Henri Laaksonen

Henri Laaksonen
Country (sports)   Switzerland
Residence Biel, Switzerland
Born (1992-03-31) 31 March 1992
Lohja, Finland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Plays Right-handed (double-handed backhand)
Prize money $ 192,837
Singles
Career record 7–10 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Highest ranking No. 176 (15 February 2016)
Current ranking No. 176 (15 February 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open Q1 (2014)
French Open Q1 (2014)
Wimbledon Q1 (2014)
US Open Q1 (2013)
Doubles
Career record 0–2 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Highest ranking No. 769 (8 July 2013)
Last updated on: 9 March 2015.

Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen (born 31 March 1992) is a Swiss-Finnish tennis player. His highest ranking is no. 187, which was achieved on 22 July 2013. He is coached by Sven Swinnen.[1]

When Laaksonen started playing tennis, he represented Finland. Since January 2011, he has represented Switzerland.[2]

Early life

Laaksonen's father, Sandro della Piana, is a former Swiss tennis player, and his mother Finnish. His parents separated very early in his life, although he did keep contact with his father.

He started playing tennis at the age of 3. Juvenile years he lived in Hyvinkää and was coached by Pasi Virtanen. At 16, he became European champion for the under-16 age bracket.

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

Davis Cup controversy

In September 2013, Switzerland was playing 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".[3]

Laaksonen was then fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine was not publicly disclosed.[4] 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 Marco 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 in 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 Marco 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 (who has also overtaken Laaksonen in the ATP ranking). For the Final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated. Yann Marti was put on standby by the Swiss captain, due to a possible withdrawal of Federer suffering from a back injury. Laaksonen was not considered for this game.

In 2015, Laaksonen was called to play the first round against Belgium in Liège. He won his two singles in 5 sets against Bemelmans and local hero Steve Darcis.

Laaksonen never publicly apologized for his bad behaviour in Neuchâtel.

References

  1. ↑ "Henri Laaksonen". atpworldtour.com. ATP.
  2. ↑ "Henri Laaksonen siirtyy edustamaan Sveitsiä". tennis.fi. Suomen Tennisliitto.
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ http://www.blick.ch/sport/tennis/busse-und-verwarnung-fuer-henri-laaksonen-id2452937.html

External links

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