# Robbie Koenig

Robert Louis Koenig (/ˈkoʊnɪɡ/ KOH-nig; 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

## 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 |

### 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 | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | Not Held | 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% |