Thomas Johansson

Infobox Tennis player
playername = Thomas Johansson


country = SWE
residence = Monte Carlo, Monaco
datebirth = 24 March, 1975 (age 33)
placebirth = Linköping, Sweden
height = height|m=1.80
weight = convert|80|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro = 1993
plays = Right-handed; two-handed backhand
status = "Active"
careerprizemoney = $7,131,894
singlesrecord = 356–293
singlestitles = 9
highestsinglesranking = No. 7 (10 May, 2002)
AustralianOpenresult = W (2002)
FrenchOpenresult = 2nd (1996, 2000, 2002, 2005)
Wimbledonresult = SF (2005)
USOpenresult = QF (1998, 2000)
doublesrecord = 76–96
doublestitles = 1
highestdoublesranking = No. 51 (17 July, 2006)
updated = August 25, 2008

Thomas Johansson (born March 24, 1975, in Linköping, Sweden) is a professional tennis player. He's a former Australian Open champion and Olympic silver medalist.

Career

Junior career

Johansson began to play tennis at age five with his father, Krister. In 1989, became European 14s singles champion and won doubles title (w/Magnus Norman). Even when he injured his right elbow while playing Orange Bowl 16s in 1991, he reached the final, losing to Spain’s Gonzalo Corrales. He finished No. 10 in 1993 world junior rankings.

Senior career

That same year he would join the pro tour for the first time. He has managed to win 9 top-level singles titles and 1 doubles title, including the 1999 Canada Masters (df. Yevgeny Kafelnikov) and the 2002 Australian Open Grand Slam championship, which he unexpectedly won (on his 25th attempt at winning a Grand Slam title) after defeating his heavily favored opponent, Marat Safin, in four sets, 3–6 6–4 6–4 7–6. Johansson became the first Swedish player to win a Slam since Stefan Edberg won the 1992 U.S. Open title, and the first Swede to claim the Australian since Mats Wilander in 1988.

Johansson would later reach his career high ranking of World No. 7 in June 2002 and finish the season with a career best year-end ranking of 14th in the ATP Champions Race, a feat he would later repeat in 2005.

A knee injury robbed Johansson of the latter half of the 2002 season and all of 2003, and Johansson was therefore unable to compete on the tour full-time until 2004. In 2005, he became the first Swedish player to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon since Stefan Edberg in 1993, losing to Andy Roddick in a tightly contested four set match, 7–6 2–6 6–7 6–7. At the end of the season, Johansson won his 9th, and until now, last ATP tournament in St. Petersburg, defeating Nicolas Kiefer 6–4 6–2.

In 2006, the Swede struggled through the season after suffering an eye injury early in the season. The highlights of the season were a 4th RD at the Australian Open (where he lost to Ivan Ljubičić), his first doubles title in Bastaad, Sweden with countryman Jonas Björkman and a final in St. Petersburg (lost to Mario Ancic), where he was the defending champion.

At the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics he reached the doubles final with Simon Aspelin where he lost against the Swiss team of Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.

As of August 10, 2008, he has an 17-15 career Davis Cup record (16-12 in singles) in 16 ties and an 355-292 career overall. He is currently 66th in the ATP rankings. He is sponsored by Dunlop Sport for racquets and apparel and adidas for shoes.

Personal

His idol while growing up was Mats Wilander, who is captain of Swedish Davis Cup team. He is a fan of popular culture, reading books by Swedish author Henning Mankell, National Geographic magazine and watching TV show Friends ( he owns almost every episode on DVD). His favorite actors are Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Johansson is a fan of U2, Depeche Mode and Swedish band Kent, and is a keen player of golf and floorball. Johansson is a fan of ice hockey, frequently watching Linköpings HC and Djurgårdens IF. He scored two goals and assisted on another in 6–5 win by ATP Stars over NHL Players in annual street hockey challenge in Montreal in 2001. Johansson married Gisella on December 3, 2005.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

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Green background for wins. Yellow background from quarter finals up to finals.

Trivia

*He has no relation to Joachim Johansson, another Swedish tennis player.
*He is coached by fellow Swede and former French Open Finalist and Australian Open Semi Finalist Magnus Norman.

ee also

* Australian Open champions (Men's Singles)
* Tennis Masters Series
* ATP season 2005
* ATP season 2006
*List of Grand Slam Men's Singles champions

External links

*ATP|id=J129
*ITF male profile|number=10009515
*DavisCupplayerlink|id=10009515
* [http://steveghelper.com/MatchResults.php?players=s+Johans&weeks=12 Johansson Recent Match Results]
* [http://steveghelper.com/RankingHistory.php?player=Th+Johans Johansson World Ranking History]