Henri Laaksonen

Henri Laaksonen

Laaksonen at the 2019 French Open
Country (sports)	Finland (−2010)   Switzerland (2011–present)
Residence	Zurich, Switzerland
Born	(1992-03-31) 31 March 1992 (age 29) Lohja, Finland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	2009
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	David Pultr
Prize money	US$ 1,460,988
Singles
Career record	42–58 (42.0%) (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 93 (7 August 2017)
Current ranking	No. 150 (17 May 2021)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2019)
French Open	3R (2021)
Wimbledon	1R (2017)
US Open	2R (2019, 2021)
Doubles
Career record	3–15 (16.7%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 191 (24 December 2018)
Current ranking	No. 1,861 (4 November 2019)
Last updated on: 17 May 2021.

Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen (Finnish: [ˈhenri ˈlɑːksonen],^[2] Swiss Standard German: [ˈhɛnriː ˈlaːksonɛn]; born 31 March 1992) is a Swiss-Finnish tennis player. His highest singles ranking is world No. 93, which he achieved in August 2017, and his highest doubles ranking is world No. 191, achieved in December 2018.

When Laaksonen started playing tennis, he represented Finland. Since January 2011, he has represented Switzerland.^[3]

Early life[]

Laaksonen's father, Sandro Della Piana, is a former Swiss tennis player. His mother is from Finland. His parents separated very early in his life, but he nonetheless kept contact with his father.

He started playing tennis at the age of 3. During his adolescent years he lived in Hyvinkää where he was coached by Pasi Virtanen. At 16, he became European champion for the Under-16s category.

In 2009, he moved to Switzerland to train at the Swiss Tennis National Tennis Center in Bienne.

Professional career[]

Laaksonen won the biggest match of his career at the 2021 French Open against world number 11 Roberto Bautista Agut in 4 sets in order to advance to a Grand Slam third round for the first time in his career.^[4]

Davis Cup career and controversy[]

He initially was called to play for Switzerland for the first round against the Czech Republic in 2013. In September 2013, Switzerland played against Ecuador in Neuchâtel for the Davis Cup World Group play-off. Laaksonen was called to play with Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and Michael Lammer. However, Laaksonen was excluded from the team following his behavior during Thursday practice.

Wawrinka said: "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". Wawrinka added that he "never wants to be on a tennis court with him again".^[5] Further to this tie, Wawrinka and Laaksonen never appeared together in a team competition.

Laaksonen later was fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine never was disclosed.^[6] Laaksonen never apologized publicly for his behavior.

He was left out from the first round tie of the World Group against Serbia in February 2014, but called back for the second round tie in Geneva against Kazakhstan in April 2014. He replaced Chiudinelli, who had won the doubles in Serbia (with Lammer). However, Laaksonen did not play in any of the rubbers as the top players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were in both the singles matches and the doubles. Switzerland won the tie with 3:2.

For the semifinal against Italy in September 2014, Laaksonen was not part of the team. He was replaced by Chiudinelli. For the final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated. Laaksonen was not considered for this tie.

In 2015, after talks with the team and the captain, Laaksonen was called upon to play in the first round against Belgium in Liège. He won his two singles in five sets against Ruben Bemelmans and Steve Darcis. He took on the leader role for the young team present. In September 2016, Switzerland played against Uzbekistan in Tashkent in the world-group playoffs. Henri was again the Swiss team leader and secured the winning points. Because of its victory against Uzbekistan, Switzerland remained in the World Group.

For the 2017 Davis Cup World Group, Laaksonen played both singles and doubles in Switzerland's tie with the United States. In the World Group Play-offs against Belarus, despite losing his first singles rubber, Laaksonen defeated Dzmitry Zhyrmont with Switzerland behind 2−1 in the tie. The team won the final rubber and remained in the World Group.

Laaksonen opened Switzerland's 2018 Davis Cup World Group tie against Kazakhstan, losing in four sets. He won both his singles matches in the World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, but these were the only points Switzerland registered as the team was relegated from the World Group.

Laaksonen was again the Swiss number one in the first tie of the newly formatted 2019 Davis Cup, with Switzerland playing Russia on February 1 and 2, 2019 in the Qualifying Round, at the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel. Switzerland lost the tie 1–3 and then lost to Slovakia in September. Due to this performance, Switzerland was relegated to the second division.

In 2020, away against Peru in Lima, Laaksonen again lost his decisive rubber against the top Peruvian player with a demotivated attitude, causing Switzerland's relegation to Group II, the third level of world's tennis.^[7] Serious questions started regarding the financial support received by him from the Swiss federation despite the absence of any results over years.

Performance timelines[]

Singles[]

Current through the 2021 Swedish Open.

