Jonas Björkman

Infobox Tennis player
playername= Jonas Björkman


country= SWE
residence= Monte Carlo, Monaco
datebirth= birth date and age|mf=yes|1972|3|23
placebirth= Alvesta, Sweden
height= height|m=1.84
weight= convert|83|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro= 1991
plays= Right-handed; two-handed backhand
careerprizemoney= $14,386,244
singlesrecord= 413–358
singlestitles= 6
highestsinglesranking= No. 4 (November 3, 1997)
AustralianOpenresult= QF (1998, 2002)
FrenchOpenresult= 4th (1996, 2007)
Wimbledonresult= SF (2006)
USOpenresult= SF (1997)
doublesrecord= 695–298
doublestitles= 52
highestdoublesranking= No. 1 (July 9 ,2001)
grandslamsdoublesresults =yes
AustralianOpenDoublesresult =W (1998, 1999, 2001)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult =W (2005, 2006)
WimbledonDoublesresult =W (2002, 2003, 2004)
USOpenDoublesresult =W (2003)
updated = July 14, 2008

Jonas Lars Björkman (pronounced: YO-nas BYERK-mann) (born March 23, 1972, Alvesta, Sweden) is a Swedish professional male tennis player and former World No. 4 in singles and World No. 1 in doubles.

On November 20, 2006, he replaced Dick Norman as the oldest player in the ATP Top 100 (singles) when Norman dropped out of the Top 100 for the last time. On June 9, 2008, aged 36 years and 2 months, Björkman was himself succeeded in this honour by Fabrice Santoro after dropping out of the Top 100 in his turn.

Biography

The son of tennis coach and mailman Lars Björkman, Jonas began playing tennis at the age of six.Cite web|url=http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/players/playerprofiles/highlights.asp?playernumber=B446|title=ATP Tour profile for Jonas Björkman|accessdate=2007-07-09] At 18, he won the Swedish Junior Championship and was among the top 5 junior Swede players. He married Petra on December 2, 2000 in Stockholm and has a son, Max (born January 15, 2003).He plays right-handed and has a particularly good record against left-handed players. He claims it's because his father plays left-handed.fact|date=July 2007

Career

He turned professional in 1991. In 1993, he won three Challenger singles titles. In 1994, he won seven titles in doubles including the 1994 ATP Tour World Championships in Jakarta. In 1995, he reached his first career ATP singles final in Hong Kong. In 1997, he became the 9th ever Swedish tennis player to finish in ATP top 10 at no. 4. He advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, losing to Greg Rusedski. At the 1998 Australian Open, he won his first career doubles Grand Slam title. 2000 saw him finishing in the singles top 50 for the fifth time in seven years.

In his ATP career, he has won six singles titles and 51 titles in doubles, including nine Grand Slam titles.

He made his Davis Cup debut in 1994 and has played regularly for Sweden ever since. He has compiled a 21–14 record in doubles and a 14–9 record in live singles rubbers. He was a member of Sweden's Davis Cup championship teams in 1994, 1997, and 1998.

In the 2006 Wimbledon, he unexpectedly made it into the singles semi-finals at the age of 34, making him the oldest player to get there since Jimmy Connors in 1987. He had only made it into the singles quarter-finals once in 2003. He was unseeded, but defeated 14th-seeded Radek Štěpánek in a match which included saving a match point. He had previously ousted his doubles partner Max Mirnyi and another Swede, Thomas Johansson, to make the quarter-finals. In the semi-final he found World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer too good and was overpowered in straight sets, 6–2, 6–0, 6–2.When John McEnroe announced his official return to the ATP Pro Tour in 2006 he teamed up with Björkman to win the doubles title at the SAP Open in San Jose.

During Wimbledon in 2008, he announced that he would be playing in his final Wimbledon as he was planning on retiring at the end of the season. Although being knocked out in the first round of singles, Björkman and Kevin Ullyett made it to the final, being defeated by second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, though receiving a hero's farewell to his extensive career at Wimbledon.

ingles titles (9)

ingles performance timeline

Doubles performance timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.
NH = tournament not held

References

External links

* [http://jonasbjorkman.com jonasbjorkman.com] - official website
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* [http://steveghelper.com/MatchResults.php?players=Bjork&weeks=12 Bjorkman Recent Match Results]
* [http://steveghelper.com/RankingHistory.php?player=Bjork Bjorkman World Ranking History]