Karol KuÃÂera (; born 4 March 1974) is a Slovak tennis coach and former professional player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open the same year.
KuÃÂera turned professional in 1992. He was a member of the Czechoslovak Galea Cup teams in 1991 and 1992 and the 1992 European championship squad. In 1993 he qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
In 1995 when KuÃÂera won his first ATP title in Rosmalen. In 1996 he played in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta where he lost to eventual gold medalist Andre Agassi.
A year later he won his second ATP title in Ostrava defeating Magnus Norman. He was runner-up in two other tournaments in Nottingham on grass to Greg Rusedski and Stuttgart Outdoor to ÃÂlex Corretja on clay.
KuÃÂera's best year was in 1998, where he finished the year in the top 10, ranked World No. 8, which qualified him in the ATP Tour World Championship in Hannover. During the year KuÃÂera won 2 titles in Sydney defeating Tim Henman and New Haven defeating Goran Ivanià ¡eviÃÂ.
He reached another two finals, losing to Gustavo Kuerten in Stuttgart Outdoor and to World No. 1 Pete Sampras in Vienna. Overall in 1998, KuÃÂera compiled a career high 53 match victories and earning $1,402,557.
KuÃÂera achieved his best Grand Slam result in 1998 reaching the semi-finals of Australian Open where on his way he defeated Sergi Bruguera, Daniel Vacek, Daniel Nestor, Richard Fromberg and defending champion Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion Petr Korda in 4 sets. Later the same year he reached the quarterfinals of the US Open.
In 1999, KuÃÂera won his fifth ATP title in Basel defeating Tim Henman in the final. After 1999, KuÃÂera struggled with form due to a right wrist and arm injury.
After some injury plagued years, KuÃÂera found some form again in 2003 when he finished in the top 50 for the first time since 1999. During the year he won his sixth and final tour title in Copenhagen defeating Olivier Rochus in the final.
Later, KuÃÂera was one of the contributing members on the Slovak team which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 2005, eventually losing to Croatia 2âÂÂ3. He announced his retirement after the final.
Miloslav MeÃÂÃÂÃ Â known as the "Big Cat" was KuÃÂera's coach from 1997 to 2001. KuÃÂera was nicknamed the "Little Cat" because of his deceptive style of play and his fluid movement around the court resembling his coach.
KuÃÂera was also coached for a time by Novak Djokovic's coach Marian Vajda.
In 2020, KuÃÂera was elected an MP of the National Council of Slovakia representing the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities movement, along with fellow former tennis players Ján Kroà ¡lák and Romana Tabak.
<sup>1</sup>This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.