	Finland		Switzerland
Tournament	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	Q1	Q1	Q1	2R	Q1	1R	0 / 2	1–2
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	Q2	Q1	Q2	2R	1R	3R	0 / 3	3–3
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	Q2	Q1	A	Q1	1R	Q2	Q1	NH	Q1	0 / 1	0–1
US Open	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	A	Q3	1R	Q1	2R	A		0 / 2	1–2
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	0–0	3–3	0–1	2–2	0 / 8	5–8
National representation
Davis Cup	Z2	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	QR	Z1		0 / 5	10–11
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	Q1	Q1	NH		0 / 1	1–1
Miami Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	Q1	Q1	NH	Q1	0 / 0	0–0
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	Q2	0 / 0	0–0
Madrid Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	0 / 0	0–0
Italian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Canadian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	0 / 0	0–0
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Shanghai Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	NH		0 / 0	0–0
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 1	1–1
Career statistics
Tournaments	0	0	0	2	4	3	2	4	10	4	8	5	6	48
Overall Win–Loss	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	3–5	1–3	3–2	3–6	11–12	7–5	6–12	2–6	2–5	40–59
Year-end ranking	1386	1202	588	291	244	318	181	136	121	169	104	134		40%

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[]

Singles: 15 (7–8)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 2011	Israel F1, Eilat	Futures	Hard	Valery Rudnev	3–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Oct 2011	Kuwait F2, Mishref	Futures	Hard	Julien Dubail	3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	0–3	Mar 2012	Switzerland F1, Taverne	Futures	Carpet (i)	Moritz Baumann	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	0–4	Sep 2012	Portugal F4, Espinho	Futures	Clay	Jiří Veselý	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–5	Sep 2012	Portugal F5, Porto	Futures	Clay	Marc Giner	6–7(6–8), 2–6
Win	1–5	Mar 2014	Switzerland F1, Taverne	Futures	Carpet (i)	Tim Pütz	4–6, 6–4, 7–6(8–6)
Win	2–5	Nov 2015	Champaign, U.S.	Challenger	Hard (i)	Taylor Fritz	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
Win	3–5	Nov 2015	USA F34, Waco	Futures	Hard (i)	Sekou Bangoura	6–3, 4–6, 6–1
Loss	3–6	Mar 2016	USA F11, Calabasas	Futures	Hard	Matthew Barton	6–7(6–8), 3–6
Win	4–6	Sep 2016	Shanghai, China, P.R.	Challenger	Hard	Jason Jung	6–3, 6–3
Win	5–6	Nov 2016	Champaign, Usa	Challenger	Hard (i)	Ruben Bemelmans	7–5, 6–3
Loss	5–7	Aug 2018	Chengdu, China, P.R.	Challenger	Hard	Zhang Ze	6–2, 2–5 ret.
Win	6–7	Feb 2019	Bangkok, Thailand	Challenger	Hard	Dudi Sela	6–2, 6–4
Win	7–7	May 2019	Rome, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Gian Marco Moroni	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–2), 6–2
Loss	7–8	Jul 2021	Braunschweig, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Daniel Altmaier	1-6, 2-6

Doubles: 12 (4–8)[]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Mar 2009	Switzerland F2, Greifensee	Futures	Carpet (i)	Philipp Oswald	Dustin Brown Alexander Sadecky	6–1, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Aug 2009	Geneva, Switzerland	Challenger	Clay	Philipp Oswald	Diego Álvarez Juan-Martín Aranguren	4–6, 6–4, [2–10]
Loss	1–2	Oct 2011	Kuwait F2, Meshref	Futures	Hard	Luca Margaroli	Florian Fallert Nils Langer	4–6, 6–7(6–8)
Loss	1–3	Sep 2012	Portugal F4, Espinho	Futures	Clay	Fede Valsangiacomo	Stephan Fransen Wesley Koolhof	5–7, 2–6
Loss	1–4	Mar 2014	Switzerland F1, Taverne	Futures	Carpet (i)	Laurynas Grigelis	Jesper Brunström Frederik Nielsen	4–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win	2–4	Mar 2014	Switzerland F2, Trimbach	Futures	Carpet (i)	Luca Margaroli	Denis Matsukevitch Matteo Volante	6–2, 6–2
Loss	2–5	Jan 2015	Germany F1, Schwieberdingen	Futures	Carpet (i)	Victor Vlad Cornea	Fabian Fallert Florian Fallert	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–6	Mar 2016	USA F11, Calabasas, California	Futures	Hard	Marek Michalička	Nicolas Meister Eric Quigley	6–4, 2–6, [3–10]
Loss	2–7	Jul 2018	Marburg, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Luca Margaroli	Fabrício Neis David Vega Hernández	6–4, 4–6, [8–10]
Win	3–7	Jul 2018	Båstad, Sweden	Challenger	Clay	Harri Heliövaara	Zdeněk Kolář Gonçalo Oliveira	6–4, 6–3
Loss	3–8	Oct 2018	Fairfield, U.S.	Challenger	Hard	Harri Heliövaara	Sanchai Ratiwatana Christopher Rungkat	0–6, 6–7(9–11)
Win	4–8	Nov 2018	Charlottesville, U.S.	Challenger	Hard (i)	Harri Heliövaara	Toshihide Matsui Frederik Nielsen	6–3, 6–4

Record against top 10 players[]

Laaksonen's match record against players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw and Davis Cup matches are considered.

* As of 4 June 2021.

References[]

External links[]

• Henri Laaksonen's official website (in Finnish)
• Henri Laaksonen at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Henri Laaksonen at the International Tennis Federation
• Henri Laaksonen at the Davis Cup