Jurgen Melzer's career comes to end following doubles loss with Alexander Zverev

• Tennis News
• ATP Tennis

Austrian Jurgen Melzer lost his Vienna doubles opener on Wednesday and his career came to an end. Melzer, 40, wanted to retire in front of his home fans in Vienna and world No. 4 Alexander Zverev accepted the Austrian's request to play doubles at the Austrian ATP 500 event.

Melzer and Zverev competed extremely well against John Peers and Filip Polasek but the third-seeded duo claimed a 7-6 (3) 7-5 win to progress into the Vienna quarterfinal. Melzer, who turned professional in 1999, enjoyed a long career, having played on the Tour for more than two decades.

Melzer enjoyed a successful career in both singles and doubles. In singles, Melzer captured five ATP titles and in 2011 he achieved a career-high ranking of No. 8 in the world. Melzer enjoyed more success in doubles, having won two Grand Slam titles in men's doubles and one Grand Slam title in mixed doubles.

In doubles, Melzer was ranked as high as No. 6 in the world.

Melzer famously shocked Novak Djokovic at the French Open

Melzer made his lone Grand Slam singles semifinal at the French Open in 2010. Back then, Melzer recovered from two sets down to stun now 20-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic.

A few months ago, Djokovic revealed he cried after losing to Melzer at the French Open. ''(Vajda) and (Miljan Amanovic) have let me cry and I'm very grateful for that. It was a key moment. The narrative in the sports world is that a coach has to be someone that uplifts you, shows you that you have to be stronger when you feel weak.

For me, the best coaches are the ones who are there for you as friends and human beings, coaches who are your shoulder to cry on, and people who understand you and let you spill your guts out when that is what you need,'' Djokovic said during his appearance the podcast with Chervin Jafarieh, as revealed by Sasa Ozmo.