Paradorn Srichaphan

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Srichaphan at the US Open, 2004

Paradorn Srichaphan on the cover of TIME magazine as one of Asian Heroes.

Paradorn Srichaphan (Thai: ภราดร ศรีชาพันธุ์; born June 14, 1979) is a tennis player from Thailand. He is the highest ranked Asian born male player in history, reaching a career high World No. 9. His nickname is "Ball". He is currently 47th in the ATP rankings.

1 Career
2 Personal life
3 Titles won
- 3.1 Singles finalist (6)
4 ATP Awards
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Career

Paradorn started his professional ATP career in 1998. He remained in the lower ranks of the professional circuit for several years. However his ranking continued to improve. After being a surprise finalist in the 2000 Hopman Cup, 2002 was a breakthrough year for him as he managed to get into the top 30 after defeating Andre Agassi in Wimbledon. In 2003 he won his first ATP-level singles title, the Hamlet Cup. By the end of the year, he was ranked World No. 11 in the ATP rankings.

Paradorn is extremely popular in Asia, especially in Thailand. Paradorn was Thailand's flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece and participated in the Games' tennis event. Unfortunately he lost in the first round of the tournament to Joachim Johansson. His best Olympics performance was 2nd round in Sydney, beating Attila Savolt before being beaten by 3rd seed Magnus Norman. Paradorn plays with big serves and powerful forehands. He uses a one-handed backhand, and is known for being a weak player on clay courts due to his lack of patience when playing points.

At the 2006 Indian Wells masters tournament, Srichaphan reached the semi-finals and lost against World No. 1 Roger Federer in two sets (2-6, 3-6). En route to the semi-final he beat #20 Robby Ginepri in the second round, #16 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the 3rd round, #4 David Nalbandian in the 4th round and #25 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the quarter-final.

In the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, Srichaphan received the 29th seed in the tournament but was upset in the first round by Agustin Calleri in five sets.

Paradorn is sponsored by Adidas (shoes & clothing), Yonex (racquets) and Thai Airways International.

[edit] Personal life

Paradorn is noted for his politeness on the court. Traditionally at each match, he will perform the wai, the traditional Thai greeting, clasping his hands together and bowing to the four corners of the stadium. The gesture is seen as thanking the fans and it has become his trademark. His success in tennis led to a spike in popularity of the game in Thailand. The Nation newspaper named him "Thai of the Year" in 2002. And in 2003, Paradorn was featured on the cover of Time and featured as one of the year's "Asian heroes."^[1]

Later in 2003, Paradorn was romantically linked to pop singer Tata Young, who came under criticism in the Thai media. Newspapers accused Tata of using the relationship to boost her album sales and also blamed her for hurting Paradorn's game. After six weeks, under pressure from his family and a disapproving public, Paradorn called an end to the relationship.^[2]

In 2005, Paradorn spent a week (November 26 to December 3) as a Buddhist monk in a temple outside Bangkok. He adopted the Buddhist name Mahaviro, meaning "great and brave", wore saffron robes and shaved his head.

[edit] Titles won

Tennis Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (5)

Challengers (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	Dec. 2001	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard Indoors	John Van Lottum, Netherlands	6-2 6-3
2.	Aug. 2002	Long Island, USA	Hard	Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina	5-7 6-2 6-2
3.	Oct. 2002	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard Indoors	Marcelo Rios, Chile	6-7 6-0 6-3 6-2
4.	Dec. 2002	Chennai, India	Hard	Karol Kučera, Slovakia	6-3 6-1
5.	Aug. 2003	Long Island, USA	Hard	James Blake, USA	6-2 6-4
6.	Jun. 2004	Nottingham, Great Britain	Grass	Thomas Johansson, Sweden	1-6 7-6 6-3