Jarkko Nieminen
 | |
| Country |  Finland |
|---|---|
| Residence | Masku, Finland |
| Date of birth | July 23, 1981 |
| Place of birth | Masku, Finland |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Turned pro | 2000 |
| Plays | Left-handed; two-handed backhand |
| Career prize money | US$ 4,586,211 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 267–212 |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Highest ranking | No. 13 (July 10, 2006) |
| Current ranking | No. 59 (July 26, 2010) |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | QF (2008) |
| French Open | 4th (2003) |
| Wimbledon | QF (2006) |
| US Open | QF (2005) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 99–128 |
| Career titles | 2 |
| Highest ranking | No. 42 (January 28, 2008) |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (2010) |
| French Open | 2R (2003, 2008) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2007) |
| US Open | QF (2008) |
| Last updated on: July 12, 2010. | |
Jarkko Nieminen (born July 23, 1981 in Masku, Finland) is a professional tennis player from Finland.
His highest ranking is 13th which was archived on July 10, 2006. He has won one ATP singles title and one doubles title in his career so far. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarter-finals of the 2005 U.S. Open, 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2008 Australian Open.
Arguably Finland's best ever player, Nieminen is the highest ranked Finn ever, and is also the first and so far only Finnish player to have won an ATP singles title and to have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam event.
His wife, Anu Nieminen, is currently Finland's top ranked badminton women's single player.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Career highlights
[edit] 1999
- Defeated Kristian Pless of Denmark to win his first junior Grand Slam, the U.S. Open.
- Finished the year at No. 9 in the world junior rankings.
- Made his Davis Cup debut against Italy, losing to Andrea Gaudenzi.
[edit] 2000
- Won his first Davis Cup match, beating Mikael Tillström of Sweden in a dead-rubber.
[edit] 2001
- Became the first Finn to reach an ATP final since Leo Palin in 1981, beating Pless, Younes El Aynaoui, defending champion Thomas Johansson and three-time winner Thomas Enqvist before losing to Sjeng Schalken in five sets in Stockholm.
- Posted a 38-12 Challenger record, winning 4 titles.
- Finished the year in the Top 100 for the first time.
[edit] 2002
- Reached clay court finals in Estoril and Majorca, losing to David Nalbandian and Gastón Gaudio respectively.
- Became the first Finnish player to end the season in the Top 50.
[edit] 2003
- Reached his fourth career ATP final in Munich, losing to Roger Federer.
- Advanced to the fourth round at the 2003 French Open, losing to Fernando González.
- Was at best ranked World No. 27, a career high until 2006.
[edit] 2004
- Represented Finland at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, losing to Max Mirnyi in the second round.
- Finished in the Top 100 for the fourth consecutive year, despite missing nearly three months due to injury.
[edit] 2005
- Defeated World No. 7 Andre Agassi in a first round five-setter at the 2005 French Open.
- Was defeated in five sets by Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals of the 2005 U.S. Open, having become the first Finn to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.
[edit] 2006
- Won his first ATP singles title in January by defeating Mario Ančić in the final in Auckland.
- Recorded his career best ATP Masters Series performance by reaching the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters, but lost to Paradorn Srichaphan.
- Broke into the Top 20 for the first time in his career in April.
- Reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, but lost to World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in three straight sets.
- Broke into the Top 15 for the first time in his career in July after his 2006 Wimbledon success.
- Reached the quarter-finals of the Canada Masters, losing to Andy Murray.
- Reached his sixth career ATP final in Stockholm, losing to James Blake.
- Finished the season by reaching the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters where he lost to Tommy Robredo.
[edit] 2007
- Won his first ATP doubles title in September, paired with Robert Lindstedt they beat Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna in Mumbai, India on hard courts.
- His best singles performance in 2007 came at Davidoff Swiss Indoors where he was beaten in the finals by World no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets 6–3, 6–4. On route to the finals he had beaten Robby Ginepri, Guillermo Cañas, World no. 8 Fernando González and Marcos Baghdatis.
[edit] 2008
- Lost to Michaël Llodra in the final at the Adelaide International 3–6, 4–6.
- Made the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, losing in straight sets to Rafael Nadal.
- Represented Finland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, losing to Swede Thomas Johansson in the first round.
[edit] 2009
- Defeated top seed Novak Djokovic in the 2009 Medibank International semifinal 6-4 7-6(3). He lost to David Nalbandian in the final 6-4 6-7 6-2.
- Withdrew from the 2009 Australian Open half-way through his first round clash with 28th seed, Paul-Henri Mathieu.
- Undergone surgery for wrist injury and sidelined for three months, thus missing out on Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
- Returned to professional tennis at the New Haven tournament in the US in August.
- Defeated French Stéphane Robert in the ATP Challenger tournament final in Jersey, United Kingdom in November.
