Yannick Hanfmann was born on November 13, 1991, in Karlsruhe, Germany, to Stephen and Karin Hanfmann. His father is a doctor, while his mother is a teacher. Hanfmann has been hearing impaired in both ears since birth. He began playing tennis at the age of 5 with his parents.
The German played four years of college tennis before becoming a professional. He did this from 2012 to 2015 at the University of South Carolina. Hanfmann helped the University win two NCAA national titles during this period.
Hanfmann burst onto the ATP Tour with one of the most unexpected runs to a final in men’s tennis. As a qualifier and the world No. 170, he reached the final of the Swiss Open in Gstaad in July 2017. This included a victory against former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Felicano Lopez. Hanfmann lost 4-6, 5-7 in the final against Fabio Fognini.
After this unexpected achievement, Hanfmann spent the next two seasons playing almost exclusively on the ATP Challenger Tour. He won four titles over the course of 2018 and 2019, with all of these coming on clay and three of them on home soil in Germany.
Hanfmann then made another shock run to an ATP Tour final as a qualifier in Kitzbuhel in September 2020. He did this with victories against Alexander Bublik, Dusan Lajovic, and Maximilian Marterer and a dramatic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 triumph against Laslo Djere. Unfortunately, he missed out on a maiden title again by falling in the final to Miomir Kecmanovic.
2021 and 2022 did not bring any more finals, with Hanfmann ending both those years ranked outside the Top 100. He did win his first Grand Slam main draw match at the 2022 Australian Open by crushing home player Thanasi Kokkinakis, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the following round.
Hanfmann had his most consistent season by far in 2023. He posted a positive 23-22 winning record during that year. His most notable run during that season was to the first ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal of his career at the Italian Open, eventually being beaten by the eventual champion Daniil Medvedev.
