| Playername | Mikhail Youzhny |
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| Nickname | Misha, Colonel |
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| Country | |
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| Residence | Moscow, Russia |
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| Datebirth | June 25, 1982 |
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| Placebirth | Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
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| Height | |
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| Weight | |
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| Turnedpro | 1999 |
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| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
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| Careerprizemoney | $7,889,433 |
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| Singlesrecord | 339–244 |
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| Singlestitles | 7 |
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| Highestsinglesranking | No. 8 (28 January 2008) |
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| Currentsinglesranking | No. 10 (25 October 2010) |
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| Australianopenresult | QF (2008) |
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| Frenchopenresult | QF (2010) |
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| Wimbledonresult | 4R (2001, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008) |
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| Usopenresult | SF (2006, 2010) |
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| Doublesrecord | 103–123 |
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| Doublestitles | 7 |
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| Highestdoublesranking | No. 43 (11 September 2006) |
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| Grandslamsdoublesresults | yes |
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| Australianopendoublesresult | 1R (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009) |
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| Frenchopendoublesresult | 3R (2006) |
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| Wimbledondoublesresult | 1R (2004, 2006) |
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| Usopendoublesresult | QF (2006) |
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| Updated | 28 November 2010 |
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Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny ( ; born 25 June 1982, in Moscow,
USSR (now Russia), is a professional Russian
tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years.
The highest singles world ranking of his career was number eight, achieved 28 January 2008 and again on 18 October 2010.
Playing style and equipment
Youzhny has a unique backhand, in which he mainly hits one-handed, but also has somewhat of a hybrid reminiscent to that of
Björn Borg. Youzhny at times will follow through his backhand with both hands, but with only his right hand on his racket. Even so, many consider his backhand to be his best shot. From both sides, Youzhny hits the ball on the rise, achieving a flatter trajectory. He has a good court sense and often makes use of dropshots.
Youzhny has a reputation for engaging the crowd, subsequently taking inspiration from it to attempt high-risk winners, especially when facing matchpoints. After each big victory Youzhny gives a military style salute to the spectators. He does it by holding the tennis racquet above his head with his left hand and saluting with his right hand. The racquet imitates a hat, since according to Russian military tradition one must wear a hat to give proper salute.
Youzhny represents CSKA Moscow, and is also an avid supporter of FC CSKA.
As for his equipment, he wears adidas clothing and Barricade V shoes and uses a Head Youtek Extreme Pro racquet.
Career
In 1999, the year in which he turned professional, Youzhny captured four titles on the Futures tour.
2000-06
In 2000, he reached his first
ATP tour quarterfinal in Moscow.
In 2001, he reached the third round of the Australian Open, made his first ATP tour semifinal at Copenhagen, and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, losing to eventual finalist Patrick Rafter. Youzhny also reached the third round at the US Open, losing to eventual finalist Pete Sampras.
The following year in 2002, Youzhny captured in Stuttgart his first ATP title, and led Russia to its first Davis Cup title, but he did not play for six weeks due to a back injury. By winning this match, Youzhny became the first ever player to recover successfully from a two sets to love deficit in the live fifth rubber of a Davis Cup Final.
During 2004 he won a career-high 42 matches, finishing the year in the top 20.
One of his best tournaments was the 2006 U.S. Open. Having beaten Tommy Robredo 6–2, 6–0, 6–1 he defeated World No. 2 Rafael Nadal 6–3, 5–7, 7–6, 6–1 in the quarterfinal. He lost in the semi-finals to Andy Roddick 6–7 6–0 7–6(5) 6–3. In the men's doubles, Youzhny partnered Leoš Friedl; together they defeated the world's number one pairing, Bob and Mike Bryan in the round of 16, before losing to Martin Damm and Leander Paes in the quarterfinals.
2007
At the start of the year Youzhny reached the 3rd round of the
Australian Open, losing to eventual champion world number one
Roger Federer. He then reached the semifinals of
Zagreb and won his third career ATP title in
Rotterdam. Later in March he reached the final in
Dubai, having defeated the second-seed
Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. He lost 6–4, 6–3 to Federer. His good form continued a few weeks later at Munich, where he reached the final, losing to first-time finalist
Philipp Kohlschreiber 2–6 6–3 6–4. Youhzny, in the
2007 French Open Fourth Round, once again faced Federer, this time succumbing 7–6, 6–4, 6–4. This run pushed him to a career high of number 14 in the world. Immediately before Wimbledon he benefited from Gasquet's poor title defence at Nottingham, and rose to world number 13, despite not playing himself that week. At Wimbledon, he reached the Fourth Round, where, despite holding a two-set lead, eventually lost to
Rafael Nadal 6–4 6–3 1–6 2–6 2–6. Later in the year he reached the 3rd round of the Canadian Masters, losing to
Nikolay Davydenko—this took him into the world top ten.
2008
Youzhny's first tournament of 2008 was
Chennai in India. He reached the final, where he beat
Rafael Nadal, the top seed, 6–0, 6–1 in under an hour. However, the scoreline does not reflect the circumstances, Nadal's semi-final finished mere hours beforehand and he had little rest. In the Australian Open Youzhny, for the first time in his career, beat
Nikolay Davydenko. He fell in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
On 1 April in the Miami Masters, Youzhny was 4-5 down with Nicolás Almagro serving in the final set, he hit a relatively easy return into the net. He gestured angrily towards his own temple, and then hit his head strongly with the edge of frame of his tennis racket three times, drawing blood. Despite this—and after receiving medical attention—he won the next seven points, taking the tiebreaker and also the match. He then played with Russia in the ARAG World Tennis Team Cup and reached the final, before losing to Sweden.
