Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gerald Melzer, with whom he played doubles in several tournaments.
In 1999, Melzer won the boys' singles title at Wimbledon. For many years, he was known as one of the best players on the tour not to have progressed past the third round of a major. He ended this by reaching the semifinals of the 2010 French Open, losing to Rafael Nadal after coming from two sets down to defeat Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. He is one of only two men to defeat Djokovic from two sets down, the other being João Fonseca at the 2026 French Open.
Melzer had greater success in doubles, winning the men's doubles title at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships and the 2011 US Open partnering Philipp Petzschner, as well as the mixed doubles title at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships partnering Iveta Benešová (whom he would later marry and divorce).
Melzer married Iveta Benešová, a WTA Tour tennis player, on 14 September 2012 and divorced in 2015. Melzer is a left-handed tennis player, but is right-handed in everyday life.
Melzer played his first junior match in September 1995 at the age of 14 at a Grade-3 tournament in Austria.
At the 1999 Australian Open, Melzer won the doubles draw partnering singles champion Kristian Pless. Then, at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships, Melzer won the singles draw defeating junior world No. 1 and doubles partner, Kristian Pless, in the final.
Melzer ended his junior career after his Wimbledon victory. Throughout his junior career, he reached as high as world No. 26 in 1998 (and No. 24 in doubles) and posted a win–loss record of 52–26 in singles and 47–23 in doubles.
In 1998, Melzer started playing in Futures in his country, where he won his first two matches, but lost the next four.
In 1999, he started playing outside of Austria in Futures and Challengers. He competed in his first main-draw match in the 1999 CA-TennisTrophy in Vienna, Austria, where he defeated Lars Burgsmüller, before losing to then world No. 11, Nicolas Kiefer, in two sets.
In 2000, Melzer continued playing in Futures and Challengers, but was only able to reach one quarterfinal. He also made his Grand Slam debut at the Wimbledon Championships, but lost to Australian Mark Philippoussis in four sets.
In 2001, he reach his first Futures final event at Poprad, Slovakia, losing to Juraj Hasko. However, he captured his first title at the Challenger in Mönchengladbach, Germany over local hero Jens Knippschild in three sets. He had his first top-100 and top-20 win over Fabrice Santoro, then world No. 18 in the CA-TennisTrophy, but lost in the next round to Michel Kratochvil in two tiebreaks.
In 2002, he regularly competed in Challenger events, reaching two finals, but losing in both attempts to Alexander Popp in Heilbronn, Germany and to Luis Horna in Fürth, Germany. He reached his first ATP Tour quarterfinal in the Internationaler Raiffeisen Grand Prix, defeating Sargis Sargsian and Andrea Gaudenzi in straight sets, before losing to eventual champion Nicolás Lapentti. However, he did better in the Croatia Open by reaching the semifinals, defeating Vincent Spadea, Agustín Calleri, and Victor Hănescu, before losing to eventual champion Carlos Moyá. He also won his first Grand Slam match at the US Open over Jack Brasington, before losing to Nicolás Massú in four sets. At the Vienna Open, he earned one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating then world No. 2, Tommy Haas, to reach the quarterfinals, before losing to Jiří Novák in two sets.
The start of 2003 was not a good one for the Austrian, as he lost three consecutive Tour-level main-draw matches, including his Australian Open debut. He rebounded in April by reaching the semifinals, losing to then world No. 2 Andre Agassi. He also made his French Open debut, but lost to David Ferrer. At Wimbledon, Melzer upset then world No. 15, Fernando González, to earn his first Wimbledon victory, but lost to Jonas Björkman in four sets the following round. Melzer reached his first ATP Tour final at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships without defeating a player in the top 100, but lost to Robby Ginepri in the final. In the US Open, Melzer reached the second round again, but lost Juan Carlos Ferrero. He earned another top-20 victory over Tommy Robredo in the Vienna Open.
In 2004, the Austrian reached his first third round of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open with victories over Tomas Behrend, and Galo Blanco, before losing to Sjeng Schalken. Melzer made his Master Series debut at Indian Wells, losing to Victor Hănescu. He then won his first Master Series matches at the Miami Masters with victories over Ivo Karlović, and then world No. 8, Tim Henman, but lost to Todd Martin in straight sets in the third round. He next reached the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters with victories over Nicolás Massú, Irakli Labadze, and Marat Safin, but lost to former world No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt. Melzer then reached the semifinals of the Internationaler Raiffeisen Grand Prix, losing to Xavier Malisse in three sets. He then won his first French Open match over Wayne Ferreira, but then lost to Lleyton Hewitt in four sets.
In the Canada Masters, he reached the quarterfinals, losing to Nicolas Kiefer, with straight-set victories over Andre Agassi and Fernando González. In the US Open, he reached the third round for the first time, but lost to Michaël Llodra. In his last tournament of the year, he reached the third round of the Paris Masters, losing to Marat Safin in straight sets.
In 2005, he reached the quarterfinals of the Adelaide International, losing to Juan Ignacio Chela. In the Australian Open he reached the third round, losing to then world No. 2, Andy Roddick, in a tough three-setter. At the SAP Open, he lost in the semifinals to Cyril Saulnier, but earned his third victory over Andre Agassi en route. He reached his second semifinal of the year at the U.S. Clay Court Championships, but lost to Andy Roddick. He reached his second ATP tour final at the Hypo Group Tennis International, but lost to Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. At Roand Garros and Wimbledon, Melzer reached the third round and lost to Guillermo Coria on both occasions. He then lost six straight main-draw matches in the Austrian Open to Fernando Verdasco, and the Rogers Cup, Cincinnati Masters, New Haven Open, US Open, and Open de Moselle. He then continued his bad run with second-round losses at the Vienna Open, the Madrid Masters, and the St. Petersburg Open.
In 2006, he continued his bad run with a 1–8 record and a seven-match losing streak in the first three months, with his only win coming in the Sydney International over Juan Ignacio Chela. He then rebounded in the U.S. Clay Court Championships, where he reached his third final without dropping a set, but lost to Mardy Fish. He also reached the semifinals of the BMW Open, losing to eventual champion Olivier Rochus, and the quarterfinals of the Hypo Group Tennis International, losing to Jiří Novák. However, he fell in the first rounds of the French Open and Wimbledon. At the Hall of Fame Open, he reached the semifinals, but was upset by eventual champion Mark Philippoussis. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open and the New Haven Open. He then suffered two losses to Juan Mónaco in the third round of the Mercedes Cup and the first round of the Warsaw Open. At the US Open, he lost to Alessio di Mauro, thus not winning a single Grand Slam match in the year. He then reached back-to-back finals at the Romanian Open and the Open de Moselle. He won his first ATP Tour title at the Romanian Open, defeating Filippo Volandri in straight sets in the final, with victories over Gilles Simon and Paul-Henri Mathieu. At the Open de Moselle, he lost to Novak Djokovic. He ended the year with a quarterfinal showing at the Vienna Open, losing to Andy Roddick, but earned his first win over Juan Carlos Ferrero. He made a first-round exit at the St. Petersburg Open, losing to Lukáš Dlouhý.