[edit] 2010
- Defeated Nick Lindahl in the first round of the Australian Open before losing a tight 5-set match to Florent Serra in the second round after having two match points in the fourth set. In the doubles competition he reached the semi-finals with partner Michael Kohlmann, losing to the No.1 seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
- Reached his first semifinal of the season at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, beating Paolo Lorenzi 6-3 6-4 in the first round, Evgeny Korolev 5-7 6-1 6-0 in the second round, winning 12 consecutive games to close out the match, and finally No. 3 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany in the Quarterfinals. In the semifinal lost against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who ended up winning the tournament against Ivo Karlović in the final.
- Won his second doubles title with Swede Johan Brunstrom in Gstaad, Switzerland on clay courts.
[edit] Singles finals (9)
| Legend (Doubles) |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals (0) |
| ATP Masters Series / ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0) |
| ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 Series (0) |
| ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 Series (1) |
[edit] Titles (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1. | January 9, 2006 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard |  Mario Ančić | 6–2, 6–2 |
[edit] Runner-ups (8)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the Final |
| 1. | October 29, 2001 | Stockholm, Sweden | Hard |  Sjeng Schalken | 6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 3–6 |
| 2. | April 15, 2002 | Estoril, Portugal | Clay |  David Nalbandian | 4–6, 6–7(5) |
| 3. | May 6, 2002 | Majorca, Spain | Clay | Gastón Gaudio | 2–6, 3–6 |
| 4. | May 5, 2003 | Munich, Germany | Clay |  Roger Federer | 1–6, 4–6 |
| 5. | October 16, 2006 | Stockholm, Sweden | Hard |  James Blake | 4–6, 2–6 |
| 6. | October 29, 2007 | Basel, Switzerland | Hard | Roger Federer | 3–6, 4–6 |
| 7. | January 6, 2008 | Adelaide, Australia | Hard |  Michaël Llodra | 3–6, 4–6 |
| 8. | January 17, 2009 | Sydney, Australia | Hard | David Nalbandian | 3–6, 7–6, 2–6 |
[edit] Doubles finals (4)
| Legend (Doubles) |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals (0) |
| ATP Masters Series / ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0) |
| ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 Series (0) |
| ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 Series (2) |
[edit] Titles (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner in Final | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1. | September 24, 2007 | Mumbai, India | Hard |  Robert Lindstedt |  Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi | 7–6(3), 7–6(5) |
| 2. | August 1, 2010 | Gstaad, Switzerland | Clay | Johan Brunström |  Marcelo Melo Bruno Soares | 6–3, 6–7(4), [11–9] |
[edit] Runner-up (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1. | September 29, 2003 | Bangkok, Thailand | Hard |  Andrew Kratzmann |  Jonathan Erlich Andy Ram | 3–6, 6–7(4) |
| 2. | February 15, 2009 | San Jose, United States | Hard (i) | Rohan Bopanna |  Tommy Haas Radek Štěpánek | 2–6, 3–6 |
[edit] Singles Performance Timeline
| Tournament | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Career SR | Career Win-Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | 2R | 3R | 3R | 2R | QF | 1R | 2R | 0 / 9 | 13–9 |
| French Open | A | A | A | 3R | 4R | A | 2R | 1R | 3R | 3R | A | 1R | 0 / 7 | 10–7 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | A | 1R | QF | 3R | 2R | A | 2R | 0 / 7 | 11–7 |
| US Open | A | A | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | QF | 1R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 0 / 8 | 8–8 | |
| Grand Slam SR | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 31 | N/A |
| Annual Win-Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 8–4 | 1–2 | 7–4 | 6–4 | 5–4 | 9–4 | 1–2 | 2–3 | N/A | 42–31 |
| Indian Wells | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | QF | 3R | 2R | 2R | A | 0 / 7 | 6–7 |
| Miami | A | A | A | 2R | 3R | 2R | 2R | 3R | 4R | 2R | 2R | A | 0 / 8 | 7–8 |
| Monte Carlo | A | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | LQ | 1R | 0 / 6 | 4–5 |
| Rome | A | A | A | A | 3R | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | LQ | 0 / 4 | 3–4 |
| Madrid (Stuttgart) | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | LQ | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | A | A | 0 / 5 | 2–5 |
| Canada | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | QF | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | 0 / 6 | 5–6 |
| Cincinnati | A | A | A | 3R | 2R | A | A | 1R | 3R | 1R | A | 0 / 5 | 5–5 | |
| Shanghai | Not Held | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | ||||||||||
| Paris | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | 1R | QF | 2R | 1R | A | 0 / 6 | 4–6 | |
| Hamburg | A | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | 3R | 3R | 2R | NM1 | 0 / 4 | 6–4 | |
| Masters Series SR | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 5 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 9 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 51 | N/A |
| Annual Win-Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 6–5 | 7–9 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 12–9 | 9–9 | 3–9 | 2–2 | 0–2 | N/A | 42–50 |
| Year End Ranking | 589 | 308 | 61 | 40 | 36 | 77 | 28 | 15 | 27 | 37 | 88 | N/A | ||
[edit] External links and sources
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jarkko Nieminen |