After Wimbledon - where he lost in the fourth round to eventual champion Rafael Nadal - Youzhny hasn't won three matches in a row, suffering first-round losses at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinnati, Ohio), the 2008 Madrid Masters and the BNP Paribas Masters. At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Youzhny lost in the third round to eventual bronze medal winner Novak Djokovic.
2009
Youzhny didn't start well at the first tournaments in 2009, losing in the first round of the
Australian Open to 183-ranked
Stefan Koubek in straight sets 3-6 2-6 2-6. He reached back-to-back quarterfinals at
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in
Rotterdam and the
Marseille Open, defeating
David Ferrer and
Tomáš Berdych on his way.
In the Davis Cup first round tie against Romania, he won his singles match against Victor Hănescu in straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-2. Russia eventually won the tie 4-1 with a lone loss in the doubles rubber.
At Queens Club, he paired up with doubles veteran Wesley Moodie and won the doubles title in their debut.
Heavily favored Russia was hosted by Israel in a Davis Cup quarter-final tie in July 2009, on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Russia had won the Davis Cup in both 2002 and 2006, and was the top-ranked country in Davis Cup standings. The Israeli team beat the Russian team in each of their first three matches, thereby winning the tie. Harel Levy (world # 210) first beat Andreev (world # 24). Dudi Sela (# 33) followed by beating Youzhny 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5. "This is a bit of a surprise", Youzhny remarked. He said he was very disappointed, and added: "I began very well, but after I took the first set, my luck fell away." The next day Israelis Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Safin and doubles specialist Kunitsyn. With the tie clinched for Israel, the reverse singles rubbers were "dead", and instead of best-of-five matches, best-of-three sets were played, with the outcomes of little to no importance. Israel wrapped up a 4-1 victory over Russia, splitting the final matches.
He made the finals at the Japan Open in Tokyo, after beating Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in a grueling 6–2 5–7 7–5 win. In the final, he faced no.2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga but was ousted 3–6 3–6. He then clinched his first title in 2009 at the 2009 Kremlin Cup where he defeated Janko Tipsarević 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-4. After the back-to-back tournaments, Youzhny retired in the second round at St. Petersburg. Youzhny then played at Valencia Open. He defeated both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon to advance to the semifinals where he beat second seed compatriot Nikolay Davydenko. He lost to Andy Murray in the final 6-3, 6-2. After his performance in Valencia, Youzhny is assured of breaking back into the top 20.
2010
The
Australian Open was the tournament that started off Mikhail's 2010 season. In the first round, he beat
Richard Gasquet 6-7(9), 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 6-4 after being down 2 sets to 0. He beat
Jan Hájek 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in the second round. However, he subsequently retired from the tournament before beginning the next round, as a result of a wrist injury.
After the recovery, he made the final at the 2010 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, worth 500 ATP points. Notably, he stunned top-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-6(5), 7-6(6) in the semifinal. In the final, he trailed behind Robin Söderling 4-6, 0-2 before retiring, due to a right hamstring injury. His good performance here lifted his ranking to #15.
In his next appearance, he reached his second successive final at the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, worth 500 ATP points. En route to the final, he beat Lukáš Lacko, Björn Phau, Janko Tipsarević, and Jürgen Melzer. In the final, he lost to No.2 seed Novak Djokovic (the defending champion) 5-7, 7-5, 3-6. It was Youzhny's fourth consecutive final loss in an ATP World Tour 500 event.
On May 9, Youzhny defeated Marin Čilić 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win his first BMW Open in Munich, Germany. It was his third trip to the final at this event having previously lost to Tomáš Berdych in 2009 and Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2007.
As the 11th seed at the 2010 French Open, Mikhail beat injured 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round after he retired during the match and reached his first ever Paris quarter-final.
After a good showing at the U.S. Open, Youzhny lost to number one seed Rafael Nadal 2-6, 3-6, 4-6 in the semifinals. With this strong performance, he reentered the top 10 for the first time since 2008.
During his first tournament since the US Open, Youzhny defeated Andrey Golubev 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(3) to win his second title of the year at the 2010 Malaysian Open. Following this result, his ranking rose to #8.
Forced to withdraw due to a viral infection, Youzhny was unable to defend his title in Moscow. He returned the following week as the top seed in St. Petersburg and reached his fifth singles final of the year, falling to Mikhail Kukushkin 3-6, 6-7(2).
Youzhny's season ended when he was forced to retire with a back injury against Ernests Gulbis at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. For the first time in his career, he finished the year in the top 10 and as the top-ranked Russian player.
2011
Youzhny made headlines early in 2011 during an encounter against
Lleyton Hewitt at the
Kooyong Classic. Feeling unfavoured by the home support for Hewitt, Youzhny requested, via the umpire, that "in the interest of sportsmanship" the crowd showed support when he also played good shots.
Career statistics
Singles performance timeline
''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics. This table is current through the
2010 Rome Masters.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
LQ = lost in the qualifying draw.
SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
References
External links
Youzhny Recent Match Results
Youzhny World Ranking History
Mikhail Youzhny tennis gear
Category:1982 births
Category:Living people
Category:Male tennis players
Category:Olympic tennis players of Russia
Category:People from Moscow
Category:Russian male tennis players
Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
