The 21st century
Austria · born Vienna, 1980 · right-handed · Wimbledon mixed doubles champion 2018 and a former doubles world No. 3
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2018
Wimbledon mixed doubles champion with Nicole Melichar, his only major title
2
Wimbledon mixed doubles finals, 2015 and 2018
No. 3
Doubles world ranking, reached on 12 August 2013
2
Grass tour titles with Bruno Soares: Eastbourne 2013 and Queen's 2014
17
ATP Tour doubles titles with four different partners
Alexander Peya was born in Vienna on 27 June 1980. He started tennis at five, played football until he was 12 and grew up idolising Boris Becker and Thomas Muster. He turned professional in 1998 and reached a best singles ranking of No. 92 in April 2007, but made his career in doubles, where he preferred the faster surfaces: grass, carpet and hard courts.
His best years came with the Brazilian Bruno Soares. In 2013 they reached the Roland Garros semi-finals, won the Masters event in Montreal, reached the US Open final and the semi-finals of the ATP Finals, and Peya rose to No. 3 in the world. They won Toronto again in 2014. On grass they won Eastbourne in 2013 and Queen's in 2014. In 2011 he had reached the Wimbledon men's doubles semi-finals.
In 2018 he won the Madrid Masters with Nikola Mektić, reached the Roland Garros semi-finals and qualified for the ATP Finals, and at Wimbledon he and the American Nicole Melichar won the mixed doubles as 11th seeds. A right elbow injury then kept him out for most of two years; he had surgery on 16 January 2019. He later worked as a coach, and at the 2021 US Open was coaching the Lithuanian Ričardas Berankis.
| Wimbledon mixed finals | 2015 with Tímea Babos: lost to Leander Paes and Martina Hingis 6-1, 6-1 in 41 minutes. 2018 with Nicole Melichar: beat Jamie Murray and Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in 88 minutes, without losing serve |
|---|---|
| Queen's and Eastbourne finals with Soares | Queen's 2013: lost to Bob and Mike Bryan 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 (match tie-break). Eastbourne 2013: beat Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Queen's 2014: beat Jamie Murray and John Peers 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 10-4. Eastbourne 2014: lost in the final 5-7, 7-5, 8-10 |
| Other grass finals | Stuttgart 2015 with Soares, lost; Halle 2016 with Łukasz Kubot, lost 6-7 (5-7), 2-6 |
| Wimbledon men's doubles | Semi-finals in 2011, his best result in the men's event at the Championships |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Mixed doubles | with Nicole Melichar-Martinez |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2013 | Men's doubles | with Bruno Soares |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 2014 | Men's doubles | with Bruno Soares |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"Wimbledon was always a cornerstone for me, playing in the garden with my brother."
The person behind the player.
Vienna
He began playing tennis at five but played football until he was 12, and said that if he had not become a tennis player he would have been a footballer. His idols were Boris Becker and Thomas Muster. His brother Christoph, a financial analyst, is described in his ATP biography as his best friend.
Source: ATP Tour biographyWimbledon, 2018
After the 2018 final he said: "I grew up idolizing Boris Becker and his battles with Edberg and those guys. Wimbledon was always a cornerstone for me, playing in the garden with my brother. So to sit here now and be Wimbledon champion, it definitely feels amazing." He and Melichar won 83 per cent of their service points and were never broken.
Source: WTA2018 to 2020
A right elbow injury cost him about three months in 2018 and he had surgery on 16 January 2019. He was out for two years, and in December 2020, at 40, he was preparing a return on a protected ranking of 19, saying his first goal was simply to stay healthy.
Source: ATP Tour biography; tennisnetNew York, 2021
By the 2021 US Open he had moved into coaching and was working with the Lithuanian Ričardas Berankis on behalf of the German coach Dirk Hordorff, one of several Austrians in the coaches' boxes that year.
Source: tennisnetFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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