The 21st century
Germany · born Holzminden, 1977 · right-handed · Halle champion 1999 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist at 20
All playersBack to the rankings
3
Halle singles finals: won in 1999, lost in 2002 and 2003
QF
Best Wimbledon result, 1997, aged 20
No. 4
Career-high ranking, January 2000
6
ATP singles titles
Silver
Olympic men's doubles, Athens 2004, with Rainer Schüttler
Nicolas Kiefer was born in Holzminden, Lower Saxony, in 1977, to a French mother and a German father. As a junior he won the Australian Open and the US Open and, as top seed, reached the Wimbledon boys' final in 1995. He turned professional that year.
His rise was quick. He reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 1997, won Halle in 1999, reached the semi-finals of the season-ending championship that year and rose to No. 4 in the world on 10 January 2000. He won six singles titles and three in doubles, reached the US Open quarter-finals in 2000 and the Australian Open semi-finals in 2006, and won Olympic silver in doubles with Rainer Schüttler at Athens in 2004.
A wrist injury at the 2006 French Open kept him out for more than a year. He came back in 2007 and in 2008, at 31, reached his first Masters final, in Toronto, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Injuries followed him through his last seasons.
| Halle 1999 | Seeded seventh, beat Daniel Vacek 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals and Nicklas Kulti 6-3, 6-2 in the final |
|---|---|
| Halle finals lost | 2002: lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 4-6, 4-6. 2003: lost to Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3, weeks before Federer's first Wimbledon title |
| Wimbledon 1997 | Beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 in the fourth round, then lost his first major quarter-final to Todd Woodbridge 7-6, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon boys' 1995 | Top seed; lost the final to Olivier Mutis 6-2, 6-2 |
| Halle | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Men's singles | |
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
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 1999
In his match against Boris Becker a group of pigeons twice interrupted play. The Club's own record notes that the rowdy flock disturbed both Becker's service and his opponent's concentration.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Wimbledon 1997
Two years after losing the boys' final, Kiefer beat the world No. 6, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, in four sets and reached the last eight, where Todd Woodbridge beat him in four sets.
Source: WikipediaMelbourne, January 2006
In an Australian Open quarter-final of 4 hours 48 minutes against Sébastien Grosjean, Kiefer threw his racquet over the net late in the fifth set during a point Grosjean lost. Grosjean asked for a hindrance; the umpire, Carlos Bernardes, refused, and an appeal to the supervisor failed. Kiefer, already warned twice for language, won 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 6-7, 8-6.
Source: Associated Press, via The Spokesman-ReviewAthens, 2004
With Rainer Schüttler he reached the Olympic doubles final and lost in five sets to the Chilean pair. The two received the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany's highest sports award. Away from tennis he was a member of the football club Hannover 96 and supported the ice hockey club Hannover Scorpions.
Source: OlympediaToronto, 2008
Ranked 37 and aged 31, Kiefer reached his first Masters final at the 74th attempt, beating Nikolay Davydenko, James Blake and Gilles Simon on the way, before losing to Rafael Nadal. The run took him back into the top 20.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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