The Open Era

David Prinosil

Germany · born Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, 1973 · right-handed · champion at Newport in 1995 and, as a wildcard, at Halle in 2000

A painted still life of a grass court in the open era, not a portrait of the player
A period scene. No freely licensed photograph of this player has been found yet.

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2

Grass singles titles: Newport 1995 and Halle 2000, two of his three ATP titles

WC

Entered Halle 2000 as a wildcard and beat Kafelnikov and Krajicek

4R

Wimbledon 2000, through qualifying, his best Grand Slam singles result

10

ATP doubles titles, with a high of No. 12 in 2001

1996

Olympic bronze in doubles with Marc-Kevin Goellner

Playing career

David Prinosil was born in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, in 1973. His father, Jiří, played first-division tennis and second-division ice hockey and taught him the game from the age of seven. The family moved to Germany when he was 14, and he became a German citizen soon after. He turned professional in 1991.

He was a strong doubles player: with Marc-Kevin Goellner he reached the 1993 French Open final and won bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and with Byron Black he reached the 2001 Australian Open final. He won ten doubles titles and reached No. 12 in doubles. In singles he won three titles, Newport in 1995, Ostrava in 1996 and Halle in 2000, and reached a high of No. 28 in April 2001. He played Davis Cup for Germany from 1996 to 2003.

Surgery to remove a cyst under his right Achilles tendon in December 1999 was followed by the best season of his career: in 2000 he won Halle as a wildcard, reached the fourth round at Wimbledon as a qualifier and earned a career-high $625,811. He later coached occasionally.

On grass

Newport 1995Won his first ATP singles title, beating the 1994 champion David Wheaton 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 in the final
Halle 2000A wildcard, he beat the top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the semi-finals and Richard Krajicek 6-3, 6-2 in the final
Halle doubles2000: final with Mahesh Bhupathi, lost to Nicklas Kulti and Mikael Tillström 6-7, 6-7. 2002: won as fourth seeds with David Rikl, beating the top seeds Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge 4-6, 7-6, 7-5
Wimbledon2000: reached the fourth round from qualifying and lost to Andre Agassi. 2001: lost to Marat Safin in five sets in the third round

Every grass title: 3

Show every title, tournament by tournament
Halle
2000 Men's singles
2002 Men's doubles with David Rikl
Newport, Rhode Island
1995 Men's singles Hall of Fame Open

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

Anecdotes

The person behind the player.

Olomouc to Germany

Tennis and ice hockey

His father, Jiří, played first-division tennis and second-division ice hockey in Czechoslovakia and gave him his first lessons at seven. He moved to Germany at 14.

Source: ATP Tour

Atlanta, 1996

The surprise bronze

He lost in the first round of the Olympic singles but won the doubles bronze with Marc-Kevin Goellner, beating Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis in the third-place match. Both men received the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany's highest sports award.

Source: Olympedia

Miami, March 2001

Hospital friends

He and Greg Rusedski had foot surgery in the same hospital at the end of 1999 and went through rehabilitation together. When they met in Miami in 2001 Prinosil won 6-3, 6-2. "He just returned awfully well today," Rusedski said.

Source: Agency report via News24

Wimbledon, 1994

Henman's first

He was Tim Henman's first opponent in the main draw of a Grand Slam, in the first round at Wimbledon in 1994.

Source: Wikipedia

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Sources

Page updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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