Jarkko_Nieminen

Jarkko Nieminen

Jarkko Nieminen

Finnish tennis player


Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his career. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open, the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2008 Australian Open.

Quick Facts Country (sports), Residence ...

Statistically Finland's best player to date, Nieminen is also the first and so far only Finnish player to have won an ATP singles title and to have reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles event. He is also notable for winning the shortest recorded Masters Tour tennis match in Open Era history, defeating Bernard Tomic in just 28 minutes and 20 seconds in the first round of the 2014 Sony Open Tennis.[1] He was ranked inside the Top 75 11 times in 14 years (2001 to 2014).[2]

On 23 June 2015, he announced his retirement from professional tennis at the end of the season, playing 2015 Stockholm Open as his last event.

His wife, Anu Nieminen, is Finland's top-ranked badminton women's single player.[2]

In April 2016, it was announced that Nieminen will compete in floorball in season 2016–2017 at Finnish Salibandyliiga representing SC Classic.[3]

Junior career

As a junior Nieminen reached as high as No. 9 in the world in 1999 (and No. 20 in doubles), and won the 1999 Jr US Open.[2]

Career highlights

1999

2000

2001: Breaking the top 100

2002: Breaking the top 50

2003

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.

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 quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Open, having become the first Finn to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

2006: First ATP title

2007: 200 wins

2008

2009

  • Defeated top seed Novak Djokovic in the 2009 Medibank International semifinal, 6–4, 7–6. He lost to David Nalbandian in the final, 4–6, 7–6, 2–6.
  • Withdrew from the 2009 Australian Open halfway through his first-round clash with 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.
  • Underwent surgery for a wrist injury and sidelined for three months, thus missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
  • Returned to professional tennis at the New Haven tournament in the US in August.
  • Defeated Frenchman Stéphane Robert in the ATP Challenger tournament final in Jersey, United Kingdom in November.

2010

2011: 300 wins

  • Reached his 11th career ATP final in Stockholm, losing to Gaël Monfils.

2012: 2nd ATP Title

2013

2014

2015: 400 wins and retirement

At Wimbledon, Nieminen, who had already announced his retirement at the end of the season, played Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, with Hewitt also stating his intention to retire before the 2016 event. Nieminen earned his first win over Hewitt in five gruelling sets. At the US Open, Nieminen faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round, with Tsonga prevailing in straight sets despite Jarkko's best efforts. Afterwards, he confirmed that this was his last match at a grand slam.

Nieminen played his final ATP match on 20 October at the 2015 Stockholm Open, losing 6–3, 6–7, 4–6 to Nicolás Almagro. Jarkko had match points in the second-set tiebreaker but narrowly missed one and was very unlucky to lose the other. Fellow Scandinavian tennis player Robin Söderling was in attendance to pay tribute to Jarkko and the Finn was visibly moved as he gave his farewell speech.[7] His final official match was against his old friend and rival Roger Federer at the Hartwall Arena, Helsinki on the ninth of November.

2016: Comeback at the Davis Cup

Nieminen came out of retirement in order to play for his country at the Davis Cup against Zimbabwe. He won his singles tie with a so-called triple bagel with a victory over Courtney John Lock, making him the first player to win by such a scoreline at any tournament since 2011, and one of two players to accomplish the feat on that day (Emilio Gómez of Ecuador earned a triple-bagel victory over Adam Hornby of Barbados at Davis Cup competition elsewhere).[8]

ATP career finals

Singles: 13 (2 titles, 11 runner-ups)

More information Legend, Titles by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Doubles: 9 (5 titles, 4 runner-ups)

More information Legend, Titles by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 15 (10–5)

More information Legend (singles), Finals by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Doubles: 14 (6–8)

More information Legend (doubles), Finals by surface ...
More information Result, W–L ...

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

More information Result, Year ...

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

More information Result, Year ...

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

More information Tournament, W–L ...

Doubles

More information Tournament, W–L ...

Best Grand Slam results details

More information Australian Open, 2008 Australian Open (24th Seed) ...
More information Wimbledon Championships, 2006 Wimbledon (22nd Seed) ...

Record against top 10 players

Nieminen's record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with active players in boldface.

More information Player, Years ...

Top 10 wins

Singles

  • He has a 11–77 (12.5%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
More information Type, Total ...
More information #, Player ...

Doubles

  • He has a 12–41 (22.6%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
More information Type, Total ...
More information #, Opponents ...

Records

  • These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis.
TournamentYearRecord accomplishedPlayer tied
Sony Open Tennis 2014 Won the shortest recorded tennis match in Open Era history (28m20s)[5][6]Stands alone

References

  1. "Bernard Tomic thrashed by Jarkko Nieminen in shortest-ever ATP match at Miami Masters". ABC. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  2. "Jarkko Nieminen Bio". ATP World Tour. ATP. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  3. "Jarkko Nieminen pelaamaan salibandya Tampereen Classiciin!". floorball.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  4. Parsons, John (2003). The Official Wimbledon Annual 2003. 2 Puddle Dock London: Hazelton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-903135-29-X.
  5. Tandon, Kamakshi (5 March 2016). "Nieminen comes out of retirement for Davis Cup to score triple bagel win". Tennis.com. Retrieved 19 November 2019.

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