Joachim Johansson

Playername	Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson
Country
Residence	Södertälje, Sweden
Birth date	July 01, 1982
Birth place	Lund, Sweden
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	2000
Retired	2011
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	US$1,535,441
Singlesrecord	70–56
Singlestitles	3
Highestsinglesranking	No. 9 (14 February 2005)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 750 (14 February 2010)
Australianopenresult	4th (2005)
Frenchopenresult	1st (2004)
Wimbledonresult	4th (2004)
Usopenresult	SF (2004)
Doublesrecord	16–14
Doublestitles	1
Highestdoublesranking	No. 108 (1 February 2008)
Updated	October 26, 2009

Joachim Johansson (born 1 July 1982) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden.

Background

Johansson was born in Lund and currently lives in Södertälje, Sweden. His father, Leif Johansson, was also a tennis player and represented Sweden in the Davis Cup in the 1970s. He goes by the nickname "Pim Pim", which he has been called since he was a newborn. His elder brother pronounced Joachim as "Joapim" which later became "Pim Pim". In 2005, Swedish hurdler Jenny Kallur became his girlfriend but in August 2008 they separated. Lleyton Hewitt's sister, Jaslyn Hewitt, was his girlfriend for five years from 2000 to 2005. Since April 2009 he is engaged to Johanna Westerberg, a Swedish professional golfer on the Ladies European Tour, and they are expecting their first child.

He is not related to fellow Swedish tennis player Thomas Johansson.

Tennis career

2000-2003

Johansson competed in his first professional tour match in the 2000 Wideyes Swedish Open, where he retired against Markus Hipfl 3-6 in the first set. He then claimed his first win the a challengers event in Sweden defeating Alexander Peya 7-6(6), 7-6(3). He then competd in the 2000 Scania Stockholm Open losing to Bohdan Ulihrach 4-6, 5-7.

In 2001 Johansson focused on Challengers event and only competed in one ATP tour touranment the 2001 Stockholm Open losing to Andreas Vinciguerra 3-6, 6-7(4), he however reached two semifinals in the challengers in Great Britain F1 and New Zealand F3, two Finals in Germany F2 losing to Jan Frode Andersen 3-5 ret and in Austria F2 were he withdrew in the finals against Rogier Wassen, He however won his first tournament in Australia F1 defeating Todd Perry 7-6(5), 7-5 in the finals.

In 2002 Johansson won 3 challengers event in Poland F3 defeating Adrian Cruciat 6-3, 7-5, in Austria F4 dominating Rainer Falenti 6-3, 6-2 and in Sweden F1 defeating compatriot Kalle Flygt 7-6(7), 6-1, and 1 runner-up in Poland F4 losing to Bartlomiej Dabrowski of Poland 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(7). He also won his first ATP Tour level match in his home tournament in the 2002 Stockholm Open defeating Albert Portas 6-3, 6-3 before losing to Fabrice Santoro 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-7(5) in the following round.

In 2003 Johansson made his Grand Slam Debut in the 2003 Australian Open losing to American Mardy Fish 3-6, 5-7, 2-6. He then represented Sweden against Australia in the Davis Cup, however he lost to Wayne Arthurs 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(4). He then competed in Newport losing to Zack Fleishman 3-6, 4-6. In his US Open debut he once against lost to Mardy Fish 3-6, 2-6, 4-6. He competed once again for the fourth straight year in the 2003 Stockholm Open were he reached his first Quarterfinals were he defeated his first top 30 opponent, world no. 25 Fernando González in the second round 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 before losing to Davide Sanguinetti 3-6, 2-6. He won two challengers event and two finals in challengers event that year.

2004

2004 was the break through year for Johansson. In his first tournament in the 2004 Adidas International, he got his first win over a top 10 player in Rainer Schüttler world no. 6 by that time 6-4, 6-4 before losing to Arnaud Clément 4-6, 5-7. He followed it up with hisfirst Grand Slam win in the 2004 Australian Open defeating Alexander Popp and Alberto Martín before losing to then world no. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero 1-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 4-6. He then competed in 2004 Siebel Open were he lost to eventual champion Andy Roddick in the Quarterfinals 3-6, 6-7(7). Johansson continued his good form by winning his first ATP title in the 2004 Kroger St. Jude defeating en route James Blake, Mardy Fish and German Nicolas Kiefer 7-6(5), 6-3 in the finals. However his good was disrupted winning only 2 matches in his next 7 tournaments defeating Mark Philippoussis and compatriot Robin Söderling. his loses includes his debut in the 2004 French Open losts against Fernando Verdasco, Mario Ančić and Juan Mónaco. He the went to the 2004 Wimbledon losing to Florian Mayer 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 4-6 in the fourth round after defeating Arnaud Clément, Mardy Fish and Jonas Björkman. He then reached his first Masters series Quarterfinals in the 2004 Canada Masters losing to compatriot Thomas Johansson 3-6, 6-7(5). He caused a huge upset at the 2004 U.S. Open when he defeated defending champion Andy Roddick in five sets 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. An unusual aspect of the match was that Roddick won 24 points more than Johansson but was defeated nonetheless. Johansson subsequently lost his semifinal against Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets. He ended the year with 4 straight quarterfinal appearances in the 2004 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon losing to eventual champion Robin Söderling, 2004 Kremlin Cup, 2004 Madrid Masters, and the 2004 Stockholm Open. He ended the year no. 12 in the world.

