Rainer Schüttler (; 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.
Early life He began playing tennis at the age of nine. He resides in Switzerland.
Career
2003–2009 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. His five set 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 in straight sets. 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. In the second round, he beat Simon Greul and in the quarterfinals Björn Phau. 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. 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.
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.
2010–2011 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. 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 but lost in three sets in the second round berth against Ernests Gulbis.
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 in two sets. He also played doubles with Guillermo García López confronting Marco Chiudinelli and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to whom they lost in two sets. At the Australian Open, he played ninth seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round, but lost i straight sets. 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.
Schüttler officially retired in October 2012.
Significant finals Olympic final Doubles: 1 (silver medal) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreSilver2004Athens OlympicsHard Nicolas Kiefer Fernando González Nicolás Massú 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6
Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss2003Australian OpenHard Andre Agassi 2–6, 2–6, 1–6
Masters Series finals Singles: 1 (runner-up) ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss2004Monte CarloClay Guillermo Coria2–6, 1–6, 3–6
ATP Tour finals
Singles: 12 (4 titles, 8 runner-ups) LegendGrand 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 surfaceHard (3–6)Clay (0–2)Grass (0–0)Carpet (1–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (3–7)Indoors (1–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Doha, QatarWorld SeriesHard Tim Henman6–4, 5–7, 6–1Loss1–1Chennai, IndiaWorld SeriesHard Byron Black4–6, 6–1, 3–6Loss1–2Doha, QatarInternational SeriesHard Fabrice Santoro6–3, 5–7, 0–3 ret.Win2–2Shanghai, ChinaInternational SeriesHard Michel Kratochvil6–3, 6–4Loss2–3Hong Kong, Hong KongInternational SeriesHard Marcelo Ríos6–7(3–7), 2–6Loss2–4St. Petersburg, RussiaInternational SeriesHard (i) Marat Safin6–3, 3–6, 3–6Loss2–5Munich, GermanyInternational SeriesClay Younes El Aynaoui4–6, 4–6Loss2–6Melbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard Andre Agassi2–6, 2–6, 1–6Loss2–7Costa do Sauipe, BrazilInternational SeriesHard Sjeng Schalken2–6, 4–6Win3–7Tokyo, JapanChampionship SeriesHard Sébastien Grosjean7–6(7–5), 6–2Win4–7Lyon, FranceInternational SeriesCarpet (i) Arnaud Clément7–5, 6–3Loss4–8Monte Carlo, MonacoMasters SeriesClay Guillermo Coria2–6, 1–6, 3–6
Doubles: 8 (4 titles, 4 runner-ups) LegendGrand 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 surfaceHard (1–2)Clay (3–1)Grass (0–1)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (4–3)Indoors (0–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Stuttgart, GermanyChampionship SeriesClay Guillermo Cañas Michael Hill Jeff Tarango4–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–4Loss1–1St. Petersburg, RussiaInternational SeriesHard (i) Michael Kohlmann Julian Knowle Nenad Zimonjić6–7(1–7), 3–6Win2–1Chennai, IndiaInternational SeriesHard Lu Yen-hsun Mahesh Bhupathi Jonas Björkman7–5, 4–6, 7–6(7–4)Loss2–2Gstaad, SwitzerlandInternational SeriesClay Michael Kohlmann František Čermák Leoš Friedl6–7(6–8), 6–7(11–13)Loss2–3Halle, GermanyInternational SeriesGrass Michael Kohlmann Fabrice Santoro Nenad Zimonjić0–6, 4–6Loss2–4San Jose, United StatesInternational SeriesHard Chris Haggard Eric Butorac Jamie Murray5–7, 6–7(6–8)Win3–4Houston, United StatesInternational SeriesClay Ernests Gulbis Pablo Cuevas Marcel Granollers Pujol7–5, 7–6(7–3)Win4–4Munich, GermanyInternational SeriesClay Michael Berrer Scott Lipsky David Martin7–5, 3–6, [10–8]
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles (6–8) LegendATP Challenger (6–8)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (3–6)Carpet (3–2)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0-1Lübeck, GermanyChallengerCarpet Geoff Grant3–6, 3–6Win1-1Eckental, GermanyChallengerCarpet Petr Luxa6–4, 6–1Loss1-2Bad Lippspringe, GermanyChallengerCarpet Michael Kohlmann6–4, 6–7, 5–7Win2-2Portorož, SloveniaChallengerHard Peter Wessels6–3, 6–2Loss2-3Bratislava, SlovakiaChallengerHard Davide Sanguinetti5–7, 1–6Win3-3Aachen, GermanyChallengerCarpet Johan Settergren7–6(7–5), 1–6, 6–1Loss3-4Graz, AustriaChallengerHard Florian Mayer4–6, 7–5, 2–6Win4-4Aachen, GermanyChallengerCarpet Evgeny Korolev6–3, 7–5Win5-4Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaChallengerHard Sergiy Stakhovsky7–6(7–2), 6–2Loss5-5Athens, GreeceChallengerHard Lu Yen-hsun6–3, 6–7(3–7), 4–6Loss5-6Rhodes, GreeceChallengerHard Dudi Sela6–7(3–7), 3–6Loss5-7Dallas, United StatesChallengerHard Alex Bogomolov Jr.6–7(5–7), 3–6Loss5-8Cremona, ItalyChallengerHard Igor Kunitsyn2–6, 6–7(2–7)Win6-8Astana, KazakhstanChallengerHard Teymuraz Gabashvili7–6(8–6), 4–6, 6–4
Doubles (2–0) LegendATP Challenger (2–0)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Carpet (1–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Eckental, GermanyChallengerCarpet Lars Rehmann Georg Blumauer Max Mirnyi6–4, 1–6, 6–3Win2–0Heilbronn, GermanyChallengerHard Michael Kohlmann Sander Groen Michaël Llodrawalkover
Performance timelines
Singles
Tournament199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012SRW–LWin%Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAQ3Q1Q21R2R4R3RF1R2R1R1R2R1R2R1RQ20 / 1315–13French OpenAAQ1Q21R1R1R2R4R1R1R1RQ31R1R1R1RA0 / 124–12WimbledonAQ1Q11R2R3R2R3R4R3R1R1RASF2R2R2RA0 / 1319–13US OpenAAQ2Q21R3R2R1R4R1R2R1R1R1R1R1RAA0 / 127–12Win–loss0–00–00–00–11–45–45–45–415–42–42–40–40–26–41–42–41–30–00 / 5045–50Year-end championships Tennis Masters Cupdid not qualifySFdid not qualify0 / 12–2Olympic GamesSummer OlympicsNHAnot held2Rnot held1Rnot held2Rnot heldA0 / 32–3ATP World Tour Masters 1000Indian WellsAAAAAA1RQFSF2R2R2R1R1R2R2R2RA0 / 1111–11MiamiAQ1Q1A1R1R2R2R3R2R2RQ1Q11R3R1R2RA0 / 115–11Monte CarloAAAAA1R1R1R2RF1RAAA1RAAA0 / 76–7RomeAAAQ2AA1R1RQF1R1RAAAAAAA0 / 53–5HamburgQ1AQ1Q13R2R1R2R3R1R1R2R1R1RAAAA0 / 107–10Madrid (Clay)not heldheld on hard1RAAA0 / 10–1CanadaAAAA1RAA1RSF1RAAAA2RAAA0 / 55–5CincinnatiAAAA3RAAQFSF1RAAAAQ2AAA0 / 49–4StuttgartAQ2AQ11R1R1Rnot held0 / 30–3Madrid (Hard)not held1R2R2RAAA1Rheld on clay0 / 40–4Shanghainot held1RAAA0 / 12–1ParisAAAA1RAA1RQF1RAAA1RAAAA0 / 52–5Win–loss0–00–00–00–04–61–41–67–921–95–92–52–20–20–54–61–22–20–00 / 6750–67Career statisticsYear-end ranking44633211710947454333642889799338584132855
Doubles Tournament199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011SRW–LWin%Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAA1R1R2R1R1R2R1R1R2R2R0 / 104–10French OpenAAAAA1RA1R2R1RQFAAA2R0 / 65–6WimbledonAAAAA2RA1RQF2RAA1R1R1R0 / 75–7US OpenAAAAQ11R2R2R1R2R2R2RAAA0 / 75–7Win–loss0–00–00–00–00–01–41–22–44–42–45–31–20–21–22–30 / 3019–30Olympic GamesSummer Olympicsnot heldAnot heldF-Snot held1Rnot held0 / 24–2ATP World Tour Masters 1000Indian WellsAAAAAA1RQF1RAAA1RAA0 / 42–4MiamiAAAAAA2R1RAAAA1RAA0 / 31–3Monte CarloAAA1RQ1A2RAAAAAAAA0 / 21–2RomeAAAAQ1AAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0HamburgQ22R2R2R1R1R1R2R2R2R1R2Rnot held0 / 117–11CanadaAAAAA2R2R1RAAAAAAA0 / 32–3CincinnatiAAAAA1R1R2RAAAAAAA0 / 31–3StuttgartAA2R1RAnot held0 / 21–2Madrid (Hard)not heldAA2RAAAAheld on clay0 / 11–1ParisAAAAA1R1RAAAAAAAA0 / 20–2Win–loss0–01–12–21–30–11–43–75–61–21–10–11–10–20–00–00 / 3116–31Career statisticsYear-end ranking428276424199135144737253746999151243323
Top 10 wins Season199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012TotalWins00102023720001100019