Andrei Pavel
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Andrei Pavel (born 27 January 1974) is a Romanian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 and won three titles, including the 2001 Canada Masters. He also reached a career-high in doubles of No. 18 and won six doubles titles.
Early life
Pavel began playing tennis at the age of eight and moved to Germany at sixteen in 1990.
Career
In 2001, he won the biggest title of his career, the 2001 Canada Masters in Montreal, defeating Patrick Rafter in the final.
In 2002, while he was about to play a quarterfinal at Roland Garros, he jumped into a car and made an express round-trip to Germany to attend the birth of his son. It equalled to 1000 miles in 24 hоurs, in the pouring rain with... Àlex Corretja waiting for his return on the Central. "It's a bit odd that these two events overlapped, said the Romanian. But no matter the sporting challenge: I would not have missed the birth of Marius for the world. The whole story with the rain was a godsend for the press, but for me, it didn’t really made a difference: I would have gone no matter what."
In 2006, Pavel played what John McEnroe considers to be the best first round match at a Grand Slam he has ever seen at the US Open in August 2006, where he lost to Andre Agassi in four sets; 6–7(4), 7–6(8), 7–6(6), 6–2; taking three and half hours. Had Pavel won, it would have been Agassi's last match in a professional tournament.
In 2009, he played his last singles match in his homeland tournament in Bucharest against Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. At the same tournament, he also played two more exhibition matches, one facing Goran Ivanišević, while in the other he paired up with Ilie Năstase against Mansour Bahrami and Yannick Noah.
He attended the Olympic Games five times, and played for 20 years on the Romania Davis Cup team. He became the captain of the team in 2009.
After retirement
After retiring from professional tennis in 2009, Pavel moved into coaching and worked with several ATP and WTA players as well as Romanian prospects. Some notable players he has coached include Benjamin Becker, a former ATP Top 40 player; Marius Copil, whom he coached during part of Copil’s rise into the Top 100; and Horia Tecău, the Romanian doubles specialist and Grand Slam champion.
On the WTA Tour, Pavel worked with several prominent players, including former world No. 1 Simona Halep, joining her coaching team in 2017 alongside Darren Cahill. Earlier in his coaching career he also coached former world No. 1 Jelena Janković and collaborated with Tamira Paszek on the WTA Tour. In addition, he worked with Romanian WTA players such as Sorana Cîrstea and Monica Niculescu during parts of their careers.
He is currently coaching Nicholas David Ionel, Ștefan Paloși and Sebastian Gima.
Personal life
Pavel was married to a German woman, Simone, from 1994 to 2014, and they have two children: a daughter, Caroline, and a son, Marius.
In 2010, after spending 20 years in Germany, he relocated to Arizona, United States, where he co-founded the Pavel Blackwood Tennis Academy. Since 2018, he has been in a relationship with Adriana Vărbanciu, and in April 2023, they welcomed their daughter, Andreea. He currently resides in Bucharest, Romania.
Career finals
Singles (3 wins, 6 losses)
| Legend (singles) |
|---|
| Grand Slam (0-0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0-0) |
| ATP Masters Series (1-1) |
| ATP International Series Gold (1-0) |
| ATP Tour (1-5) |
| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1. | Apr 1998 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Zimbabwe Byron Black | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1. | Apr 1999 | Munich, Germany | Clay | Argentina Franco Squillari | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 2. | Jun 1999 | s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Grass | Australia Patrick Rafter | 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 4–6 |
| Win | 2. | May 2000 | St. Pölten, Austria | Clay | Australia Andrew Ilie | 7–5, 3–6, 6–2 |
| Win | 3. | Jul 2001 | Montreal, Canada | Hard | Australia Patrick Rafter | 7–6(7–3), 2–6, 6–3 |
| Loss | 3. | Oct 2003 | Paris, France | Carpet | United Kingdom Tim Henman | 2–6, 6–7(6–8), 6–7(2–7) |
| Loss | 4. | Apr 2005 | Munich, Germany | Clay | Argentina David Nalbandian | 4–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 5. | May 2006 | Pörtschach, Austria | Clay | Russia Nikolay Davydenko | 0–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 6. | Jul 2007 | Umag, Croatia | Clay | Spain Carlos Moyá | 4–6, 2–6 |