Plagued by injuries (2005-2007)

Johansson began 2005 with a nice start winning in the 2005 Next Generation Adelaide International defeating Taylor Dent in the finals 7-5, 6-3, reaching the fourth round of the 2005 Australian Open losing to Andre Agassi 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-7(3), 4-6 and winning 2005 Open 13 defeating Ivan Ljubičić 7-5 6-4 in the finals which jumped him into the top 10 at number 9. He however only won 5 matches in his next 12 tournaments with wins in 2005 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Davis Cup, 2005 Estoril Open, and his only back-to-back win in the 2005 Wimbledon. He then underwent shoulder surgery in July 2005, forcing him to stop playing the rest of the year. In 2006 he added physical rehabilitation and development practice with coach Agne Bergvall together with Swedish track and field stars Carolina Klüft, Susanna and Jenny Kallur. Despite playing only in half of the year he ended at no. 45 still. In February 2006, he played in the SAP Open in San Jose but sustained another injury. He was then forced to skip tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami until beginning a second comeback in July 2006 by playing Challenger and Futures tournaments.

In October 2006, Johansson made a triumphant return to the ATP Tour in the Stockholm Open. As a wildcard, he defeated Davide Sanguinetti in the first round, and stunned top seed and world number two Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the second round. In that match, Johansson fired 17 aces, and announced his return to the top of the game, calling it his "greatest win ever." Johansson made it to the semifinals of the tournament before losing to fifth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen in three sets. In his next tournament, the Madrid Masters, Johansson pulled off another upset in the second round, defeating fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in three sets. He was forced, however, to withdraw from his next match due to a throat infection.

In 2007 Johansson only competed in 4 tournaments in the 2007 Next Generation Adelaide International reaching the Semifinals before losign to Novak Djokovic, 2007 Australian Open retiring in the first round to Guillermo García López 1-1 in the first set. He then underwent right shoulder surgery on Feb. 23 in Milan and did not return again until September for a Davis Cup SF tie against U.S. (l. to Roddick in opening rubber) 6-7(4), 6-7(3), 3-6.Only lost his serve once in three sets to No. 5-ranked American. After Davis Cup, he played one tournament in the 2007 Stockholm Open defeating Carlos Berlocq in the first round before withdrawing from the second round due to illness against eventual champion Ivo Karlović.

2008-present (retirement and return)

Johansson retired from professional tennis on 1 February 2008 due to his persistent shoulder injury. Johansson said there was "no other option" than to quit. But on 3 October 2008 he announced that he will return to the world of tennis and that his shoulder injury had healed. He was given a wild card to compete in the 2008 Stockholm Open his only tournament of the year. He stamped his return by beating Nicolas Mahut in the first round before losing to David Nalbandian in the second round.

In 2009, he competed in the Challengers events reaching the semifinals in Izmir, Turkey before withdrawing against Andrea Stoppini. He then got a wildcard entry at the Malaysian Open and made a surprise win over Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 6-3 in the first round before losing to Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-7(1), 2-6. Next, he competed in the 2009 If Stockholm Open after receiving a wildcard. He defeated Peter Luczak 7-5 6-3 and Juan Mónaco 6-4 6-4, then lost to Thomaz Bellucci 7-6(4) 6-3.

In 2010, Johansson played his first match of 2010 in singles during the 2010 Davis Cup tie against Argentina, which he lost 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

He recently received a wildcard at a Challenger Tour at the 2011 Internazionali di Tennis di Bergamo Trofeo Trismoka.

Playing style

He held the record for most aces served in one match as he aced Andre Agassi 51 times in the 4th round of the 2005 Australian Open (though he still lost the match in four sets). In the post-match press conference, Johansson said he felt he could have served better. Ivo Karlović equalled the record on 21 June 2005 at Wimbledon against Daniele Bracciali, and at the 2009 French Open, Karlovic broke the record with 55 aces against Lleyton Hewitt in the first round but lost in 5 sets. Karlovic later beat his own ace record, by servicing 78, in a five-hour, fifty-nine minute 2009 Davis Cup semifinal match against the Czech Republic's Radek Štěpánek, though he also lost the match. This was beaten in Wimbledon 2010 by both John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history. But Johansson still has a record - most aces served in 4-setter match (51).

Career statistics

Singles: 3

Wins (3)

{| width=53% | valign=top width=33% align=left | | valign=top width=33% align=left | |} {| class="sortable wikitable" |- bgcolor="#efefef" |Outcome |No. |Date |Tournament |Surface |Opponent in Final |Score |- bgcolor="#d0f0c0" |bgcolor="#98FB98"|Winner | 1. | 16 February 2004 | Memphis, United States | Hard | Nicolas Kiefer | 7–6, 6–3 |- |bgcolor="#98FB98"|Winner | 2. | 3 January 2005 | Adelaide, Australia | Hard | Taylor Dent | 7–5, 6–3 |- |bgcolor="#98FB98"|Winner | 3. | 7 February 2005 | Marseille, France | Hard | Ivan Ljubičić | 7–5, 6–4 |}

Performance timeline

See also

List of male tennis players

References

External links

ITF profile for Joachim Johansson

Joachim Johansson.ORG - a website dedicated to Joachim Johansson

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Swedish tennis players Category:Olympic tennis players of Sweden Category:Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics