Kenneth Carlsen

Kenneth Carlsen (born 17 April 1973) is a Danish former professional tennis player, who was active between 1992 and 2007. Carlsen played left-handed with a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset was his powerful serve, and his game was therefore best suited to fast surfaces (grass and hardcourt). For most of his long career, Carlsen was Denmark's best tennis player, and consistently among the few Danish players playing at the highest international level. He was awarded as best Danish "Tennis Player of the Year" seven times by the Danish Tennis Federation (first time in 1991, last time in 2005).[1] Two times the award went to the Danish Davis Cup team, of which Kenneth Carlsen until 2003 was a central part (having a 29–13 record in singles).[2]

Kenneth Carlsen
Country (sports) Denmark
ResidenceMonte Carlo, Monaco
Born (1973-04-17) 17 April 1973
Copenhagen, Denmark
Height1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro1992
Retired2007
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$2,990,980
Singles
Career record266–288 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 41 (7 June 1993)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open4R (1993)
French Open2R (1993, 1994)
Wimbledon3R (1993, 1994, 2004)
US Open3R (1995)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games3R (1996)
Doubles
Career record40–62 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 134 (5 April 2004)

Career

Carlsen began playing tennis at age nine, and in his teens became one of the best juniors in the world. He finished as No. 3 in the world in 1991. He turned full-time professional in 1992, and his breakthrough as senior in a major tournament came at the Copenhagen Open where he beat top-20 player Alexander Volkov in the first round. Later that year, he reached the final in Brisbane—it was only his fourth ATP Tour tournament. His debut in the 1993 Australian Open confirmed his position among the best players in the world as he went to the fourth round. The same year he reached his career-best singles ranking as world No. 41 in June. Since 1993, he was for most of the time ranked within the top 100. In 1994, he played the most famous match of his career when he beat Stefan Edberg in five sets at Wimbledon.

In 1996, he reached the final of the tournament that triggered his career, Copenhagen Open, but lost to Cédric Pioline. The next year, he reached the final in Auckland, but this time lost to Jonas Björkman. This saw his ranking shoot up 20 spots to world No. 52. In 1999, Carlsen reached the final in Newport, but lost to Chris Woodruff.

In 2000, he suffered from a serious shoulder injury, and underwent surgery twice. As a result, he did not play any tournaments that year. His recovery was relatively slow, and he could not return to professional tennis until June 2001. His long absence from the sport, however, did not seem to affect his playing negatively. In 2002, he won his second ATP tournament in Tokyo, and in 2005 he won the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship in Memphis at almost 32 years old. His resurgence saw him in June 2005 become world No. 50.

Carlsen rarely played doubles, but reached three ATP doubles finals in his career: Copenhagen with Frederik Fetterlein in 1997 (lost to Andrei Olhovskiy/Brett Steven), Tashkent, Uzbekistan with Sjeng Schalken in 1998 (lost to Stefano Pescosolido/Laurence Tieleman), and Beijing with Michael Berrer in 2006 (lost to Mario Ančić/Mahesh Bhupathi).

He played a total of 46 Grand Slam events during his career, and used to hold the record for most first-round exits for a long time: 30. But he was surpassed by Albert Montañés at 2014 Australian Open where he reached 31 career Grand Slam first-round exits.[3]

On June 27, 2007, he announced that he would retire from professional tennis,[4] and he played his last ATP match in first round of the Stockholm Open on October 10, 2007.[5] The week after, he played his final professional tennis match at a Challenger tournament in Kolding, Denmark.

In November 2008, Carlsen was appointed captain of the Denmark Davis Cup team.[6] Under his guidance the Danes returned in 2011 to the Europe/Africa Zone Group I.[7]

Career finals

Singles: 7 (3 wins, 4 losses)
Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 1992 Brisbane, Australia Hard (i) Guillaume Raoux 4–6, 6–7(10–12)
Loss 0–2 Mar 1996 Copenhagen, Denmark Carpet (i) Cédric Pioline 2–6, 6–7(7–9)
Loss 0–3 Jan 1997 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Jonas Björkman 6–7(7–9), 0–6
Win 1–3 Apr 1998 Hong Kong, China Hard Byron Black 6–2, 6–0
Loss 1–4 Jul 1999 Newport, USA Grass Chris Woodruff 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 4–6
Win 2–4 Sep 2002 Tokyo, Japan Hard Magnus Norman 7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win 3–4 Feb 2005 Memphis, USA Hard (i) Max Mirnyi 7–5, 7–5

Grand Slam performance timeline
Tournament199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007Career
Australian Open 4R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R – – 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R – 5–12
French Open 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R – – – 1R 1R 1R 1R – 2–11
Wimbledon 3R 3R 2R 1R 1R 1R – – 2R 1R 1R 3R 1R – – 8–11
US Open 1R 1R 3R 2R 2R 1R 2R - 1R 2R 2R 1R 1R – – 7–12
Grand Slam W-L 6–4 3–4 5–4 1–4 1–4 0–4 1–3 0–0 1–2 1–3 1–4 2–4 0–4 0–2 0–0 22–46

Notes and references
  1. "Årets Tennisspiller". dtftennis.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  2. In July 2007, he made a final appearance on the Danish Davis Cup team after having announced his retirement from professional tennis.
  3. "Kenneth Carlsen har mistet sin kuriøse taber-rekord". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). 2015-02-11. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
  4. "Rørt Carlsen gjorde status". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). 2007-06-27. Archived from the original on October 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  5. "Carlsen Retires from ATP Circuit in Stockholm". ATPtennis.com. 2007-10-10. Archived from the original on 2007-12-27. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  6. "Kenneth Carlsen kaptajn for Davis Cup-hold". Berlingske (in Danish). 3 November 2008. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  7. "Davis Cup 2012: Løchte Nielsen, Pless, Kromann og Kønigsfeldt forsvarer de danske farver" (in Danish). Dansk Tennis Forbund. 2012-01-03. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
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