Jonas Bjorkman
JONAS BJORKMAN
Jonas Bjorkman is mostly known for playing doubles in most matches especially in the Davis Cup team. Since the start of the 1996 season, he's becoming a top contender in singles matches having won the Bell South Open in New Zealand in January as a warm up tournament before the Australian Open. He is more successfull in grass and hard court surfaces. He reached the seminfinals of the US Open (can't remember who he lost to). He reached the doubles finals of the US Open with Swede partner, Niklaus Kulti before bowing out to Daniel Vacek and Yvegeny Kafelnikov. He also won both his singles matches and doubles match against Italy to reach the finals of the Davis Cup. Jonas qualified for the year-end 1997 ATP Championships for the first time in his career. He reached the semifinals and bowed out to eventual winner Pete Sampras.
In the 1997 Davis Cup finals, he led Sweden to win the title with a 5-0 trashing of heavy favorites, the United States. He started 1997 with a ranking of number 69 but ended it by being ranked as world number 4. 1998 proves to be a test of consistency for Bjorkman. He did pretty badly in the Australian tournaments held before the Australian Open and lost to eventual champion, Peter Korda, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in a 5-set thriller. Moreover, his doubles game is still going strong as he won the doubles title with Jacob Eltingh in the Australian Open.
After performing well in 1997, 1998 was a terrible year for Bjorkman except when he played in the doubles match win of Sweden against Italy to clinch the title and when he won the Nottingham Open title and the doubles title with Patrick Rafter in the Champions Cup. He ended 1998 with a ranking of 24, twenty places down from his previous rank of 4.
Name: Jonas Bjorkman (pronounced as 'Yo-nas B-york-man')
Birthplace: Vaxjo, Sweden
Birthdate: March 23, 1972
Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height: 6'0"
Plays: Right-handed
Turned Pro: 1991
YEAR-END SINGLES RANKING HISTORY
1998: 24
1997: 4
1996: 69
1995: 30
1994: 50
1993: 95
1992: 331
1991: 691
Career highlights:
1998 ATP Titles:
Australian Open doubles championship (Melbourne, Australia); Champions Cup doubles championship (Indian Wells, California); Nottingham Open (Nottingham, England)
1998 Finals appearance:
Australian Open: Jonas Bjorkman(5)/Jacob Eltingh(5) def. Mark Woodforde(1)/Todd Woddbridge(1): 6-2, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
Champions Cup: Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden, and Patrick Rafter (3), Australia, def. Todd Martin and Richey Reneberg, United States, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
Nottingham Open: def. Byron Black, 6-3, 6-2
1997 ATP singles titles:
BellSouth Open (Auckland, New Zealand); RCA Championships (Indianapolis, Indiana); Stockholm Open (Stockholm, Sweden)
1997 ATP Finals Appearance:
BellSouth Open (Auckland, New Zealand): def. Kenneth Carlsen, 7-6 (7-0), 6-0
US Red Clay Championships (Coral Springs, Florida): lost to Jason Stoltenberg, 0-6, 6-2, 6-7
RCA Championships (Indianapolis, Indiana): def. Carloy Moya, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
US Open doubles with Niklaus Kulti: lost to Daniel Vacek and Yvegeny Kafelnikov, 6-7 (7-9), 3-6
Stockholm Open: def. Jan Siemerink, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-4
1997 ATP Championship at Hanover, Germany:
Eliminations: loss to Yvegeny Kafelnikov, 3-6, 6-7 (6-8); def. Sergi Brugera, 6-3, 6-1; def. Michael Chang, 6-4, 7-5
Semifinals: loss to Pete Sampras, 4-6, 3-6
Bjorkman pictures:
Links to other Jonas Bjorkman sites:
Equipe de Suede: Jonas Bjorkman
Newsweek Champions Cup
