 | Born: 22/3/75 Nationality: Czech Seeded: 10 World ranking: 10 US Open best: 4th round (1999, 2002) Recent record: 2002: 4th round 2001: 3rd round 2000: 3rd round |
The 28-year-old has established himself in the world's top 15 over the last two years as his career continues to flourish in its latter stages. This year Novak has not quite managed to maintain the number five ranking he reached last October, but he is still one of the most consistent performers on the circuit.
Whether he can be a real contender for Grand Slams is questionable, and it is telling that he did not win a tournament in 2002 despite it being his best-ever year.
He reached a total of three finals and five semi-finals in 2002, including a last four place at the Australian Open.
This season the Czech has managed to pick up his fifth career title, beating the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in Gstaad in June.
He has a solid, if unspectacular, game that is best suited to hard courts, but there is no sign he is ready to go past his previous best of the fourth round.