Mikhail Youzhny

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Mikhail Youzhny
Youzhny at the 2006 Australian Open.
Nickname(s) Misha

Colonel
Country Flag of Russia Russia
Residence Moscow, Russia
Date of birth June 25, 1982 (1982-06-25) (age 25)
Place of birth Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight 72 kg (160 lb/11.3 st)
Turned Pro 1999
Plays Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career Prize Money $4,565,757
Singles
Career record: 238 - 178
Career titles: 4
Highest ranking: No. 8 (28 January 2008)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (2008)
French Open 4th (2007)
Wimbledon 4th (2001, 2002, 2005, 2007)
US Open SF (2006)
Doubles
Career record: 62 - 89
Career titles: 3
Highest ranking: 43 (11 September 2006)

Infobox last updated on: February 25, 2008.

Mikhail Youzhny (Russian: Михаил Южный (help·info) (mixaˈil ˈjuʒnɨj) born June 25, 1982 in Moscow, USSR (now Russia) is a professional tennis player from Russia. Youzhny is noted for his consistency and all-court play style. His career high was #8, achieved on January 28, 2008.

A bloody-good internet sensation Top-20 player Mikhail Youzhny has made a name for himself in 21st century fashion -- by becoming a YouTube hit. The situation was this: ATP Masters Series Miami; down 4-5 and a break in the third and deciding set against Spain's Nicolas Almagro; Youzhny blew a break point opportunity -- then he blew a gasket. In what has become a YouTube classic, Youzhny, after losing the break point used his racket to vent his own frustration. Apparently wanting to hit his head with the stringed portion, Youzhny missed and hit his forehead with the rim of the racket. He bled, they stopped the match and, in what gets missed in the YouTube recap of events, he came back to beat Almagro in a third-set tiebreaker.

A five-star experience If Switzerland's Roger Federer does follow through on going to the Games, he's made the comment already that he'll likely forgo the Olympic Village and stay in a hotel in Beijing. It can be a new experience for tennis stars, staying in the Village, that is, as most are used to hotel life at events. "Usually we stay in hotels ... you stay at the Olympic Village with all the other great sportsmen; you can see really good athletes from other sports," said Youzhny, who was a quarterfinalist in singles in Athens. "I can say it's not like five-star hotel, but it's something special. It's really nice."

Too much talent Ranked No. 11 in the world, it's unlikely that the Russian Olympic Committee will leave Youzhny off of its Olympic roster, but should Marat Safin -- currently ranked No. 90 in the world -- make his way into the top 56 by June 9, the committee will have to decide whom to send, as each NOC is allowed just four singles players (six overall). "We'll decide just before the Olympics who is going to play singles and who is going to play doubles," Youzhny said. "There are too many good players in Russia."

Ups and downs Youzhny began 2008 looking like he was ready to enter the tour's elite. He opened the season with a tour win in Chennai, India, over No. 2 Rafael Nadal. He made a strong run at the Australian Open with an upset over countryman Nikolay Davydenko before bowing to eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals. In the five events that followed he went 5-5.

Contents

[edit] Playing style & Equipment

Youzhny plays with a single-handed backhand, which many believe to be his best shot. From both sides, Youzhny hits the ball on the rise to achieve a flatter flight trajectory and to get the ball to the opponent's side quicker. His service is arguably the weakest component of his game as it lacks power and stability although it has improved in the last few months. He has a good court sense and often makes use of dropshots to mix up the rallies. Youzhny is often able to draw his energy from the engaged crowd to produce a series of risky winners, especially when he is defending matchpoints. He wears the adidas Edge Group on court and uses a Head Microgel racquet.

[edit] Career

In 1999, the year in which he turned professional, Youzhny captured four titles on the Futures tour.

[edit] 2000-2006

In 2000, he reached his first ATP tour quarterfinal in Moscow.

In 2001, he reached the third round of the Australian Open, made his first ATP tour semifinal at Copenhagen, and reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, losing to eventual finalist Patrick Rafter. Youzhny also reached the third round at the US Open, losing to eventual finalist Pete Sampras.

The following year in 2002, Youzhny captured his first ATP title and led Russia to its first Davis Cup title, but he did not play for six weeks due to a back injury. By winning this match, Youzhny became the first ever player to come back and win from a 0–2 set deficit in the live fifth rubber of the Davis Cup Final [1].

During 2004 he won a career-high 42 matches, finishing 2004 in the top 20.

One of his best tournaments came at the 2006 U.S. Open where he defeated Tommy Robredo 6–2, 6–0, 6–1 and defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal 6–3, 5–7, 7–6(5), 6–1 in the quarterfinal, losing in the semifinals to Andy Roddick 6–7(5) 6–0 7–6(3) 6–3. In doubles, Youzhny partnered Leos Friedl and defeated the #1 team in the world Bob and Mike Bryan in the Round of 16, losing to Martin Damm and Leander Paes in the quarterfinal.

[edit] 2007

At the start of the year he lost in the Australian Open to eventual champion Roger Federer, made the semifinals of Zagreb, and won his third career ATP title in Rotterdam. Later in March Mikhail reached the final of Dubai Championship after defeating second-seeded Rafael Nadal in quarterfinal, only to fall to top-seeded Roger Federer 6–4, 6–3. After a slump in the next few weeks, he made a strong return to form at Munich, where he reached the final, losing to first-time finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber 2–6 6–3 6-4/ Youhzny once again faced Federer, this time in the 2007 French Open Fourth Round, only to succumb 6–7, 4–6, 4–6. The run to the fourth round finally pushed him past #15 which he had achieved in 2005, to #14 in the world. Despite not playing the week before Wimbledon, he benefited from an early loss from Gasquet's title defense at Nottingham, rising to #13 in the world. In the 2007 Wimbledon Championships Youzhny lost to Rafael Nadal after winning the first and second set. In Gstaad, a clay event, as the #2 seed and 14th-ranked, he lost in round 1 to Stefan Koubek 6–4, 6–3. He made the 3rd round of the Canadian Masters event, losing to Nikolay Davydenko - afterwards, he made his top 10 debut at #10.

