Joel Schwärzler

Joel Josef Schwärzler (born 27 January 2006) is an Austrian tennis player. He has a career high singles ranking of No. 387 achieved on 27 May 2024. In October 2023, he won the ITF Junior Masters event in Chengdu.

Early life
Schwärzler is the son of a South African mother and an Austrian father from Vorarlberg. He grew up in Hard, Austria. He began playing tennis at the age of 5. He won the Austrian U18 national championship titles in singles and doubles in 2022, and followed this up by winning the U16 European Championships in July in Prerov, Czech Republic, defeating top seed Martin Landaluce in the final.

Career
Coached by Jürgen Melzer, he began training at the ÖTV performance centre in Südstadt in 2021.

He reached the final of the 2023 US Open – Boys' doubles alongside partner Federico Bondioli where they lost to Max Dahlin and Oliver Ojakäär despite twice having a match point.

In October 2023, he won two titles in two weeks, claiming victory at J500 event in Osaka and following that up with victory at the ITF Junior Masters event in Chengdu, China defeating Rodrigo Pacheco Méndez of Mexico in the boys’ final. He became the first Austrian player to win the title. This title guaranteed him the third place in the world junior rankings.

2024: First ATP Challenger Tour title, junior Grand Slam doubles champion
In May 2024, Schwärzler won his first ATP Challenger Tour title at the Macedonian Open, defeating Sergey Fomin, Ergi Kırkın, Andrew Paulson, Gerard Campana Lee and Kamil Majchrzak in the process. He achieved a new career high ranking of 387 with the win, and became the first player born in 2006 to win a Challenger title.

At the 2024 French Open, Schwärzler won his first junior Grand Slam title in the boys' doubles, partnering with Nicolai Budkov Kjær.