Peter Luczak

Peter Luczak (Polish: Łuczak,[1] pronounced [ˈwuʈ͡ʂak]; born 31 August 1979) is a retired professional tennis player from Australia. His career-high ATP singles ranking was World No. 64, achieved in October 2009.

Peter Luczak
Country (sports) Australia
ResidenceMelbourne, Australia
Born (1979-08-31) 31 August 1979
Warsaw, Poland
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro2000
Retired2012
(last match 2016)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CollegeFresno State
Prize moneyUS$ 1,348,936
Singles
Career record41–89 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour level, and Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 64 (12 October 2009)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3R (2003, 2006)
French Open1R (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010)
Wimbledon2R (2010)
US Open1R (2005, 2007, 2009, 2010)
Doubles
Career record23–42
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 98 (1 March 2010)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (2005, 2010, 2012)
French Open2R (2010)
Wimbledon2R (2003)
US Open2R (2002)
Mixed doubles
Career record3–8
Career titles0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open1R (2003, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledon3R (2003)
Team competitions
Davis CupSF (2006)
Hopman CupRR (2008)
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2010 DelhiDoubles
XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi Tennis (Men's Double) Paul Hanley and Peter Luczak (left) of Australia won the gold medal, at R K Khanna Tennis Stadium, in New Delhi on 9 October 2010

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, Luczak won the Gold in the doubles.

Luczak came to Australia at 9 months of age, when his parents, Eva and Kris, left Warsaw in 1980,[2] where they settled in Melbourne. Luczak started playing tennis at the age of 5, he was introduced to the game by his Polish born father Kris.[3] He did not have major success at junior level and was not able to receive funding from Tennis Australia nor have a major sponsor. Former AFL player Nathan Brown defeated Peter Luczak 6-3 6-4 on grass, in a Warrnambool Under 16's grass tournament. Heatherdale Club stalwart Ricky Moore claims to have beaten Luczak in around 1992 and very little thereafter. Luczak was able to gain a tennis scholarship at Fresno State,[4] which helped his tennis development and in the process getting a degree in finance[4] without the financial burden.

During his time at Fresno, Luczak holds the record for most career singles wins. He went 27–0 in the senior season at Fresno State before being upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.[5]

Tennis career

Luczak turned professional in 2000 and spent the year playing on the ITF Futures and ATP Challenger Series circuit during his break from university. In 2000 he made the Futures final in Clearwater losing to Dmitry Tursunov. Luczak won 4 Futures titles in 2001 and finished the year ranked at #280.

In 2002 Luczak played exclusively ATP Challenger Series circuit where he won his first title in Granby and lost to countryman Scott Draper at Binghamton in the final. He made his Grand Slam debut in 2003 at the Australian Open where he reached the 3rd round defeating Attila Sávolt and Renzo Furlan before losing to Mario Ančić.

Continuing to focus mostly on the Challengers in 2004, Luczak won two more Challenger events in Canberra and Košice which was on his favoured clay surface. Luczak made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in 2005 against Argentina on grass, where he lost a dead rubber to Guillermo Coria, in addition to this he reached his best ever performance at ATP level where reached the semi-finals as a qualifier beating Fernando González at the Brasil Open along the way before losing to Alberto Martín[6]

Luczak equalled his best Australian Open performance by making the third round in 2006 losing in four sets to Tommy Haas indoors as the roof was closed due to the heat rule. He represented Australia against Switzerland in Davis Cup and defeating Michael Lammer to help Australia win that tie.

In 2007 Luczak finished the season in the top 100 for the first time.[7] He based that on winning a career best four titles on the ATP Challenger Series circuit, all of these titles came on the clay. Luczak lost to Jonas Björkman at Roland Garros in the first round after leading 2 sets to 0 and also played against Serbia in the World Group promotion tie in Belgrade where he lost to Novak Djokovic and Boris Pašanski.

After reaching his career high ranking in 2008, Luczak was diagnosed with a stress fracture of the pelvis after his loss to Jürgen Melzer at Roland Garros and was out for 14 weeks before returning to play against Chile in Davis Cup. Luczak stayed on in South America and played the Copa Petrobras series of challengers on the clay, where he won Montevideo beating Pablo Cuevas 6–3, 7–6 in the semis before getting a walkover from Nicolás Massú in the final. He won the Copa Petrobras Masters event where the best performers in the series play off where he beat Thomaz Bellucci.

He was elected to the ATP Player Council, currently comprising Roger Federer (President), Rafael Nadal (Vice President), Novak Djokovic, Michael Berrer, Yves Allegro, Eric Butorac, David Martin & Martín García.

In 2009, Luczak did not receive a wild card to the Australian Open and he lost in the last round of qualification to Wayne Odesnik. He continued his comeback from the pelvis problem on the Challenger circuit, where he made the semis in Burnie and Meknes. After falling in the second round of the Roland Garros qualification to Alexander Flock after having 5 match points. Luczak defeated Flock in the last round of qualification for the Fürth Challenger where he won the event without dropping a set in the main draw. He made the semis in Lugano losing to Stanislas Wawrinka and qualified for Båstad defeating Alberto Martín and then losing to Tommy Robredo. Luczak won the challenger in Poznań and made the semis in San Marino losing to Potito Starace. He followed that result with another Challenger title in Cordenons where he defeated Christophe Rochus and Olivier Rochus in the semi-final and the final. Luczak reached his career high ranking of # 64 on 12 October 2009.

In 2010, he competed at the Medibank International in Sydney. He defeated José Acasuso of Argentina in the first round and defeated the number 2 seed Tomáš Berdych in the second round. He faced Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals and lost. He then lost to defending champion Rafael Nadal in the first round of the Australian Open. He followed up his Australian season by competing in the 2010 Movistar Open where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Juan Mónaco.

In 2010 at Wimbledon, Luczak hit a 148 mph serve, tying the Wimbledon record for fastest serve.

Personal life

Luczak attended the High School Mazenod College in Mulgrave from 1992 to 1997. He is married to Swedish born nobility Anna Catarina Ericsdotter Queckfeldt, grand daughter of famous Swedish Olympic bronze medalist dressage rider, Countess Maud von Rosen. Together they have a son, Sebastian Oliver Luczak born in Sweden on 4 June 2006 and a daughter Millie born in March 2009. They live on the Mornington Peninsula in Australia. Luczak and his son play cricket at the Tyabb Cricket Club, where in his first season of competitive cricket, Peter won a bowling award for Tyabb's 6th XI.

Luczak supports the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).[8]

ATP career finals

Doubles: 2 (0–2)
Winner – Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–2)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. Feb 2008 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Austria Werner Eschauer Argentina Agustín Calleri
Peru Luis Horna		 0–6, 7–6(8–6), [10–2]
Loss 2. Feb 2010 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Germany Simon Greul Argentina Sebastián Prieto
Argentina Horacio Zeballos		 7–6(7–4), 6–3

Futures and Challenger Singles titles (16)
Legend (singles)
Challengers (12)
Futures (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. 18 June 2001 Redding Hard Japan Yaoki Ishii 7–5, 2–6, 6–3
2. 16 July 2001 Kansas City Hard Australia Matthew Breen 6–2, 6–4
3. 6 August 2001 Godfrey Hard South Africa Raven Klaasen 6–3, 6–7, 7–5
4. 12 November 2001 Barmera Grass Republic of Ireland Peter Clarke 6–4, 1–6, 6–4
5. 8 July 2002 Granby Hard United States Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6–3, 7–6
6. 29 March 2004 Canberra Clay Argentina Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6–2, 6–1
7. 10 May 2004 Košice Clay Serbia Janko Tipsarević 7–5, 7–5
8. 31 October 2005 Caloundra Hard Australia Alun Jones 7–5, 7–6
9. 26 March 2007 Fes Clay Kazakhstan Yuri Schukin 6–2, 6–7, 7–6
10. 7 May 2007 Maspalomas Clay Spain Santiago Ventura 6–7, 6–3, 7–5
11. 4 June 2007 Furth Clay Italy Fabio Fognini 4–6, 6–2, 6–2
12. 11 June 2007 Bytom Clay Italy Simone Vagnozzi 6–3, 6–3
13. 13 October 2008 Montevideo Clay Chile Nicolás Massú W/O
14. 7 June 2009 Furth Clay Argentina Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6–2, 6–0
15. 26 July 2009 Poznań Clay Kazakhstan Yuri Schukin 3–6, 7–6(7–4), 7–6(8–6)
16. 9 August 2009 Cordenons Clay Belgium Olivier Rochus 6–3, 3–6, 6–1

Singles performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament2003200420052006200720082009201020112012W–L
Australian Open 3R 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R Q3 1R 1R Q2 5–8
French Open A A 1R A 1R 1R Q2 1R Q1 A 0–4
Wimbledon A A A A A A Q2 2R Q1 A 1–1
US Open A A 1R A 1R A 1R 1R Q1 A 0–4
Win–loss 2–1 0–1 0–3 2–1 0–3 1–2 0–1 1–4 0–1 0–0 6–17
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Q1 A A Q1 A Q1 A 1R A A 0–1
Miami 1R A Q2 1R A A A 2R A A 1–3
Monte Carlo 1R A Q2 A A A A 1R Q2 A 0–2
Rome Q2 A A A A A A 1R A A 0–1
Hamburg / Madrid Q2 A A A A A A A A A 0–0
Canada Q2 A Q1 A A A A A A A 0–0
Cincinnati Q1 A A A A A A A A A 0–0
Stuttgart / Shanghai A A A A A A A A A Q1 0–0
Paris A A A A A A Q1 A A A 0–0

References
  1. "Peter Łuczak zwycięzcą Poznań Porsche Open 2009".
  2. "Long Hard Road to the Top". The Age. 8 September 2009.
  3. "Tennis Australia Profile". Tennis Australia. 8 September 2009. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009.
  4. Long, hard road to the top in tennis. Theage.com.au (14 January 2006). Retrieved on 11 June 2013.
  5. "Player Profile". ATP. 8 September 2009.
  6. "ITF Profile". ITF. 8 September 2009.
  7. Peter Luczak. Atpworldtour.com (10 June 2013). Retrieved on 11 June 2013.
  8. Peter Luczak player profile, Tennis Australia
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