Henri Laaksonen

Henri Laaksonen
Country (sports)  Finland (−2010)
  Switzerland (2011–present)
Residence Zurich, Switzerland
Born (1992-03-31) 31 March 1992
Lohja, Finland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro 2009
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money $776,952
Singles
Career record 28–34 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 0 (3 Challenger, 2 ITF)
Highest ranking No. 93 (7 August 2017)
Current ranking No. 159 (1 October 2018)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open Q1 (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018)
French Open Q2 (2016, 2018)
Wimbledon 1R (2017)
US Open 1R (2017)
Doubles
Career record 2–13
Career titles 0 (1 Challenger, 2 ITF)
Highest ranking No. 352 ((1 October 2018)
Current ranking No. 352 (1 October 2018)
Last updated on: 1 October 2018.

Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhenri ˈlɑːksonen],[1] Swiss Standard German: [ˈhɛnriː ˈlaːksonɛn]; born 31 March 1992) is a Swiss-Finnish tennis player. His highest singles ranking is world No. 93, which he achieved in August 2017, and his highest doubles ranking is world no. 352, achieved in October 2018. He is coached by Olli Leppänen.[2]

When Laaksonen started playing tennis, he represented Finland. Since January 2011, he has represented Switzerland.[3]

Early life

Laaksonen's father, Sandro della Piana, is a former Swiss tennis player. His mother is from Finland. His parents separated very early in his life, but he nonetheless kept contact with his father.

He started playing tennis at the age of 3. During his adolescent years he lived in Hyvinkää where he was coached by Pasi Virtanen. At 16, he became European champion for the under-16s category.

In 2009, he moved to Switzerland to train at the national tennis center in Bienne.

Davis Cup career and controversy

He was first called to play for Switzerland for the first round against the Czech Republic in 2013 (lost to Berdych). In September 2013, Switzerland played against Ecuador in Neuchâtel for the Davis Cup World Group play-off. Laaksonen was initially called to play with Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and Michael Lammer. However, during the Thursday training before the match, Laaksonen displayed very bad behaviour during practice, which led to his exclusion from the team.

Wawrinka commented as follows: "There are very few promising young players [in Switzerland]. Unfortunately, among them, there are some who believe that everything is allowed and everything is granted for free. If Henri is not here today, it is because there are certain things we cannot accept. I also dislike his behaviour. Someone in his age, with his ranking and who has been supported by Swiss Tennis for many years and thinks he can not fully commit to a practice session and even complains about the coach, cannot be part of the team". He went on saying that he "never wants to be on a tennis court with him again".[4]

Laaksonen was later fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine was never publicly disclosed.[5] He was then left out from the first round tie of the World Group against Serbia in February 2014, but surprisingly called back for the second round tie in Geneva against Kazakhstan in April 2014. He replaced Chiudinelli, who had won the doubles in Serbia (partnering Lammer). However, Laaksonen did not play in any of the rubbers. It remains unclear why he was called back to the team after the September 2013 controversy and despite Wawrinka's clear objection to it.

For the semifinal against Italy in September 2014, Laaksonen was completely left out of the team and not even called as a sparring partner. He was replaced by Chiudinelli, coming back to the team after good results on the Challenger Tour. As a fifth player and sparring partner, the Swiss coach Severin Lüthi called Yann Marti. For the final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated. Marti was put on standby due to a possible withdrawal of Federer, suffering from a back injury. Laaksonen was not considered for this tie.

Laaksonen never publicly apologized for his behaviour in Neuchâtel.

In 2015, Laaksonen was called upon to play in the first round against Belgium in Liège. He won his two singles in five sets against Ruben Bemelmans and local hero Steve Darcis.

In September 2016, Switzerland played against Uzbekistan in Tashkent, in the world-group playoffs. Henri was the Swiss team leader and secured the winning points. Because of their victory against Uzbekistan, Switzerland remained in the World Group.

For the 2017 Davis Cup World Group, Laaksonen played both singles and doubles in Switzerland's tie with the United States against the high quality opposition of John Isner and the partnership of Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, losing both ties. In the World Group Play-offs against Belarus, despite losing his first singles rubber, Laaksonen crucially defeated Dzmitry Zhyrmont with Switzerland behind 2−1 in the tie. They would go on to win the final rubber and remain in the World Group.

Laaksonen opened up Switzerland's 2018 Davis Cup World Group tie against Kazakhstan, losing in four sets. He went on to win both his singles matches in the World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, however these would be the only points Switzerland registered as they were relegated from the World Group.

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 4 (3–1)

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Nov 2015 Champaign, United States Hard (i) United States Taylor Fritz 4–6, 6–2, 6–2
Win 2–0 Sep 2016 Shanghai, China Hard Chinese Taipei Jason Jung 6–3, 6–3
Win 3–0 Nov 2016 Champaign, United States (2) Hard (i) Belgium Ruben Bemelmans 7–5, 6–3
Loss 3–1 Aug 2018 Chengdu, China Hard China Zhang Ze 6–2, 2–5 ret.

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Result W–L    Date    Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 2009 Geneva, Switzerland Clay Austria Philipp Oswald Argentina Diego Álvarez
Argentina Juan-Martín Aranguren		 4–6, 6–4, [2–10]
Loss 0–2 Jul 2018 Marburg, Germany Clay Switzerland Luca Margaroli Brazil Fabrício Neis
Spain David Vega Hernández		 6–4, 4–6, [8–10]
Win 1–2 Jul 2018 Båstad, Sweden Clay Finland Harri Heliövaara Czech Republic Zdeněk Kolář
Portugal Gonçalo Oliveira		 6–4, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

Current till 2018 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs.

 Finland   Switzerland
Tournament2009201020112012201320142015201620172018SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A Q1 A Q1 Q1 Q1 0 / 0 0–0
French Open A A A A A Q1 A Q2 Q1 Q2 0 / 0 0–0
Wimbledon A A A A Q2 Q1 A Q1 1R Q2 0 / 1 0–1
US Open A A A A Q1 A A Q3 1R Q1 0 / 1 0–1
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 0 / 2 0–2
National representation
Davis Cup Z2 A A A 1R A 1R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 5 9–6
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A A A A 2R Q1 0 / 1 1–1
Miami Open A A A A A A A A Q1 Q1 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters A A A A A A A A Q2 A 0 / 0 0–0
Career statistics
Tournaments 0 0 0 2 4 3 2 4 10 3 28
Overall Win–Loss 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 3–5 1–3 3–2 3–6 11–12 6–4 28–34
Year-end ranking 1386 1202 588 291 244 318 181 136 121 45%

References

  1. ↑ "The pronunciation by Henri Laaksonen himself". ATPWorldTour.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  2. ↑ "Henri Laaksonen". atpworldtour.com. ATP.
  3. ↑ "Henri Laaksonen siirtyy edustamaan Sveitsiä". tennis.fi. Suomen Tennisliitto.
  4. ↑ 20 min:http://www.20min.ch/ro/sports/tennis/story/11538253; Blick: http://www.blick.ch/sport/tennis/eklat-im-schweizer-davis-cup-team-id2440587.html
  5. ↑ http://www.blick.ch/sport/tennis/busse-und-verwarnung-fuer-henri-laaksonen-id2452937.html
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