Joachim Johansson

Being injured and retiring is one thing, but great athletes show will power, and come back stronger after those injuries, and that is exactly what makes Joachim Johansson a great tennis player, amongst other things. Johansson not only has a great comeback history, but he also managed to defeat one of the Greatest of all times, Rafael Nadal, and called that win his “greatest win ever.”

Johansson turned pro in the 2000 Wideyes Swedish Open, where he retired against Markus Hipfl. After that, he managed to claim his first win in a Challenger event in Sweden, defeating Alexander Peya.

One year into his pro career, Johansson decided to focus on Challengers and only competed in one ATP tour tournament: the 2001 Stockholm Open, where he lost to Andreas Vinciguerra. That was not the end of his year, he reached two Futures semifinals, in Great Britain and New Zealand, and two finals in Germany and Austria. He won his first Futures tournament in Australia, defeating Todd Perry.

Three years after turning pro, he made his Grand Slam Debut in the 2003 Australian Open but lost to Mardy Fish. He then represented Sweden against Australia in the Davis Cup, but lost to Wayne Arthurs. In his US Open debut he once again lost to Mardy Fish. 

At 6’6, Johansson had an interesting playing style. His right, one-handed backshots were pretty interesting as they were powerful and more often than not, very strategically placed.

2004 was the breakthrough year for Johansson. In his first tournament the 2004 Adidas International, he registered his first win against a top 10 player in Rainer Schüttler world no. 6. Johansson continued his good form by winning his first ATP title in the 2004 Kroger St. Jude and defeated James Blake, Mardy Fish and German Nicolas Kiefer in the finals. However, his good run was disrupted. In the next seven tournaments, he could only win 2 matches-- defeating Mark Philippoussis and compatriot Robin Söderling. He then reached his first Masters series quarterfinal at the 2004 Canada Masters losing to compatriot Thomas Johansson.

However, the biggest win of his career also came in the same year in the U.S. Open when he caused a huge upset by defeating defending champion Andy Roddick in five sets in the quarterfinals. An unusual aspect of the match was that Roddick won 24 points more than Johansson but was defeated nonetheless. Johansson finished world number 12 that year.

He then underwent shoulder surgery in July 2005, forcing him to stop playing the rest of the year. In 2006, in order to get back in the game, he needed physical rehabilitation and for that he called upon Agne Bergvall together with Swedish track and field stars Carolina Klüft, Susanna and Jenny Kallur. 

In October 2006, Johansson made a return to the ATP Tour in the Stockholm Open. As a wildcard, he defeated Davide Sanguinetti in the first round, and created a stir around the world by defeating Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the second round. In that match, Johansson fired 17 aces, and announced his return to the top of the game, calling it his "greatest win ever." Johansson made it to the semifinals of the tournament before losing to fifth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen in three sets. 

In 2010, Johansson played his first match of 2010 in singles during the 2010 Davis Cup tie against Argentina, which he lost in four sets to Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

Grand Slam

Australian Open 4R (2005)

French Open 1R (2004)

Wimbledon 4R (2004)

US Open SF (2004)

Doubles

Career titles 1