Kenneth Carlsen
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Carlsen is a former Danish
professional tennis
player, who was active between 1992 and 2007. Carlsen played left-handed with a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset was his powerful serve, and his game was therefore best suited to fast surfaces (grass and hardcourt). For most of his long career Carlsen was Denmark's best tennis player, and consistently among the few Danish players playing at the highest international level. He has seven times been awarded best Danish "Tennis Player of the Year" by the Danish Tennis Federation (first time in 1991, last time in 2005). Two times the award went to the Danish Davis Cup
team, of which Kenneth Carlsen until 2003 was a central part (having a 29–13 record in singles).
(then a top-20 player) in the first round. Later that year, he reached the final in Brisbane—-only his fourth ATP
tournament. His debut in the 1993 Australian Open confirmed his position among the best players in the world as he went to the fourth round. The same year he reached his career-best singles ranking as World No. 41 in June. Since 1993 he was for most of the time ranked within the Top 100 in the world. In 1994 he played the most famous match of his career when he beat Stefan Edberg
in five sets at Wimbledon
.
In 1996 he reached the final of the tournament that triggered his career, Copenhagen Open, but lost to Cédric Pioline
. The next year he reached the final in Auckland, but this time lost to Jonas Björkman
. This saw his ranking shot up 20 spots to World No. 52. In 1999, Kenneth Carlsen reached the final in Newport, but lost to Chris Woodruff
.
In 2000 he suffered from a serious shoulder injury, and underwent surgery twice. He did not play any tournaments that year. His recovery was relatively slow, and he could not return to professional tennis until June 2001. His long absence from the sport, however, did not seem to affect his playing negatively. In 2002 he won his second ATP tournament in Tokyo, and in 2005 he won the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship
in Memphis at almost 32 years old. His resurgence saw him in June 2005 become World No. 50.
Carlsen rarely played doubles, but reached three ATP finals in his career. Copenhagen with Frederik Fetterlein
in 1997 (lost to Andrei Olhovskiy
/Brett Steven
), Tashkent, Uzbekistan with Sjeng Schalken
in 1998 (lost to Stefano Pescosolido
/Laurence Tieleman
), and Beijing with Michael Berrer in 2006 (lost to Mario Ančić
/Mahesh Bhupathi
).
He played a total of 46 Grand Slam
events during his career, and he holds the record for most first-round exits, 30.
On June 27, 2007 he announced that he would retire from professional tennis, and he played his last ATP match in first round of the Stockholm Open
on October 10, 2007. The week after, he played his final professional tennis match at a Challenger tournament in Kolding, Denmark.
Finals
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
professional tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player, who was active between 1992 and 2007. Carlsen played left-handed with a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset was his powerful serve, and his game was therefore best suited to fast surfaces (grass and hardcourt). For most of his long career Carlsen was Denmark's best tennis player, and consistently among the few Danish players playing at the highest international level. He has seven times been awarded best Danish "Tennis Player of the Year" by the Danish Tennis Federation (first time in 1991, last time in 2005). Two times the award went to the Danish Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
team, of which Kenneth Carlsen until 2003 was a central part (having a 29–13 record in singles).
Career
He began playing tennis at age nine, and became in his teens one of the best juniors in the world. He finished as no. 3 in the world in 1991. He turned full-time professional in 1992, and his breakthrough as senior in a major tournament came at the Copenhagen Open where he beat Alexander VolkovAlexander Vladimirovich Volkov
Alexander Vladimirovich Volkov is a former professional tennis player from Russia.Volkov turned professional in 1988.Volkov finished runner-up in three tournaments over 1989 and 1990; in the latter year he defeated World No. 1 Stefan Edberg in straight sets in the first round of the US Open....
(then a top-20 player) in the first round. Later that year, he reached the final in Brisbane—-only his fourth ATP
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...
tournament. His debut in the 1993 Australian Open confirmed his position among the best players in the world as he went to the fourth round. The same year he reached his career-best singles ranking as World No. 41 in June. Since 1993 he was for most of the time ranked within the Top 100 in the world. In 1994 he played the most famous match of his career when he beat Stefan Edberg
Stefan Edberg
Stefan Bengt Edberg is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Sweden. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He also won one season ending championship title the Masters Grand Prix...
in five sets at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
.
In 1996 he reached the final of the tournament that triggered his career, Copenhagen Open, but lost to Cédric Pioline
Cédric Pioline
Cédric Pioline is a retired French professional tennis player who played on the professional tour from 1989 to 2002. He reached the men's singles final at the 1993 US Open and at Wimbledon in 1997...
. The next year he reached the final in Auckland, but this time lost to Jonas Björkman
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships....
. This saw his ranking shot up 20 spots to World No. 52. In 1999, Kenneth Carlsen reached the final in Newport, but lost to Chris Woodruff
Chris Woodruff
Chris Woodruff is an American former professional male tennis player. He hails from Knoxville, Tennessee and was trained at the Knoxville Racquet Club.- College career :...
.
