Open, Austria (3)	500 Series	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Oliver Marach Fabrice Martin	4–6, 6–3, [13–11]
Loss	14–11	Mar 2017	Indian Wells Masters, US	Masters 1000	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Raven Klaasen Rajeev Ram	7–6(7–1), 4–6, [8–10]
Win	15–11	Apr 2017	Miami Open, US	Masters 1000	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Nicholas Monroe Jack Sock	7–5, 6–3
Win	16–11	May 2017	Madrid Open, Spain	Masters 1000	Clay	Marcelo Melo	Nicolas Mahut Édouard Roger-Vasselin	7–5, 6–3
Win	17–11	Jun 2017	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands (2)	250 Series	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Raven Klaasen Rajeev Ram	6–3, 6–4
Win	18–11	Jun 2017	Halle Open, Germany	500 Series	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Alexander Zverev Mischa Zverev	5–7, 6–3, [10–8]
Win	19–11	Jul 2017	Wimbledon, UK	Grand Slam	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Oliver Marach Mate Pavić	5–7, 7–5, 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 13–11
Loss	19–12	Aug 2017	Washington Open, US (2)	500 Series	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Henri Kontinen John Peers	6–7(5-7), 4-6
Loss	19–13	Oct 2017	Shanghai Masters, China	Masters 1000	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Henri Kontinen John Peers	4–6, 2–6
Win	20–13	Nov 2017	Paris Masters, France	Masters 1000	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Ivan Dodig Marcel Granollers	7–6(7–3), 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	20–14	Nov 2017	ATP Finals, UK	Tour Finals	Hard (i)	Marcelo Melo	Henri Kontinen John Peers	4–6, 2–6
Win	21–14	Jan 2018	Sydney International, Australia	250 Series	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Jan-Lennard Struff Viktor Troicki	6–3, 6–4
Win	22–14	Jun 2018	Halle Open, Germany (2)	500 Series	Grass	Marcelo Melo	Alexander Zverev Mischa Zverev	7–6(7–1), 6–4
Loss	22–15	Sep 2018	US Open, US	Grand Slam	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Mike Bryan Jack Sock	3–6, 1–6
Win	23–15	Oct 2018	China Open, China	500 Series	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Oliver Marach Mate Pavić	6–1, 6–4
Win	24–15	Oct 2018	Shanghai Masters, China	Masters 1000	Hard	Marcelo Melo	Jamie Murray Bruno Soares	6–4, 6–2

Singles

* At the 2010 Australian Open, Kubot's third-round match was a walkover

Doubles