Kenneth Carlsen
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| Country |  Denmark |
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| Residence | Monte Carlo, Monaco | |
| Date of birth | April 17, 1973 | |
| Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark | |
| Height | 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) | |
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb) | |
| Turned Pro | 1992 | |
| Plays | Left, one-hand backhand | |
| Career Prize Money | $2,935,840 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 264-285 | |
| Career titles: | 3 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 41 (June 7, 1993) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 4th round (1993) | |
| French Open | 2nd round (1993, 1994) | |
| Wimbledon | 3rd round (1993), (1994), (2004) | |
| U.S. Open | 3rd round (1995) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 40-62 | |
| Career titles: | 0 | |
| Highest ranking: | No. 134 (April 5, 2004) | |
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Infobox last updated on: September 18, 2006. |
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Kenneth Carlsen (born April 17, 1973) is a Danish tennis player, who turned professional in 1992. Carlsen is left-handed and uses a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset is his powerful serve. His game is therefore best suited to fast surfaces (grass and hardcourt). For most of his long career Carlsen has been 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, which Kenneth Carlsen until 2005 was a central part of (having a 28-13 record in singles).
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[edit] 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. His turned full-time professional in 1992, and his breakthrough as senior in a major tournament came at the Copenhagen Open where he beat Alexander Volkov (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 best singles ranking to date as World No. 41 in June. Since 1993 he has for most of the time been ranked within the Top 100 in the world.
In 1996 he reached the final of the tournament that triggered his career, Copenhagen Open, but lost to Cedric Pioline. The next year he reached the final in Auckland, but this time lost to Jonas Björkman. After tournament victories at the Challenger level, he won his first ATP tournament in 1998 in Hong Kong beating Byron Black in the final. In 1999, Kenneth Carlsen reached another 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 have affected 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.
Carlsen rarely plays doubles, but has 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).
[edit] ATP Wins (3) and finals (4)
Wins
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| 1. | April 6, 1998 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong | Hard | Byron Black (Zimbabwe) | 6-2 6-0 |
| 2. | September 30, 2002 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Magnus Norman (Sweden) | 7-6(6) 6-3 |
| 3. | February 14, 2005 | Memphis, TN, USA | Hard | Max Mirnyi (Belarus) | 7-5 7-5 |
Finals
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| 1. | September 28, 1992 | Brisbane, Australia | Hard | Guillaume Raoux (France) | 4-6 6-7(10) |
| 2. | March 11, 1996 | Copenhagen, Denmark | Carpet | Cedric Pioline (France) | 2-6 6-7(7) |
| 3. | January 6, 1997 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard | Jonas Björkman (Sweden) | 6-7(7) 0-6 |
| 4. | July 5, 1999 | Newport, RI, USA | Grass | Chris Woodruff (USA) | 7-6(5) 4-6 4-6 |
[edit] Grand Slam performance timeline
| Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | 4r | 2r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | 5-12 |
| French Open | 2r | 1r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | - | 1r | 1r | 1r | 1r | 2-11 | |
| Wimbledon | 3r | 3r | 2r | 1r | 1r | 1r | - | - | 2r | 1r | 1r | 3r | 1r | - | 8-11 | |
| U.S. Open | 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 | 22-46 |
[edit] Trivia
- His most publicized triumph was his five-set defeat of Stefan Edberg in the second round of Wimbledon in 1994.
- Among players he has beaten in his career: Jonas Björkman, James Blake, Michael Chang, Juan Ignacio Chela, Albert Costa, Taylor Dent, Stefan Edberg, Younes El Aynaoui, Roger Federer, Wayne Ferreira, Richard Gasquet, Brad Gilbert, Goran Ivanišević, Thomas Johansson, Magnus Larsson, Henri Leconte, Felix Mantilla, Patrick McEnroe, Andrei Medvedev, Jiří Novák, Cedric Pioline, Patrick Rafter, Marcelo Rios, Marat Safin, Jan Siemerink, Emilio Sanchez, Paradorn Srichaphan, Nicolas Kiefer, Dominik Hrbaty, Marcos Baghdatis, and Alexander Volkov.
- He has played a total of 46 Grand Slam events during his career, and he holds the record for most first-round exits, 30.
- He is one of only a handful of active players who have a positive head-to-head record against Roger Federer (1-0).
- He resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
