Kristian Pless
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| Country |  Denmark |
|---|---|
| Residence | Dubai |
| Born | February 9, 1981 Odense, Denmark |
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Weight | 84 kg (185 lb) |
| Turned pro | 1999 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Career prize money | US$ 1.127.884 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 55–84 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 65 (January 28, 2002) |
| Grand Slam results | |
| Australian Open | 3rd (2002) |
| French Open | 2rd (2001, 2007) |
| Wimbledon | 2rd (2001) |
| US Open | 2rd (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 6–24 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup) |
| Career titles | 0 |
| Highest ranking | No. 172 (July 23, 2007) |
| Last updated on: May 24, 2009. | |
Kristian Peter Pless (born February 9, 1981 in Odense, Denmark) is a professional male tennis player from Denmark.
In 1999, he won the Australian Open for juniors (defeated Mikhail Youzhny), and reached the junior finals at Wimbledon (lost to Jürgen Melzer), and the US Open (lost to Jarkko Nieminen). He finished 1999 as the no. 1 ranked junior player in the world.
He turned professional in 1999, and on January 28, 2002, Kristian Pless reached his career-high ATP singles ranking: World No. 65. He has won tournaments at the Futures and Challenger levels, and has reached three semifinals on the ATP Tour. He suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2003, which after multiple surgery kept him out of competition for almost a year.
After returning from injury in 2004, he had dropped in the rankings to World No. 846 on May 24. Subsequently, he has gradually climbed the rankings, and after successful performances at the Challenger level in the fall of 2006, he entered the Top-100 again. In January 2007, he continued his good performances as he defeated World No. 8 David Nalbandian in three sets in the first round of Chennai Open. This was Pless' first win against a Top-10 ranked player.
In 2007 he also managed to take a set from tennis legend Roger Federer at their meeting in Dubai, but eventually Federer won the tie 7/6 3/6 6/3. Still it was Federer's first set loss that year after he had won the Australian Open without losing a single set.
In 2008 he reached two Challenger finals (in Izmir, Turkey and Rimouski, Canada), but ended the year outside of Top 100. In the beginning of 2009, he lost in the first round of most Challenger tournaments, leading to a drop in rankings to World No. 265 as of May 2009.
[edit] Singles titles (4)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (0) |
| Challengers (4) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | May 14, 2001 |  Edinburgh |
Clay |  Gorka Fraile |
6–3 6–3 |
| 2. | December 3, 2001 |  Rio de Janeiro |
Clay | Ricardo Mello |
6–1 6–1 |
| 3. | October 30, 2006 |  Rimouski |
Hard Indoors |  Lu Yen-hsun |
6–4 7–6 |
| 4. | March 26, 2007 |  St. Brieuc |
Clay Indoors |  Farrukh Dustov |
6–3 6–1 |
[edit] Grand Slam performance timeline
| Tournament | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | - | 3r | 1r | - | - | - | 1r | - | - | 2–3 |
| French Open | 2r | 1r | - | 1r | - | 1r | 2r | - | - | 2–5 |
| Wimbledon | 2r | 1r | - | 1r | - | 1r | 1r | - | 1–5 | |
| U.S. Open | 2r | 2r | - | 2r | - | 2r | 1r | - | 4–5 | |
| Grand Slam W-L | 3–3 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 9-18 |
[edit] External links
- Personal blog (Danish)
- Kristian Pless at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Kristian Pless at the Davis Cup
| Preceded by Roger Federer |
ITF Junior World Champion 1999 |
Succeeded by Andy Roddick |
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