# Alexander Popp

Alexander Popp (born 4 November 1976) is a former German professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and 2003.

## Personal life

Popp was born in Heidelberg to parents Rainer and Jennifer, and started playing tennis at the age of 8. He was coached by Helmut Luthy, from 1994 until retirement. He holds a British passport through his mother, who was born in Wolverhampton.

## Tennis career

Popp turned professional in 1997 at the age of 21.
Popp's career highlights are making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon (by far his most successful tournament) in 2000 (defeating Gustavo Kuerten and Michael Chang en route), and in 2003 (defeating Jiří Novák). He also reached the fourth round in 2004, losing to the eventual runner-up in each of these three runs (Patrick Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Andy Roddick respectively), and the third round in 2005. Popp also reached the final of Newport in 2004 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 74.
In doubles, Popp made the final of Newport in 2002 (partnering Jürgen Melzer) and the semifinals of the Ho Chi Minh City championships in 2005 (partnering Jiří Vaněk).

## ATP career finals
### Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

* Legend
* Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
* ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
* ATP Masters Series (0–0)
* ATP Championship Series (0–0)
* ATP International Series (0–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (0–0)
* Clay (0–0)
* Grass (0–1)
* Carpet (0–0)
* Finals by setting
* Outdoors (0–1)
* Indoors (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 2004 | Newport, United States | International Series | Grass | Greg Rusedski | 6–7$^{(5–7)}$, 6–7$^{(2–7)}$ |

### Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

* Legend
* Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
* ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
* ATP Masters Series (0–0)
* ATP Championship Series (0–0)
* ATP International Series (0–1)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (0–0)
* Clay (0–0)
* Grass (0–1)
* Carpet (0–0)
* Finals by setting
* Outdoors (0–1)
* Indoors (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 2002 | Newport, United States | International Series | Grass | Jurgen Melzer | Bob Bryan Mike Bryan | 5–7, 3–6 |

## ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
### Singles: 16 (13–3)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (6–1)
* ITF Futures (7–2)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (4–1)
* Clay (3–1)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (6–1)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Aug 1998 | Latvia F1, Jūrmala | Futures | Clay | Janne Ojala | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 2–0 | Oct 1998 | Great Britain F8, Glasgow | Futures | Hard | Andreas Weber | 3–6, 6–3, 6–2 |
| Win | 3–0 | Oct 1998 | Great Britain F9, Leeds | Futures | Hard | Roman Smotlak | 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 |
| Win | 4–0 | Oct 1998 | Great Britain F10, Edinburgh | Futures | Hard | Markus Menzler | 6–2, 6–3 |
| Loss | 4–1 | Nov 1998 | USA F9, Tucson | Futures | Hard | Kepler Orellana | 3–6, 6–4, 0–6 |
| Win | 5–1 | Feb 1999 | Great Britain F1, Leeds | Futures | Carpet | Julian Knowle | 7–6, 6–2 |
| Win | 6–1 | Apr 1999 | France F4, Clermont-Ferrand | Futures | Carpet | Jan-Ralph Brandt | 2–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Loss | 6–2 | May 1999 | Germany F2, Schwäbisch Hall | Futures | Clay | Bartlomiej Dabrowski | 7–5, 6–7, 4–6 |
| Win | 7–2 | May 1999 | Germany F3, Neckarau | Futures | Clay | Johan Settergren | 6–2, 6–1 |
| Win | 8–2 | May 1999 | Oberstaufen, Germany | Challenger | Clay | Francisco Costa | 7–6, 6–3 |
| Win | 9–2 | Aug 1999 | Bronx, United States | Challenger | Hard | Sebastien de Chaunac | 6–7$^{(4–7)}$, 7–6$^{(7–4)}$, 6–0 |
| Win | 10–2 | Feb 2000 | Hamburg, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Andy Fahlke | 6–3, 6–2 |
| Win | 11–2 | Nov 2001 | Aachen, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Axel Pretzsch | 6–3, 1–6, 6–2 |
| Win | 12–2 | Nov 2001 | Eckental, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Peter Wessels | 6–4, 5–7, 6–2 |
| Win | 13–2 | Jan 2002 | Heilbronn, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Jürgen Melzer | 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| Loss | 13–3 | Feb 2002 | Lübeck, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Raemon Sluiter | 2–6, 0–3 ret. |

### Doubles: 2 (2–0)

* Legend
* ATP Challenger (1–0)
* ITF Futures (1–0)
* Finals by surface
* Hard (2–0)
* Clay (0–0)
* Grass (0–0)
* Carpet (0–0)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Oct 1998 | Great Britain F9, Leeds | Futures | Hard | Iain Bates | Jean-Rene Lisnard Ashley Naumann | 6–4, 4–6, 6–4 |
| Win | 2–0 | Aug 2001 | Wrexham, United Kingdom | Challenger | Hard | Gilles Elseneer | Luke Bourgeois Aisam Qureshi | 5–7, 7–5, 6–2 |

## Performance timeline

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

### Singles

| Tournament | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | SR | W–L | Win % |
| Grand Slam tournaments |||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | 0 / 2 | 1–2 | 33% |
| French Open | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 6 | 0–6 | 0% |
| Wimbledon | A | QF | A | A | QF | 4R | 3R | 0 / 4 | 13–4 | 76% |
| US Open | Q1 | 2R | Q1 | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 0 / 5 | 2–5 | 29% |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 5–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 4–3 | 3–4 | 2–3 | 0 / 17 | 16–17 | 48% |
| ATP Masters Series |||||||||||
| Hamburg | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| Cincinnati | A | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | – |