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Louk Sorensen

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Louk Sorensen
Country (sports) Ireland
ResidenceStuttgart, Germany
Born (1985-01-07) 7 January 1985 (age 39)
Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro2003
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$117,509
Singles
Career record4-4 (50.0%)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 213 (1 February 2010)
Current rankingNo. 618 (29 August 2011)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2010)
French OpenQ1 (2010)
WimbledonQ2 (2008)
US Open1R (2011)
Other tournaments
Doubles
Career record0-0
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 552 (12 December 2005)
Current rankingNo. 846 (1 March 2005)
Other doubles tournaments
Last updated on: 12 May 2010.

Louk Sorensen (born 7 January 1985)[1] is a professional tennis player from Ireland.

Sorensen is the first player representing Ireland to win a Grand Slam event main draw match in the Open Era. His father, Sean, was the first Irishman to play a Grand Slam main draw match in the Open Era, going out in the first round of Wimbledon. (Matt Doyle reached the fourth round of the US Open in 1982 but played under the American flag then, only becoming an Irish citizen in 1985[2]).

Personal life

Sorensen's father Sean is the current captain of the Ireland Davis Cup team and played in the first round of Wimbledon in 1977, losing to Rod Laver. Sean also finished runner-up to Mats Wilander at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Buchholz, Germany, in February 1982. Louk's older brother, Kevin, was also a professional tennis player and competed for Ireland in the Davis Cup until 2006. He also has two sisters, Lisa and Josephine. Sorensen was raised in Germany and although his parents now live in Dublin, he remains in Stuttgart, training with German coach, Carsten Arriens, who also coaches Germans Andreas Beck and Alexander Waske, and playing for third division Bundesliga tennis club TC Doggenburg.[3] He is a prominent member of the Irish Davis Cup team, holding a 10-2 singles record, having made his debut in July 2005.

Sorensen's surname is of Norwegian origin. His mother, Helga, has both German and Austrian blood.[4]

Career

2006

Sorensen began his professional career with participation in the France F15 Futures event in Sarreguemines on 25 September, beating Stéphane Piro to reach the 2nd round, before ultimately losing to Riccardo Ghedin.

2007

In February 2007, Sorensen won his first senior international title in the Portugal F1 Futures event in Faro, where he beat Canadian Pierre-Ludovic Duclos in the final 6–1 6–1. This was followed by finishing runner-up in the U.A.E. F1 Futures tournament in April in Dubai, but winning the U.A.E. F2 Futures tournament, again in Dubai, just a week later.

2008

On 21 January 2008, he finished as runner-up in the Portugal F2 Futures tournament in Albufeira to Romanian Victor Ionita, losing 6–2, 6-7, 2–6. Sorensen won his first ATP Challenger event at the Volkswagen Challenger series in Wolfsburg in February, defeating Farrukh Dustov 7–6, 4–6, 6–4 in the final. He reached his career high ATP ranking of 246 on 7 April 2008. Sorensen made his first attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam in June 2008 at Wimbledon and defeated home player Edward Seator 6–2, 6–1 in the first qualifying round. However, Sorensen was forced to retire through injury in the third set of his next match against Édouard Roger-Vasselin, with the match delicately balanced at 1 set each.

2009

Sorensen again attempted to qualify for a Grand Slam in January 2009 at the Australian Open, defeating Victor Crivoi of Romania in the first qualifying round 4–6, 7–6, 6–3, but he again fell at the second hurdle, this time to Peter Polansky 6–4, 1–6, 3–6. He put this disappointment behind him to reach the final of the Croatia F1 Futures tournament in Zagreb, losing out to Martin Fischer.

2010

Sorensen began 2010 by qualifying for his first ATP World Tour 250 series tournament, the first round of the 2010 Aircel Chennai Open, losing to Stéphane Robert 1–6, 2–6. He continued this good form when he became the first Irish tennis player to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament since American-born Matt Doyle in 1985, qualifying for the first round of the Australian Open after defeating Benjamin Balleret, Michael Yani and Daniel King-Turner in the qualifying rounds. He was drawn against Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei, ranked 101st in the world, in the first round. Sorensen went on to become the first ever player representing Ireland to win a Grand Slam match in the Open Era when he beat Lu in 4 sets, 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1.[5] He faced 6' 9" American John Isner in the second round, falling 6-3, 7-6, 7-5.[6] Before the start of the tournament, Sorensen was ranked at No. 284 by the ATP, however, 2 weeks later he had jumped a huge 71 places to a career-high No.213.[7] Sorensen could not continue the good form he had shown at the Australian Open, losing in the first round of both the Heilbronn Challenger and the Kazan Challenger in consecutive weeks. He then faced a length three-month lay-off due to a hamstring injury, but made his comeback on 10 May at the Biella Challenger, defeating qualifier Andrea Arnaboldi in his first round match. Sorensen's lengthy absence proved his undoing later in the tournament, however, as his lack of match practice showed during his defeat to Yannick Mertens in the second round. Sorensen attempted to qualify for the French Open main draw 2 weeks later, but lost out to José Acasuso at the first hurdle.

