Henri Laaksonen
Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen 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. 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, Laaksonen was excluded from the team following his behaviour during Thursday practice.Wawrinka commented as follows: "There are very few promising young players . Unfortunately, among them, there are some who believe that everything is allowed and everything is granted for free. If Henri is not here today, it is because there are certain things we cannot accept. I also dislike his behaviour. Someone in his age, with his ranking and who has been supported by Swiss Tennis for many years and thinks he can not fully commit to a practice session and even complains about the coach, cannot be part of the team". He went on saying that he "never wants to be on a tennis court with him again". Further to this tie, Wawrinka and Laaksonen never appeared together in a team competition.
Laaksonen was later fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine was never publicly disclosed. Laaksonen never publicly apologized for his bad behavior.
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. 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 1 and 2, 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.
Laaksonen lost both his singles against lower ranked Slovakian players and his doubles match with youngster Jérôme Kim. Due to this performance, Switzerland was relegated to the second division.
Away against Peru in Lima, “Team leader” Henri Laaksonen once again lost his decisive rubber against a low-ranked player with a demotivated attitude, causing Switzerland's relegation to Group II, the third level of world's tennis. Serious questions started to come up regarding the financial support received by this player from the Swiss federation, despite the absence of any results over years and the fact that his nominations on the team prevent younger players from getting a real chance to express their qualities on the court.
Performance timelines
Singles
Current through the 2019 Swiss Indoors.ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 14 (7–7)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | Israel F1, Eilat | Futures | Hard |  Valery Rudnev | 3–6, 1–6 | |
| Loss | 0–2 | Kuwait F2, Meshref | Futures | Hard |  Julien Dubail | 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 | |
| Loss | 0–3 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet |  Moritz Baumann | 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 | |
| Loss | 0–4 | Portugal F4, Espinho | Futures | Clay |  Jiří Veselý | 2–6, 4–6 | |
| Loss | 0–5 | Portugal F5, Porto | Futures | Clay |  Marc Giner | 6–7, 2–6 | |
| Win | 1–5 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet | Tim Pütz | 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 | |
| Win | 2–5 | 2015 JSM Challenger of Champaign–Urbana – Singles| | Champaign, USA | Challenger | Hard |  Taylor Fritz | 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
| Win | 3–5 | USA F34, Waco | Futures | Hard | Sekou Bangoura | 6–3, 4–6, 6–1 | |
| Loss | 3–6 | USA F11, Calabasas | Futures | Hard |  Matthew Barton | 6–7, 3–6 | |
| Win | 4–6 | 2016 Shanghai Challenger – Singles| | Shanghai, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard |  Jason Jung | 6–3, 6–3 |
| Win | 5–6 | 2016 JSM Challenger of Champaign–Urbana – Singles| | Champaign, USA | Challenger | Hard | Ruben Bemelmans | 7–5, 6–3 |
| Loss | 5–7 | 2018 Chengdu Challenger – Singles| | Chengdu, China, P.R. | Challenger | Hard |  Zhang Ze | 6–2, 2–5 ret. |
| Win | 6–7 | 2019 Bangkok Challenger – Singles| | Bangkok, Thailand | Challenger | Hard |  Dudi Sela | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Win | 7–7 | 2019 Garden Open – Singles| | Rome, Italy | Challenger | Clay |  Gian Marco Moroni | 6–7, 7–6, 6–2 |
Doubles: 12 (4–8)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Switzerland F2, Greifensee | Futures | Carpet |  Philipp Oswald |  Dustin Brown Alexander Sadecky | 6–1, 6–4 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | 2009 IPP Trophy – Doubles| | Geneva, Switzerland | Challenger | Clay | Philipp Oswald |  Diego Álvarez Juan-Martín Aranguren | 4–6, 6–4, |
| Loss | 1–2 | Kuwait F2, Meshref | Futures | Hard | Luca Margaroli | Florian Fallert Nils Langer | 4–6, 6–7 | |
| Loss | 1–3 | Portugal F4, Espinho | Futures | Clay | Fede Valsangiacomo |  Stephan Fransen Wesley Koolhof | 5–7, 2–6 | |
| Loss | 1–4 | Switzerland F1, Taverne | Futures | Carpet |  Laurynas Grigelis |  Jesper Brunström Frederik Nielsen | 4–6, 6–7 | |
| Win | 2–4 | Switzerland F2, Trimbach | Futures | Carpet | Luca Margaroli | Denis Matsukevitch Matteo Volante | 6–2, 6–2 | |
| Loss | 2–5 | Germany F1, Schwieberdingen | Futures | Carpet |  Victor Vlad Cornea | Fabian Fallert Florian Fallert | 4–6, 3–6 | |
| Loss | 2–6 | USA F11, Calabasas | Futures | Hard | Marek Michalička | Nicolas Meister Eric Quigley | 6–4, 2–6, | |
| Loss | 2–7 | 2018 Marburg Open – Doubles| | Marburg, Germany | Challenger | Clay | Luca Margaroli |  Fabrício Neis David Vega Hernández | 6–4, 4–6, |
| Win | 3–7 | 2018 Båstad Challenger – Doubles| | Båstad, Sweden | Challenger | Clay |  Harri Heliövaara | Zdeněk Kolář Gonçalo Oliveira | 6–4, 6–3 |
| Loss | 3–8 | 2018 Fairfield Challenger – Doubles| | Fairfield, USA | Challenger | Hard | Harri Heliövaara |  Sanchai Ratiwatana Christopher Rungkat | 0–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 4–8 | 2018 Charlottesville Men's Pro Challenger – Doubles| | Charlottesville, USA | Challenger | Hard | Harri Heliövaara |  Toshihide Matsui Frederik Nielsen | 6–3, 6–4 |