Robbie Koenig

Robert Louis Koenig (/ˈkoʊnɪɡ/ KOH-nig;^[1][2][3] born 5 July 1971) is a retired professional tennis player from South Africa who is now a tennis commentator and analyst. He won five doubles titles and reached the semifinals of the 1998 US Open men's doubles competition. Koenig works as a tennis broadcaster for a host of TV channels around the world, covering most notably the ATP Masters 1000 events, the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon (Radio) as well as the premier online tennis channel of TennisTV.com

Robbie Koenig

Country (sports)	South Africa
Residence	Durban, South Africa
Born	(1971-07-05) 5 July 1971 (age 53) Durban, South Africa
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Turned pro	1992
Retired	2005
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$944,191
Singles
Career record	3–11
Career titles	0 0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 262 (9 November 1992)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	Q1 (1996, 1997)
Wimbledon	Q3 (1992)
US Open	Q1 (1992, 1996, 1997)
Doubles
Career record	176–210
Career titles	5 3 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 28 (19 May 2003)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1998, 2004)
French Open	2R (1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005)
Wimbledon	3R (1998, 1999)
US Open	SF (1998)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	SF (2001)
French Open	1R (1998, 1999, 2003)
Wimbledon	SF (2001)
US Open	SF (2002)
Last updated on: 29 January 2022.

Playing career

Koenig achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 262, notably reaching the third round of Washington in 1992. He had wins early on in his singles career over the likes of Tim Henman, Pat Rafter, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Felix Mantilla. Most of his success, however, came in doubles. He won 5 titles (with 6 further finals), reaching a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 28 in May 2003. As well as his US Open doubles semi-finals appearance in 1998, Koenig reached the round-of-16 twice at Wimbledon in 1998 and 1999. He was also a quarter-finalist on 3 other occasions at the US Open in 1997, 2001 and 2004. In Mixed Doubles he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2001 and the US Open in 2002. He also represented South Africa in Davis Cup on four occasions and was captained by 1985 Wimbledon finalist, Kevin Curren.

Commentating career

Koenig is known for his commentary on the ATP World Tour at their Masters 1000 events matches broadcast on Tennis Channel as well as the online tennis broadcast site TennisTV, often as part of a commentating duo alongside Jason Goodall. Often regarded as “the voice of tennis”, he is a regular at both the Australian Open and US Open. He can also be heard on Amazon Prime UK, Fox Sports in Australia, Star Sports in Asia, ESPN International as well as SuperSport in South Africa where he co-hosts during the Grand Slam events. He started commentating in 2007 for ATP Media. Koenig co-hosted and commentated on ‘The Match in Africa’ where Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal played in front of the biggest live tennis audience ever at the time. Netflix used a good deal of his commentary for their “Break Point” docu-series.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 11 (5 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Legend Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP Masters Series (0–0) ATP Championship Series (1–1) ATP World Series (4–5)

Finals by surface Hard (4–4) Clay (1–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Finals by setting Outdoors (5–5) Indoors (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 1999	St. Pölten, Austria	International Series	Clay	Brent Haygarth	Andrew Florent Andrei Olhovskiy	7–5, 4–6, 5–7
Loss	0–2	Feb 2000	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	International Series	Hard	Peter Tramacchi	Jiří Novák David Rikl	2–6, 5–7
Loss	0–3	Sep 2000	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	International Series	Hard	Marius Barnard	Justin Gimelstob Scott Humphries	3–6, 2–6
Loss	0–4	Sep 2001	Shanghai, China	International Series	Hard	John-Laffnie de Jager	Byron Black Thomas Shimada	2–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss	0–5	Feb 2002	San Jose, United States	International Series	Hard	John-Laffnie de Jager	Wayne Black Kevin Ullyett	3–6, 6–4, [5–10]
Win	1–5	Jul 2002	Kitzbühel, Austria	Championship Series	Clay	Thomas Shimada	Lucas Arnold Ker Álex Corretja	7–6(7–3), 6–4
Win	2–5	Sep 2002	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	International Series	Hard	David Adams	Raemon Sluiter Martin Verkerk	6–2, 7–5
Win	3–5	Jan 2003	Auckland, New Zealand	International Series	Hard	David Adams	Tomáš Cibulec Leoš Friedl	7–6(7–5), 3–6, 6–3
Loss	3–6	Apr 2003	Barcelona, Spain	Championship Series	Clay	Chris Haggard	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	4–6, 3–6
Win	4–6	Aug 2003	Long Island, United States	International Series	Hard	Martín Rodríguez	Martin Damm Cyril Suk	6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Win	5–6	Aug 2004	Washington, United States	International Series	Hard	Chris Haggard	Travis Parrott Dmitry Tursunov	7–6(7–3), 6–1

