Йозеф Ковалик

2010–2014: First Challenger title

Kovalík together with Filip Horanský won bronze medal in doubles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.

He won his first Challenger title on 17 August 2014, after beating second seed Andrey Kuznetsov. He became the fourth player to win an ATP Challenger title while ranked outside the top 300.

2016: ATP, Masters and Grand Slam debuts

He played his first match at ATP level on 5 January 2016 in Chennai, where he lost in the first round. He played his first match at a Grand Slam at the 2016 Australian Open, where he lost to fellow qualifier Marco Trungelliti in the first round.

At the 2016 BNP Paribas Open Kovalík won his first match at ATP level, defeating another qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round. He lost in two tight tie-breaks in the subsequent round, to fellow up-and-coming talent Dominic Thiem. Despite the loss his tennis was of an extremely high quality as he was able to win cheap points off his first serve, utilised an effective kicking second serve, and consistently hit his groundstrokes with great accuracy, power and depth.^[] In addition he remained mentally composed on key points and played intelligent tennis throughout.^[] During the match he was watched by fellow Slovak and coach of Novak Djokovic, Marián Vajda. ^[]

Kovalík won the 2016 Capri Watch Cup, his second title on the ATP Challenger Tour.

2017–2020: French Open, Top 100 and Wimbledon debuts

At the 2018 Sofia Open he had his best ATP tournament, reaching the semifinals and losing to Marius Copil in straight sets, 6–4, 6–2. Kovalík reached another ATP level semifinal at 2018 German Open in Hamburg, where he lost to the defending champion Leonardo Mayer. After the tournament, Kovalík reached the Top 100 for the first time.