2011

In May 2011 Sorensen was forced to retire from tennis after being plagued by injury since the start of 2010 and decided to call it a career after suffering a knee injury six weeks previous.[8][9] However, in June, Sorensen came back from retirement and competed in a Futures touanament in Germany and reached the Quarterfinals before pulling out citing injury.[10]

In July, Sorensen competed in the Singles Qualifying of the 2011 MercedesCup. Louk defeated Maximilian Marterer in the first round and Jan Hernych in the second round. In the third round, Sorensen was defeated by Evgeny Donskoy. Should Sorensen have beaten Evgeny, he would have qualified for the main draw of the tournament.

Sorensen played in the 2011 Concurso Internacional de Tenis held in San Sebastián, Spain. In the first round, Louk defeated the wildcard Gianni Mina 6–3, 6–4. In the second round, Sorensen lost to the third seed, Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6–4, 5–7, 5–7 after being up a break in the second set.

Sorensen is currently taking part in the 2011 US Open. Because of his significant lay-off from tournament action due to injuries, Sorensen’s ranking has now slipped to 614 from a career-high position of 213 set in February 2010. But he is still entitled to a “protected ranking” of 281, and it was through this he made the US Open qualifying stage.[11] In the first round of the Singles Qualifying, Sorensen upset the 29th seed, Arnau Brugués-Davi 7–6, 6–4.[12] In the second round, Sorensen defeated Gastão Elias 6–4, 6–1.[13] In the final round, Sorensen beat Martin Fischer 7–6, 6–1 to ensure that 2 Irish players, Louk and Conor Niland, qualified for the Main Draw.[14] This is Sorensen's second time in his career to qualify for the main draw of a Grand Slam. In the first round, Sorensen will face World No. 6, Robin Soderling.[15]

Singles titles

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0)
ATP World Tour 500 (0)
ATP World Tour 250 (0)
ATP Challenger Tour (1)
ITF Futures (2)
Wins (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 26 February 2007 Portugal Faro Hard Canada Pierre-Ludovic Duclos 6–1, 6–1
2. 9 April 2007 United Arab Emirates Dubai Hard Australia Rameez Junaid 6–1, 6–2
3. 25 February 2008 Germany Wolfsburg Carpet (i) Uzbekistan Farrukh Dustov 7–6(9–7), 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up (3)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 3 April 2007 United Arab Emirates Dubai Hard Pakistan Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 3–6, 3–6
2. 21 January 2008 Portugal Albufeira Hard Romania Victor Ioniţă 6–2, 6–7(1–7), 2–6
3. 9 February 2009 Croatia Zagreb Hard Austria Martin Fischer 3–6, 3–6

Grand Slam Singles Performance Timeline

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011
Australian Open Q2 2R
French Open Q1
Wimbledon Q2
US Open 1R

References

  1. ^ http://www.tennisinsight.com/playerid968.htm
  2. ^ Harman, Neil (19 January 2010). "Louk Sorensen records Ireland's first-ever grand-slam match victory". London: Times Online. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Louk Sorensen - ATP". Association of Tennis Professionals. 19 January 2010.
  4. ^ Cambers, Simon (19 January 2010). "Louk Sorensen claims first Irish grand slam win in open era at Australian Open". London: Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/first-irish-player-in-tennis-grand-slam-since-1985-442143.html
  6. ^ "Ireland's Louk Sorensen beaten by John Isner". BBC Sport. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  7. ^ http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/So/L/Louk-Sorensen.aspx
  8. ^ "Sorensen forced to call it a day". Irish Times. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  9. ^ "Sorensen retires from professional tennis". RTE Sport. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Germany F5 Futures 2011". International Tennis Federation. 13 June 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  11. ^ "Sports Digest". Irish Times. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Irish advance in US Open qualifiers". RTE Sport. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  13. ^ "Sorenson defeats Elias at Flushing Meadows". RTE Sport. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  14. ^ "Niland and Sorenson reach US Open main draw". RTE Sport. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  15. ^ "Niland to face Djokovic at US Open". RTE Sport. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.

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