In 2000 he suffered from a serious shoulder injury, and underwent surgery twice. He did not play any tournaments that year. His recovery was relatively slow, and he could not return to professional tennis until June 2001. His long absence from the sport, however, did not seem to affect his playing negatively. In 2002 he won his second ATP tournament in Tokyo, and in 2005 he won the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship
Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup
The Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup are tennis tournaments held in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The Regions Morgan Keegan Championships is a men's ATP Tour event that has been held since 1976. In previous years it has been known as the U.S. Indoor Championships, the...
in Memphis at almost 32 years old. His resurgence saw him in June 2005 become World No. 50.
Carlsen rarely played doubles, but reached three ATP finals in his career. Copenhagen with Frederik Fetterlein
Frederik Fetterlein
Frederik Fetterlein is a tennis player from Denmark, who turned professional in 1989.The right-hander Fetterlein represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was defeated in the second round by Switzerland's Marc Rosset...
in 1997 (lost to Andrei Olhovskiy
Andrei Olhovskiy
Andrei Olhovskiy is a former tennis player from Russia, who turned professional in 1989....
/Brett Steven
Brett Steven
Brett Andrew Steven is a tennis player from New Zealand.Steven turned professional in 1988 and won his first tour doubles title in 1991 at Newport, Rhode Island....
), Tashkent, Uzbekistan with Sjeng Schalken
Sjeng Schalken
Sjeng Schalken is a former professional tennis player from the Netherlands.-Playing style:A right-handed baseliner with a single-handed backhand, Schalken's game is characterised by his consistency of both wings and his continental technique on both the forehand and backhand...
in 1998 (lost to Stefano Pescosolido
Stefano Pescosolido
Stefano Pescosolido is a former tennis player from Italy, who turned professional in 1989.Pescosolido was born in Sora. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was defeated in the first round by Brazil's Fernando Meligeni...
/Laurence Tieleman
Laurence Tieleman
Laurence Tieleman is a former tennis player from Italy.Turning professional in 1993, Tieleman has a Dutch father and an Italian mother, both working for the European Community. He won one doubles title during his career...
), and Beijing with Michael Berrer in 2006 (lost to Mario Ančić
Mario Ancic
Mario Ančić is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His highest international ranking came during the 2006 ATP Tour, when he reached no. 7 in singles...
/Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is an Indian professional tennis player widely regarded as among the best doubles players in the world with 11 Grand Slam titles to his credit. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam tournament...
).
He played a total of 46 Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
events during his career, and he holds the record for most first-round exits, 30.
On June 27, 2007 he announced that he would retire from professional tennis, and he played his last ATP match in first round of the Stockholm Open
Stockholm Open
The If Stockholm Open is a tennis event on the ATP Tour held in Stockholm, Sweden in the end of October or beginning of November each year. The organizer of the tournament is The Royal Lawn Tennis Club of Stockholm....
on October 10, 2007. The week after, he played his final professional tennis match at a Challenger tournament in Kolding, Denmark.
ATP Wins (2) and finals (4)
Wins| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| 1. | September 30, 2002 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard |  Sweden Magnus NormanMagnus Norman Magnus Norman is a retired Swedish professional tennis player who is best known for being the runner-up at the French Open in 2000 and for briefly being ranked World Number 2. He won 12 singles titles, including a Tennis Masters Series tournament in Rome, Italy.Norman reached his career high... |
7–6(6), 6–3 |
| 2. | February 14, 2005 | Memphis, Tennessee, USA | Hard |  Belarus Max MirnyiMax Mirnyi Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a... |
7–5, 7–5 |
Finals
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| 1. | September 28, 1992 | Brisbane, Australia | Hard |  FranceGuillaume RaouxGuillaume Raoux Guillaume Raoux is a retired tennis player from France.-Career:Raoux turned professional in 1989. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, where he was defeated in the first round by Zimbabwe's Byron Black... |
4–6, 6–7(10) |
| 2. | March 11, 1996 | Copenhagen, Denmark | Carpet | France Cédric Pioline Cédric Pioline Cédric Pioline is a retired French professional tennis player who played on the professional tour from 1989 to 2002. He reached the men's singles final at the 1993 US Open and at Wimbledon in 1997... |
2–6, 6–7(7) |
| 3. | January 6, 1997 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard | Sweden Jonas Björkman Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships.... |
6–7(7), 0–6 |
| 4. | July 5, 1999 | Newport, Rhode Island, USA | Grass |  United States Chris WoodruffChris Woodruff Chris Woodruff is an American former professional male tennis player. He hails from Knoxville, Tennessee and was trained at the Knoxville Racquet Club.- College career :... |
7–6(5), 4–6, 4–6 |
Grand Slam performance timeline
| Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
4r | 2r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | 5-12 |
| French Open French Open (tennis) The French Open |Roland Garros]]) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are... |
2r | 1r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | - | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | 2-11 |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
3r | 3r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | 2r | 1r | 1r | 3r | 1r | - | - | 8-11 |
| U.S. Open U.S. Open (tennis) The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881... |
1r | 1r | 3r | 2r | 2r | 1r | 2r | - | 1r | 2r | 2r | 1r | 1r | - | 7-12 | |
| Grand Slam W-L | 6–4 | 3–4 | 5–4 | 1–4 | 1–4 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 22-46 |