Mikhail Youzhny

Began playing tennis at age six..Father, Mikhail, passed away; mother, Lubov, is an economist...Has one older brother, Andrei, who has played mostly pro Futures events in his career from 1998-2000...Compiled outstanding junior results, reaching final of Australian Open juniors in 1999 (l. to Pless)...Childhood hero was Stefan Edberg and "liked his mentality"...At age 13, ballboyed for Russia-U.S. Davis Cup final in Moscow in 1995 and posed for photos with U.S. members Courier, Sampras and Todd Martin...Has a 14-15 Davis Cup record (9-9 in singles) in 19 ties since 2000...Gives military style salute to fans after big wins with racket above his head with left hand and salute with right...Fitness trainer is Oleg Mosiakov and coached by Boris Sobkin (since age 10).

1999 -- Won four Futures titles and jumped over 700 ranking positions...

2000 -- Made Davis Cup debut vs. Belgium (d. O. Rochus in dead rubber)...Won Samarkand Challenger...Reached first ATP QF in Moscow...

2001 -- Finished in Top 100 for first time...Reached 3rd RD at Australian Open in Grand Slam debut...Also 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Rafter) and 3rd RD at US Open (l. to Sampras)...Reached SF in Copenhagen...

2002 -- Won first ATP title in Stuttgart (d. Canas)...Became first player to rally from a two-sets deficit in a fifth and decisive match in a Davis Cup final, beating Mathieu in 4 hrs., 27 mins. to give Russia a 3-2 victory over France...Missed six weeks in summer with back injury...Finalist at St. Petersburg...

2003 -- Reached three SF and four QF...

2004 -- Won title in St. Petersburg (d. Beck) and runner-up in Beijing (l. to Safin)...Reached QF at Athens Olympics (l. to Fish)...

2005 -- Reached seven ATP QF, including AMS Cincinnati (l. to Roddick)...Reached 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Gonzalez)...

2006 -- The No. 3 Russian (behind Davydenko, Tursunov)...Went into US Open ranked No. 54 and posted wins over Spanish top trio of No. 13 Ferrer (3rd), No. 5 Robredo (4th) and No. 2 Nadal (QF) before losing to Roddick in four sets in SF...Afterwards climbed to No. 24...Also reached SF in Dubai (l. to Federer) and first on clay in Kitzbnhel (l. to Chela)...Also QF in Doha and Zagreb....Played in Davis Cup SF vs. U.S. and posted a four-sets win over No. 9 Blake to give Russia a 2-0 lead...On Oct. 25, tore ligaments in his right ankle while playing a doubles match in St. Petersburg...

2007 -- The No. 2 Russian (behind No. 4 Davydenko) finished in Top 20 for first time in three years and won a career-high 50 matches...Broke Top 10 on Aug. 13 and was there for one week...Jumped off to an 18-5 start in first two months by capturing his third ATP title in Rotterdam (d. Ferrer, Djokovic, Ljubicic in last three rounds) and following with runner-up in Dubai (d. Nadal in QF, l. to Federer)...Also SF in Zagreb and QF in Doha and Marseille...In May, advanced to final in Munich (l. to Kohlschreiber) and turned in personal-best 4th RD at Roland Garros (l. to Federer)...On grass, reached QF in Halle and 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal in five sets)...Returned to clay in July and made SF in Amersfoort...Won a crucial Davis Cup singles match in fourth rubber (vs. Petzschner) as Russia prevailed 3-2 to reach final for second straight year (lost 4-1 to U.S.)...Closed season with SF in St. Petersburg and QF at AMS Paris (d. No. 9 Gonzalez, No. 10 Haas, l. to Nadal)...Went 4-9 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 24-12 on hard, 15-8 on clay, 6-2 on carpet and 5-1 on grass...In doubles, won titles in Doha (w/Zimonjic) and Munich (w/Kohlschreiber)...Earned a career-high $1,028,900.

2008 -- The Russian finished in Top 50 for seventh straight year, highlighted by his fourth career ATP title in Chennai (d. No. 2 Nadal) and second Grand Slam QF (or better) at Australian Open (d. No. 4 Davydenko, l. to Tsonga)...Jumped off to a 12-2 start in first three tournaments before finishing 16-20 rest of season...Only reached one more QF, in Gstaad, in July...In Grand Slam play, advanced to 3rd RD at Roland Garros (l. to Verdasco) and 4th RD at Wimbledon (l. to Nadal)...Withdrew from US Open due to viral illness, his first Grand Slam missed after 23 in a row played...Went 2-3 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled marks of 20-14 on hard, 4-2 on grass and 4-6 on clay.

2009

The Russian reached three ATP World Tour finals during season, highlighted by his fifth career title in his hometown of Moscow in late October...In his 11th appearance, he rallied from a set down to beat Serb Janko Tipsarevic in three sets in 20th edition of Kremlin Cup...Two weeks earlier he reached final in Tokyo (l. to Tsonga)...In May, he advanced to final in Munich where he lost in a third set tie-break to Tomas Berdych...Eariy in season in February, he reached back-to-back quarter-finals in Rotterdam (d. Ancic) and Marseille (d. Llodra)...Also turned in semi-final showing in Kitzbuhel (l. to Garcia-Lopez)…Opened grass-court swing with quarter-final effort at The Queen’s Club (l. to Blake).