Philipp Kohlschreiber has made a surprise return to the match court this week.
Kohlschreiber, who is now 42 years old, played his last match in Wimbledon qualifying in 2022, where he lost in the second round to Mikhail Kukushkin.
The German has not returned to the match court since, until Kohlschreiber appeared on the doubles entry list for the ATP Challenger tournament in Mauthausen in Austria.
Kohlschreiber has recently been helping young Austrian talent Joel Schwaerzler, and they have now teamed up to play doubles together.
Philipp Kohlschreiber plays his first match in four years at Challenger tournament
Kohlschreiber has been helping out Schwaerzler’s coach Markus Hipfl recently, and they actually won their first round match together.
After losing the first set, Kohlschreiber and Schwaerzler fought back to beat second seeds Trey Hilderbrand and Daniel Cukierman.
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When asked about how their partnership came about, Kohlschreiber revealed that he is unable to play singles anymore, but he is still able to compete at a high level in doubles.
“It all started with a little idea,” said Kohlschreiber. “I still play with my friends in practice and help out Markus (Schwaerzler’s coach) a bit, and at some point we started talking about trying doubles together.
“Singles is too physically demanding, but doubles is really fun, and I think I can still perform at my best.”
Kohlschreiber and Schwaerzler have since lost their quarterfinal match, and it is unclear as to whether the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist will return to the match court ever again.
Schwaerzler, who is still only 20 years old, will continue competing with guidance from Kohlschreiber and is currently at his career-high ranking of world number 172.
Philipp Kohlschreiber’s career achievements
Although Kohlschreiber is no longer an active player on the ATP Tour, he did have a very successful career.
Kohlschreiber reached a career-high ranking of world number 16 in 2012, which came after he achieved his best Grand Slam result by reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
He also won eight ATP titles, three of which came at the clay court tournament in Munich, where Ben Shelton recently won the title.
| Philipp Kohlschreiber’s career achievements | |
| Career-high ranking | No.16 |
| ATP titles won | 8 |
| Best Grand Slam result | Wimbledon Quarterfinal (2012) |
| Wins over top 10 players | 25 |
Kohlschreiber also obtained 25 victories over top 10 players in his career, including wins over Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
He is also equal to Nadal in terms of Grand Slam main draw appearances, with Kohlschreiber having made the joint 10th most in the Open Era (68).
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