The 21st century
Sweden · born Linköping, 1975 · right-handed · Australian Open champion 2002 · Halle and Nottingham champion 2001
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7
Career-high ATP singles ranking, June 2002
9
ATP singles titles, two of them on grass
11
Grass-court matches won in a row in June 2001
SF
Wimbledon 2005, after missing all of 2003 with a knee injury
2002
Australian Open champion, the last Swedish man to win a major singles title
Thomas Johansson was born in Linköping in 1975 and began playing at five with his father. He was European 14-and-under champion in 1989, turned professional in 1994 and won his first title in Copenhagen in 1997. In 1999 he won the Canada Masters in Montreal, beating Yevgeny Kafelnikov from a set down, and he reached the US Open quarter-finals in 1998 and 2000.
In June 2001 he won Halle and Nottingham in successive weeks. Seeded 16th at the 2002 Australian Open, he beat Marat Safin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 in the final, the first Swede to win a major since Stefan Edberg in 1992, and in June 2002 he reached No. 7. A knee injury then cost him the second half of 2002 and all of 2003.
He came back to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2005 and won his ninth and last title in St Petersburg that autumn. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics he won a silver medal in doubles with Simon Aspelin. He retired in June 2009 with nine singles titles and one in doubles, and has since coached players including Sorana Cîrstea, Kei Nishikori and Daniil Medvedev.
| Halle 2001 | Beat Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 in the final |
|---|---|
| Nottingham 2001 | The following week beat Harel Levy 7-5, 6-3 in the final. His run of 11 grass-court wins ended in the second round at Wimbledon, where Andy Roddick beat him 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 |
| Nottingham 2004 | Lost the final to Paradorn Srichaphan 1-6, 7-6, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 2005 | Seeded 12th, dropped one set on the way to the semi-finals, where he lost to the second seed Andy Roddick 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 7-6 in a minute under three hours; the first Swedish man in the last four since Stefan Edberg in 1993 |
| Wimbledon 1996 | Reached the fourth round in the year he broke into the top 100, losing to Todd Martin |
| Halle | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Men's singles | |
| Nottingham | ||
| 2001 | Men's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I never thought I was ever going to be a grand-slam winner, but I played my best tennis here in every match."
The person behind the player.
Melbourne, January 2002
For three weeks a car had collected him on time every day. On the morning of the final it did not come: his coach had forgotten to order it. They took a taxi, which was not allowed into the venue, and talked their way past security by explaining that they were playing the final in a couple of hours. Johansson said later that it relaxed him.
Source: Tennis Majors (from the ATP, 2019)Melbourne, January 2002
During the tournament he lamented the lack of interest in tennis in Sweden; one Swedish journalist did turn up for the final. His hobbies included fishing, and he lived quietly in Monte Carlo. No player seeded 16th had won a Grand Slam title in the Open Era before him.
Source: The Irish TimesMelbourne, January 2002
The beaten finalist, Marat Safin, was surprised to be outhit from the back of the court: "He was overpowering me from the baseline. It's very unusual for me, somebody playing the backhand better than me. He was on fire."
Source: Tennis MajorsBeijing, 2008
Late in his career he and Simon Aspelin reached the Olympic doubles final, where they lost in four sets to Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka and took the silver medal for Sweden.
Source: Olympedia; WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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