Doubles (6 titles, 5 runners-up)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 8 (4–4)
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Legend ATP Challenger (4–4) ITF Futures (0–0) | Finals by surface Hard (2–0) Clay (2–3) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–1) |
| ATP Challenger (4–4) | |
| ITF Futures (0–0) | |
| Finals by surface | |
| Hard (2–0) | |
| Clay (2–3) | |
| Grass (0–0) | |
| Carpet (0–1) |
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 1995 | Scheveningen, Netherlands | Challenger | Clay | Spain Jordi Arrese | 3–6, 7–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 1–1 | Jul 1996 | Montauban, France | Challenger | Clay | France Stephane Huet | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1–2 | May 1997 | Ljubljana, Slovenia | Challenger | Clay | New Zealand Brett Steven | 6–7, 2–6 |
| Loss | 1–3 | Mar 1998 | Magdeburg, Germany | Challenger | Carpet | Germany Lars Burgsmuller | 3–7, 4–6 |
| Win | 2–3 | Jul 1999 | Venice, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Czech Republic Slava Dosedel | 6–2, 6–0 |
| Win | 3–3 | Nov 2004 | Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine | Challenger | Hard | Slovenia Karol Kucera | walkover |
| Win | 4–3 | Dec 2004 | Port Louis, Mauritius | Challenger | Hard | South Korea Lee Hyung-taik | 6–3, 6–1 |
| Loss | 4–4 | May 2007 | Tunis, Tunisia | Challenger | Clay | Italy Simone Bolelli | 6–4, 6–7(4–7), 2–6 |
Doubles: 9 (5–4)
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Legend ATP Challenger (5–4) ITF Futures (0–0) | Finals by surface Hard (1–1) Clay (4–2) Grass (0–1) Carpet (0–0) |
| ATP Challenger (5–4) | |
| ITF Futures (0–0) | |
| Finals by surface | |
| Hard (1–1) | |
| Clay (4–2) | |
| Grass (0–1) | |
| Carpet (0–0) |
Junior Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 title)
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1992 | French Open | Clay | Italy Mose Navarra | 6–1, 3–6, 6–3 |
Singles performance timeline
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| Tournament | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | W ‑ L | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | 1R | A | 4R | A | 2R | 3R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 2R | LQ | 1R | 1R | 11–10 | 52 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | QF | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | LQ | A | 1R | 6–9 | 40 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | LQ | 2R | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 3R | A | 2R | 2R | 2R | 2R | A | 1R | 9–11 | 45 |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 4R | 2R | 1R | A | 4R[a] | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | 1R | 8–11 | 42 |
| Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 3–4 | 5–3 | 2–4 | 8–4 | 0–1 | 8–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 34–41 | 45 |
| Olympic Games | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | NH | 1R | Not held | 1R | Not held | 1R | Not held | 1R | Not held | A | NH | N/A | ||||||||||
| ATP Masters Series 1000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | LQ | A | A | ||
| Miami Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | 3R | 4R | QF | 2R | QF | 1R | 1R | LQ | A | A | ||
| Monte Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | LQ | 2R | 3R | A | 3R | A | A | 1R | A | A | ||
| Rome Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | 1R | 2R | A | QF | 1R | A | A | A | A | ||
| Madrid Masters(Stuttgart) | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | 2R | QF | QF | 2R | 1R | LQ | 3R | 1R | A | 1R | A | A | ||
| Canada Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | W | 2R | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | A | ||
| Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | A | LQ | A | A | ||
| Paris Masters | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | LQ | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | F | 3R | 1R | A | A | A | |||
| Hamburg Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | SF | 1R | 2R | A | 3R | 1R | A | LQ | A | |||
| Year-end ranking | 460 | 548 | 489 | 311 | 408 | 214 | 135 | 118 | 68 | 41 | 27 | 28 | 26 | 69 | 18 | 80 | 113 | 75 | 1142 | 600 | NA |
a 2004 US Open counts as 3 wins, 0 losses. Roger Federer walkover in round 4, after Pavel withdrew because of a back injury, does not count as a Pavel loss (nor a Federer win).
External links
- at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- at the International Tennis Federation
- at the Davis Cup (archived)
- at Olympedia
- at Olympics.com