[edit] 2008

Youzhny's first tournament of 2008 was Chennai in India, winning it by demolishing World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, the top seed, 6–0, 6–1 in less than an hour of play. In the Australian Open, Youzhny posted his first career win over Nikolay Davydenko before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

On April 1st, Youzhny became the talk of the tennis world: While playing a match against Nicolas Almagro of Spain, Youzhny first hit a relatively easy return into the net, and after gesturing angrily towards his own temple, he proceeded to strongly hit his head with the frame of his tennis racket 3 times, drawing blood. Surprisingly enough, after receiving assistance from the medical staff, he went on to win 7 straight points and the tiebreaker to win the match.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (4)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (4)
Challengers (1)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 15 May 2000 Samarkand, Uzbekistan Clay Flag of Norway Jan Frode Andersen 7–6, 2–6, 7–6
2. 15 July 2002 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Flag of Argentina Guillermo Cañas 6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4
3. 25 October 2004 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet Flag of Slovakia Karol Beck 6–2, 6–2
4. 19 February 2007 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard (i) Flag of Croatia Ivan Ljubičić 6–2, 6–4
5. 6 January 2008 Chennai, India Hard Flag of Spain Rafael Nadal 6–0, 6–1

[edit] Runner-ups (4)

Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 28 October 2002 St. Petersburg, Russia Hard Flag of France Sébastien Grosjean 7–5, 6–4
2. 20 September 2004 Beijing, China Hard Flag of Russia Marat Safin 7–6(4), 7–5
3. 3 March 2007 Dubai, UAE Hard Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 6–4, 6–3
4. 6 May 2007 Munich, Germany Clay Flag of Germany Philipp Kohlschreiber 2–6, 6–3, 6–4

[edit] Doubles

[edit] Wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. October 17, 2005 Moscow, Russia Carpet (I) Flag of Belarus Max Mirnyi Flag of Russia Igor Andreev
Flag of Russia Nikolay Davydenko		 6–1, 6–1
2. January 7, 2007 Doha, Qatar Hard Flag of Serbia Nenad Zimonjić Flag of the Czech Republic Martin Damm
Flag of India Leander Paes		 6–1, 7–6(3)
3. May 6, 2007 Munich, Germany Clay Flag of Germany Philipp Kohlschreiber Flag of the Czech Republic Jan Hájek
Flag of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Levinský		 6–1, 6–4

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics. This table is current through the 2008 French Open.

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Australian Open A A 3R 3R 4R 1R 2R 1R 3R QF 0 / 7 14-8
French Open A LQ 1R 1R 2R 3R 2R 2R 4R 3R 0 / 8 10–8
Wimbledon A A 4R 4R 2R 1R 4R 3R 4R 0 / 7 15-6
U.S. Open A A 3R 1R 3R 3R 4R SF 2R 0 / 7 12-6
Grand Slam SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 29 N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 7–4 5–4 7–4 4–4 8–4 7–4 8–3 6–2 N/A 52-29
Tennis Masters Cup A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Indian Wells Masters A A A LQ 1R 4R 2R 1R 2R 3R 0 / 6 4–6
Miami Masters A A A A 2R 1R 2R 1R 3R 4R 0 / 6 3–6
Monte Carlo Masters A A 3R A 1R A A 1R 2R 2R 0 / 5 3–5
Rome Masters A A LQ A 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R A 0 / 5 3–5
Hamburg Masters A A A 1R 3R QF 2R 1R 1R 1R 0 / 7 6–7
Canada Masters A A A A 1R 2R 1R 2R 3R 0 / 5 4–5
Cincinnati Masters A A A A 3R 2R QF 2R 2R 0 / 5 7–5
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart) A A LQ 3R 1R 1R 1R A 2R 0 / 5 2–5
Paris Masters A A LQ A 1R QF A A QF 0 / 3 5–3
Tournaments played 1 8 18 23 26 27 21 22 20 7 N/A 173
Finals reached 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 3 1 N/A 8
Tournaments Won 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 N/A 4
Year End Ranking 290 113 58 32 43 16 43 24 19 N/A N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament.

LQ = lost in the qualifying draw.

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

[edit] Trivia

  • Mikhail Youzhny gives a military style salute to the spectators after each win. He does it by holding the tennis racquet above his head with his left hand and saluting with his right hand [2]. The racquet imitates a hat since according to Russian military tradition one must wear a hat to give proper salute [3].
  • In an interview at the Australian Open 2008, Mikhail Youzhny named Stefan Edberg as the player he admired most.
  • He garnered world-wide attention when he played Nicolas Almagro in the Sony Ericsson Open 2008 when he missed a shot and reacted belligerently - smashing his forehead with the edge of his racquet - until he started to bleed and needed treatment. Nicolas Almago checked to see if he was ok.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  2. ^ India Info Sports. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
  3. ^ Russian Army Marching Regulations (Chapter 3) (Russian). Retrieved on 2007-03-04.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Youzhny, Mikhail
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Russian tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH