Kristian Pless

Kristian Pless

Country (sports)	Denmark
Residence	Dubai
Born	(1981-02-09) 9 February 1981 Odense, Denmark
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,127,884
Singles
Career record	55–86 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0 4 Challengers, 3 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 65 (28 January 2002)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2002)
French Open	2R (2001, 2007)
Wimbledon	2R (2001)
US Open	2R (2001, 2002, 2004, 2006)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	6–24 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 172 (23 July 2007)
Last updated on: September 2, 2012.

Kristian Peter Pless (born 9 February 1981) is a professional male tennis player from Denmark.

He had an excellent junior career, winning the 1999 Australian Open Boys' Singles (defeated Mikhail Youzhny), and reaching the Boys' final at both Wimbledon (lost to Jürgen Melzer), and the US Open (lost to Jarkko Nieminen) the same year. He finished 1999 as the No. 1 ranked junior player in the world.

Tennis career

Juniors

As a junior Pless compiled a singles win/loss record of 111-40 (and 56-37 in doubles).

Junior Slam results:

Australian Open: W (1999)
French Open: 3R (1998, 1999)
Wimbledon: F (1999)
US Open: F (1999)

Pro tour

He turned professional in 1999, and on 28 January 2002, Kristian Pless reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of 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(2), 3-6, 6-3. It was first set Federer had lost 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.

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	Score
1.	14 May 2001	Edinburgh	Clay	Gorka Fraile	6–3 6–3
2.	3 December 2001	Rio de Janeiro	Clay	Ricardo Mello	6–1 6–1
3.	30 October 2006	Rimouski	Hard (i)	Lu Yen-hsun	6–4 7–6
4.	26 March 2007	St. Brieuc	Clay (i)	Farrukh Dustov	6–3 6–1

Grand Slam performance timeline

Tournament	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career
Australian Open	A	3R	1R	A	A	A	1R	A	A	2–3
French Open	2R	1R	A	1R	A	1R	2R	A	A	2–5
Wimbledon	2R	1R	A	1R	A	1R	1R	A	A	1–5
U.S. Open	2R	2R	A	2R	A	2R	1R	A	A	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

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