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 5 (3–2)

Legend ATP Challenger (3–2) ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface Hard (3–1) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 1992	Dublin, Ireland	Challenger	Carpet	Douglas Geiwald	Sander Groen Arne Thoms	7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Win	1–1	Nov 1996	Aachen, Germany	Challenger	Hard	Oleg Ogorodov	Dave Randall Chris Woodruff	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Win	2–1	Oct 1997	Sedona, United States	Challenger	Hard	John-Laffnie De Jager	Eric Taino Adam Peterson	6–2, 6–2
Loss	2–2	Oct 1997	Brest, France	Challenger	Hard	John-Laffnie De Jager	Dave Randall Jack Waite	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Win	3–2	Aug 2001	Lexington, United States	Challenger	Hard	John-Laffnie De Jager	Paul Kilderry Jack Waite	7–6(7–1), 7–5

Performance timelines

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.

Singles

Tournament	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
French Open	A	A	A	A	Q1	Q1	0 / 0	0–0	–
Wimbledon	Q3	Q1	A	A	A	Q2	0 / 0	0–0	–
US Open	Q1	A	A	A	Q1	Q1	0 / 0	0–0	–
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 0	0–0	–
ATP Masters Series
Miami	A	Q2	A	A	1R	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Canada	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Cincinnati	1R	A	Q1	A	Q3	Q1	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Win–loss	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0 / 2	0–2	0%

Doubles

Tournament	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	2R	1R	1R	2R	3R	2R	0 / 7	7–7	50%
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	0 / 7	5–7	42%
Wimbledon	Q2	Q1	A	A	A	1R	3R	3R	2R	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 9	6–9	40%
US Open	A	A	A	A	A	QF	SF	1R	3R	QF	3R	2R	QF	3R	0 / 9	20–9	69%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–2	9–4	2–3	4–3	4–4	3–4	3–4	6–4	4–4	0 / 32	38–32	54%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	A	A	1R	1R	A	0 / 5	2–5	29%
Miami	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	A	0 / 7	2–7	22%
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	0 / 6	3–6	33%
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	1R	Q2	1R	1R	A	A	0 / 5	1–5	17%
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	2R	1R	A	1R	2R	A	A	0 / 4	2–4	33%
Canada	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	QF	2R	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 4	3–4	43%
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	2R	QF	1R	A	1R	1R	A	A	0 / 5	3–5	38%
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	A	2R	A	A	A	0 / 3	1–3	25%
Madrid	Not Held										1R	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Stuttgart	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	Q1	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	3–7	6–7	2–8	0–2	3–8	2–6	2–3	0–0	0 / 41	18–41	31%

Mixed doubles

Tournament	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	2R	SF	A	QF	1R	A	0 / 4	6–4	60%
French Open	1R	1R	A	A	A	1R	A	A	0 / 3	0–3	0%
Wimbledon	3R	1R	1R	1R	SF	3R	3R	1R	0 / 8	10–8	56%
US Open	1R	2R	A	A	SF	A	A	A	0 / 3	4–3	57%
Win–loss	2–3	1–3	1–2	3–2	7–2	4–3	2–2	0–1	0 / 18	20–18	53%

References

1. ATPWorldTour (30 March 2013). "Koenig, Goodall Preview 2013 Miami Final Murray Ferrer". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2018 – via YouTube.
2. ATPWorldTour (27 November 2010). "Nadal Vs Federer in London Final Experts Preview". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2018 – via YouTube.
3. ATPWorldTour (20 March 2011). "Experts Debate Nadal Vs Djokovic Indian Wells Final". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2018 – via YouTube.

External links

• Robbie Koenig at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Robbie Koenig at the International Tennis Federation
• Robbie Koenig at the Davis Cup