Karol Kučera

Karol Kučera was a Slovak tennis player who played professionally from 1992 to 2005. Kučera achieved a career-best singles ranking of six in the world in September 1998, and a doubles ranking of 131 in the world in June 2004. He won more than $5 million in prize money during his career and later became a member of Parliament (MP).

Kučera won his first ATP singles title in June 1995 at the Ordina Open in the Netherlands with a straight sets victory against Anders Järryd. He won five more ATP singles titles, which included two wins against Tim Henman and one against Goran Ivanišević. His best singles performance at a Grand Slam was reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 1998 where he lost to Petr Korda.

Kučera competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and the 2004 Athína Olympics. His best performance came in the doubles in Sydney when he and Dominik Hrbatý reached the quarter-finals. Kučera represented Slovakia in the Davis Cup from 1994 to 2005 where he was part of the team that reached the tournament’s final in 2005. After his tennis career Kučera entered politics and was elected as an MP to the National Council of Slovakia in 2020 with fellow tennis player Ján Krošlák.