Vit Kopriva About

Vit Kopriva: the Bílovec late bloomer who saved his loudest year for Madrid

Vit Kopriva is a career built one Challenger week at a time. The Czech turned pro in 2015 and spent the better part of a decade churning through the ITF and Challenger tiers — six ATP Challenger singles titles and two doubles titles along the way — before tour-level relevance finally arrived in his late twenties. Born in Bílovec on 15 June 1997, he is currently the No. 4 Czech man, a slow burn rather than a teenage phenom.

Right-handed and grounded on the dirt, Kopriva is a clay-court grinder first. His ATP record tells the story — a winning mark on clay against losing ones on hard and grass — and his game leans on patient baseline construction and a return that pressures second serves more than a flashy serve protects his own holds. He's the kind of player who wins by length, not by trophies in the highlight reel.

The signature beat came early and stayed memorable: on his ATP main-draw debut at Gstaad in 2021, ranked No. 249, at a then-career-high of world No. 249 in singles, Kopřiva defeated Denis Shapovalov for his career-best and first top-10 win. He was the lowest-ranked player to beat a top-10 opponent since then-world No. 698 Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated then-world No. 6 Milos Raonic at Queen's Club in 2017. He maiden Challenger doubles title came with countryman Jiri Lehecka.

The breakthrough run, though, was this spring. Kopřiva reached his first career fourth round at a Masters 1000 at the 2026 Madrid Open, beating Zhang Zhizhen, ninth seed Andrey Rublev and 22nd seed Arthur Rinderknech. That Madrid form — with the scalps of Andrey Rublev and Arthur Rinderknech — pushed him to a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 55, achieved on 4 May 2026. He enters the clay heart of the calendar ranked No. 65, finally a fixture where he spent years knocking on the door.

Vit Kopriva at a glance

Vit Kopriva is 29 years old; was born in Bilovec, Czechia; lives in Fulnek; stands 1.78 m; plays right-handed; and is ranked No. 68 in the ATP rankings.