Quick Facts
Biography
Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen ([ˈhenri ˈlɑːksonen],[ˈhɛnriː ˈlaːksonɛn]; born 31 March 1992) is a Swiss-Finnish tennis player. His highest singles ranking is world No. 93, which he achieved in August 2017, and his highest doubles ranking is world No. 191, achieved in December 2018.
When Laaksonen started playing tennis, he represented Finland. Since January 2011, he has represented Switzerland.
Early life
Laaksonen's father, Sandro della Piana, is a former Swiss tennis player. His mother is from Finland. His parents separated very early in his life, but he nonetheless kept contact with his father.
He started playing tennis at the age of 3. During his adolescent years he lived in Hyvinkää where he was coached by Pasi Virtanen. At 16, he became European champion for the Under-16s category.
In 2009, he moved to Switzerland to train at the Swiss Tennis National Tennis Center in Bienne.
Davis Cup career and controversy
He was first called to play for Switzerland for the first round against the Czech Republic in 2013 (lost to Berdych). In September 2013, Switzerland played against Ecuador in Neuchâtel for the Davis Cup World Group play-off. Laaksonen was initially called to play with Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and Michael Lammer. However, during the Thursday training before the match, Laaksonen displayed very bad behaviour during practice, which led to his exclusion from the team.
Laaksonen was later fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine was never publicly disclosed. He was then left out from the first round tie of the World Group against Serbia in February 2014, but called back for the second round tie in Geneva against Kazakhstan in April 2014. He replaced Chiudinelli, who had won the doubles in Serbia (partnering Lammer). However, Laaksonen did not play in any of the rubbers as the top players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka disputed both the singles matches and the doubles. Switzerland won the tie with 3:2.
For the semifinal against Italy in September 2014, Laaksonen was not part of the team. He was replaced by Chiudinelli, coming back to the team after good results on the Challenger Tour. As a sparring partner, the Swiss coach Severin Lüthi called Yann Marti. For the final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated. Laaksonen was not considered for this tie.
In 2015, after talks with the team and the captain, Laaksonen was called upon to play in the first round against Belgium in Liège. He won his two singles in five sets against Ruben Bemelmans and local hero Steve Darcis. He took on the leader role for the young team present.
In September 2016, Switzerland played against Uzbekistan in Tashkent, in the world-group playoffs. Henri was again the Swiss team leader and secured the winning points. Because of their victory against Uzbekistan, Switzerland remained in the World Group.
For the 2017 Davis Cup World Group, Laaksonen played both singles and doubles in Switzerland's tie with the United States against the high quality opposition of John Isner and the partnership of Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, losing both times. In the World Group Play-offs against Belarus, despite losing his first singles rubber, Laaksonen crucially defeated Dzmitry Zhyrmont with Switzerland behind 2−1 in the tie. They would go on to win the final rubber and remain in the World Group.
Laaksonen opened up Switzerland's 2018 Davis Cup World Group tie against Kazakhstan, losing in four sets. He went on to win both his singles matches in the World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, however these would be the only points Switzerland registered as they were relegated from the World Group.
Laaksonen was again the Swiss number one in the first tie of the newly formatted 2019 Davis Cup, with Switzerland playing Russia on February 1st and 2nd, 2019 in the Qualifying Round, at the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel. Even though his opponents Karen Khachanov, ranked 11 on the ATP Rankings and Daniil Medvedev, ranked 16, were over 130 places above him, Laaksonen pushed both players to three sets. Laaksonen was victorious in the doubles together with the youngest player to ever play for Switzerland in the Davis Cup, Jérôme Kym. Switzerland eventually lost the tie 1–3 and will play Slovakia in September.
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 14 (7–7)
| Finals by surface |
|---|
| Legend |
| ATP Challenger (5–1) |
| ITF Futures (2–6) |
| Finals by surface |
| Hard (5–4) |
| Clay (1–2) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (1–1) |
| ATP Challenger (5–1) |
| ITF Futures (2–6) |
| Hard (5–4) |
| Clay (1–2) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (1–1) |
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | Jan 2011 | Israel F1, Eilat | Futures | Hard | Valery Rudnev | 3–6, 1–6 | |
| Loss | Oct 2011 | Kuwait F2, Meshref | Futures | Hard | Julien Dubail | 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 | |
| Loss | Mar 2012 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet (i) | Moritz Baumann | 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 | |
| Loss | Sep 2012 | Portugal F4, Espinho | Futures | Clay | Jiří Veselý | 2–6, 4–6 | |
| Loss | Sep 2012 | Portugal F5, Porto | Futures | Clay | Marc Giner | 6–7, 2–6 | |
| Win | Mar 2014 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet (i) | Tim Pütz | 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 | |
| Win | Nov 2015 | Champaign, USA | Challenger | Hard (i) | Taylor Fritz | 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 | |
| Win | Nov 2015 | USA F34, Waco | Futures | Hard (i) | Sekou Bangoura | 6–3, 4–6, 6–1 | |
| Loss | Mar 2016 | USA F11, Calabasas | Futures | Hard | Matthew Barton | 6–7, 3–6 | |
| Win | Sep 2016 | Shanghai, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard | Jason Jung | 6–3, 6–3 | |
| Win | Nov 2016 | Champaign, USA | Challenger | Hard (i) | Ruben Bemelmans | 7–5, 6–3 | |
| Loss | Aug 2018 | Chengdu, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard | Zhang Ze | 6–2, 2–5 ret. | |
| Win | Feb 2019 | Bangkok, Thailand | Challenger | Hard | Dudi Sela | 6–2, 6–4 | |
| Win | May 2019 | Rome, Italy | Challenger | Clay | Gian Marco Moroni | 6–7, 7–6, 6–2 |
Doubles: 12 (4–8)
| Finals by surface |
|---|
| Legend |
| ATP Challenger (2–3) |
| ITF Futures (2–5) |
| Finals by surface |
| Hard (1–3) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (2–2) |
| ATP Challenger (2–3) |
| ITF Futures (2–5) |
| Hard (1–3) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (2–2) |
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | Mar 2009 | Switzerland F2, Greifensee | Futures | Carpet (i) | Philipp Oswald | Dustin Brown Alexander Sadecky | 6–1, 6–4 | |
| Loss | Aug 2009 | Geneva, Switzerland | Challenger | Clay | Philipp Oswald | Diego Álvarez Juan-Martín Aranguren | 4–6, 6–4, [2–10] | |
| Loss | Oct 2011 | Kuwait F2, Meshref | Futures | Hard | Luca Margaroli | Florian Fallert Nils Langer | 4–6, 6–7 | |
| Loss | Sep 2012 | Portugal F4, Espinho | Futures | Clay | Fede Valsangiacomo | Stephan Fransen Wesley Koolhof | 5–7, 2–6 | |
| Loss | Mar 2014 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet (i) | Laurynas Grigelis | Jesper Brunström Frederik Nielsen | 4–6, 6–7 | |
| Win | Mar 2014 | Switzerland F2, Trimbach | Futures | Carpet (i) | Luca Margaroli | Denis Matsukevitch Matteo Volante | 6–2, 6–2 | |
| Loss | Jan 2015 | Germany F1, Schwieberdingen | Futures | Carpet (i) | Victor Vlad Cornea | Fabian Fallert Florian Fallert | 4–6, 3–6 | |
| Loss | Mar 2016 | USA F11, Calabasas | Futures | Hard | Marek Michalička | Nicolas Meister Eric Quigley | 6–4, 2–6, [3–10] | |
| Loss | Jul 2018 | Marburg, Germany | Challenger | Clay | Luca Margaroli | Fabrício Neis David Vega Hernández | 6–4, 4–6, [8–10] | |
| Win | Jul 2018 | Båstad, Sweden | Challenger | Clay | Harri Heliövaara | Zdeněk Kolář Gonçalo Oliveira | 6–4, 6–3 | |
| Loss | Oct 2018 | Fairfield, USA | Challenger | Hard | Harri Heliövaara | Sanchai Ratiwatana Christopher Rungkat | 0–6, 6–7 | |
| Win | Nov 2018 | Charlottesville, USA | Challenger | Hard (i) | Harri Heliövaara | Toshihide Matsui Frederik Nielsen | 6–3, 6–4 |
Performance timelines
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | A | P | Z# | PO | G | F-S | SF-B | NMS | NH |
Singles
Current through the 2019 Winston-Salem Open.
 Finland |  Switzerland | ||||||||||||
| Tournament | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | SR | W–L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | Q1 | Q1 | Q1 | 2R | 0 / 1 | 1–1 |
| French Open | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | Q2 | Q1 | Q2 | 2R | 0 / 1 | 1–1 |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | A | Q2 | Q1 | A | Q1 | 1R | Q2 | Q1 | 0 / 1 | 0–1 |
| US Open | A | A | A | A | Q1 | A | A | Q3 | 1R | Q1 | 0 / 1 | 0–1 | |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0 / 4 | 2–4 |
| National representation | |||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | Z2 | A | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | 1R | QR | 0 / 5 | 9–8 |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 | |||||||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | Q1 | Q1 | 0 / 1 | 1–1 |
| Miami Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q1 | Q1 | Q1 | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Monte-Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Madrid Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Italian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Canadian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 |
| Shanghai Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Q2 | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |
| Paris Masters | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0–0 | |
| Win–Loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 1 | 1–1 |
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Career | ||
| Tournaments | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 35 | |
| Overall Win–Loss | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–5 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–6 | 11–12 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 33–43 | |
| Year-end ranking | 1386 | 1202 | 588 | 291 | 244 | 318 | 181 | 136 | 121 | 169 | 43% | ||