# Petr Pála

Petr Pála (born 2 October 1975) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. Together with Pavel Vízner he reached the men's doubles final of the 2001 French Open but lost to Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes (6–7, 3–6).
Pála was coached by his father František, who was a professional tennis player on the ATP tour.
Pála never had the opportunity to do his singles ability justice on the ATP Tour due to injury. When he recovered from these injuries he returned immediately to the doubles tour, but could not gain entry to official ATP matches.
Pála became the non-playing captain of the Czech Republic Fed Cup team in December 2007. Since then, he has led the Fed Cup team to world titles in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, becoming the most successful Fed Cup team captain of all time.

## Grand Slam finals
### Doubles: 1 runner-up

| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 2001 | French Open | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes | 6–7, 3–6 |

## Performance timelines

Key :
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |

### Doubles

| Tournament | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | SR | W–L | Win% |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 9 | 6–9 | 40% |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | 2R | F | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 0 / 9 | 9–9 | 50% |
| Wimbledon | 3R | A | A | A | 2R | QF | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 0 / 10 | 11–10 | 52% |
| US Open | 1R | A | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | 0 / 10 | 5–10 | 33% |
| Win–loss | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 11–4 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 3–4 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 2–3 | 0 / 38 | 31–38 | 45% |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 |||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | A | 0 / 6 | 2–6 | 25% |
| Miami | A | A | A | A | Q1 | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | A | 0 / 6 | 1–6 | 14% |
| Monte Carlo | A | A | A | A | A | QF | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 3–2 | 60% |
| Rome | A | A | A | A | A | SF | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 4–2 | 67% |
| Madrid | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Canada | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Cincinnati | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 3 | 1–3 | 25% |
| Hamburg | Q1 | A | A | A | Q1 | SF | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 4 | 3–4 | 43% |
| Paris | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Stuttgart | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | Not Masters Series | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 10–9 | 2–7 | 0–2 | 3–6 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0 / 29 | 15–29 | 34% |

### Mixed doubles

| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | SR | W–L | Win% |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | QF | A | A | 1R | A | 0 / 2 | 2–2 | 50% |
| French Open | A | SF | 1R | A | 1R | A | A | 0 / 3 | 3–3 | 50% |
| Wimbledon | 2R | 1R | 2R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 7 | 3–7 | 30% |
| US Open | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Win–loss | 1–1 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0 / 13 | 8–13 | 38% |

## ATP career finals
### Doubles: 16 (7 titles, 9 runner-ups)

* Legend
* Grand Slam Tournaments (0–1)
* ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
* ATP Masters Series (0–0)
* ATP Championship Series (1–2)
* ATP World Series (6–6)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (2–5)
* Clay (5–3)
* Grass (0–1)
* Carpet (0–0)
* Finals by setting
* Outdoors (6–6)
* Indoors (1–3)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Aug 1999 | San Marino, San Marino | World Series | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Lucas Arnold Ker Mariano Hood | 3–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Oct 2000 | Shanghai, China | World Series | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Paul Haarhuis Sjeng Schalken | 2–6, 6–3, 4–6 |
| Loss | 0–3 | Nov 2000 | Stockholm, Sweden | World Series | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor | 3–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–4 | Feb 2001 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Championship Series | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Jonas Björkman Roger Federer | 3–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 1–4 | May 2001 | St Pölten, Austria | World Series | Clay | David Rikl | Jaime Oncins Daniel Orsanic | 6–3, 5–7, 7–5 |
| Loss | 1–5 | Jun 2001 | Paris, France | Grand Slam | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes | 6–7$^{(5–7)}$, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1–6 | May 2002 | Munich, Germany | World Series | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Radek Štěpánek Petr Luxa | 0–6, 7–6$^{(7–4)}$, [9–11] |
| Win | 2–6 | May 2002 | St Pölten, Austria | World Series | Clay | David Rikl | Mike Bryan Michael Hill | 7–5, 6–4 |
| Loss | 2–7 | Aug 2002 | Long Island, United States | World Series | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Mahesh Bhupathi Mike Bryan | 3–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 3–7 | May 2004 | St Pölten, Austria | International Series | Clay | Mariano Hood | Tomáš Cibulec Leoš Friedl | 3–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
| Loss | 3–8 | Jun 2004 | Halle, Germany | International Series | Grass | Tomáš Cibulec | Leander Paes David Rikl | 2–6, 5–7 |
| Loss | 3–9 | Oct 2004 | Tokyo, Japan | Championship Series | Hard | Jiří Novák | Jared Palmer Pavel Vízner | 1–5 ret. |
| Win | 4–9 | Jul 2005 | Umag, Croatia | International Series | Clay | Jiří Novák | David Škoch Michal Mertiňák | 6–3, 6–3 |
| Win | 5–9 | Jan 2006 | Chennai, India | International Series | Hard | Michal Mertiňák | Prakash Amritraj Rohan Bopanna | 6–2, 7–5 |
| Win | 6–9 | Oct 2006 | Vienna, Austria | Championship Series | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Julian Knowle Jürgen Melzer | 6–4, 3–6, [12–10] |
| Win | 7–9 | Jul 2008 | Umag, Croatia | International Series | Clay | Michal Mertiňák | Carlos Berlocq Fabio Fognini | 2–6, 6–3, [10–5] |

## ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals
### Doubles: 20 (10–10)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (9–10)
* ITF Futures (1–0)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (1–2)
* Clay (5–6)
* Grass (1–0)
* Carpet (3–2)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 1995 | Prague, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | David Škoch | Filip Dewulf Vojtěch Flégl | 7–6, 5–7, 2–6 |
| Loss | 0–2 | Jun 1996 | Košice, Slovakia | Challenger | Clay | Jan Kodeš | Olivier Delaître Jeff Tarango | 6–7, 3–6 |
| Win | 1–2 | Jul 1996 | Bristol, United Kingdom | Challenger | Grass | Andrew Richardson | Lionel Barthez Patrick Baur | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1–3 | Jul 1997 | Ulm, Germany | Challenger | Clay | Petr Luxa | Kris Goossens Tom Vanhoudt | 3–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 2–3 | Aug 1997 | Plzeň, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Borut Urh | Radek Štěpánek Radomír Vašek | 2–4 ret. |
| Win | 3–3 | Feb 1998 | Austria F3, Mondseeland | Futures | Carpet | Borut Urh | Ivaylo Traykov Milen Velev | 6–4, 7–6 |
| Loss | 3–4 | Jun 1998 | Příbram, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Radek Štěpánek | Ota Fukárek Udo Plamberger | 6–2, 3–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 3–5 | Nov 1998 | Aachen, Germany | Challenger | Hard | Tuomas Ketola | Menno Oosting Pavel Vízner | 6–7, 3–6 |
| Loss | 3–6 | Jun 1999 | Prague, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Tomáš Cibulec | Michal Tabara Radomír Vašek | 2–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 4–6 | Oct 1999 | Eckental, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Pavel Vízner | Steven Randjelovic Lovro Zovko | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Loss | 4–7 | Apr 2000 | Maia, Portugal | Challenger | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Tomáš Cibulec Leoš Friedl | 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
| Win | 5–7 | Aug 2000 | Poznań, Poland | Challenger | Clay | Pavel Vízner | Tomáš Cibulec Leoš Friedl | 6–3, 6–0 |
| Win | 6–7 | Nov 2000 | Charleroi, Belgium | Challenger | Carpet | Pavel Vízner | Aleksandar Kitinov Lovro Zovko | 6–7, 7–5, 6–1 |
| Loss | 6–8 | Jan 2003 | Heilbronn, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Pavel Vízner | Johan Landsberg Simon Aspelin | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 6–9 | Feb 2003 | Wrocław, Poland | Challenger | Hard | Pavel Vízner | Petr Luxa David Škoch | 4–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 7–9 | May 2004 | Ostrava, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Tuomas Ketola | Łukasz Kubot Tomáš Zíb | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Loss | 7–10 | Nov 2004 | Aachen, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Petr Luxa | Simon Aspelin Todd Perry | 3–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 8–10 | Mar 2006 | Sunrise, United States | Challenger | Hard | Robin Vik | Goran Dragicevic Dmitry Tursunov | 6–4, 6–2 |
| Win | 9–10 | May 2006 | Prague, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | David Škoch | Ramón Delgado Sergio Roitman | 6–0, 6–0 |
| Win | 10–10 | May 2008 | Prague, Czech Republic | Challenger | Clay | Lukáš Dlouhý | Dušan Karol Jaroslav Pospíšil | 6–7$^{(2–7)}$, 6–4, [10–6] |