Takao Suzuki
Takao Suzuki is a professional tennis player and a former Japanese No. 1.Tennis career
Suzuki reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 102 in 1998 and has earned nearly three quarters of a million dollars in prize winnings on the ATP Tour. He is well known for his outstanding performances against Roger Federer at the Australian Open in 2005 and the 2006 Tokyo Open. Although Suzuki lost to Federer in straight sets in the former, Suzuki challenged Federer in many of the games and put up a close battle in each of the sets he lost.
In 2006, Suzuki injured his shoulder at the Australian Open qualifying tournament in a match against Paul Capdeville and sat out most of the season as a result. He briefly returned to competitive tennis in May in a challenger tournament in South Korea and lost in the quarter finals. In October 2006, Suzuki played in his first International Series event of the year, the Japan Open Tennis Championships held in Tokyo, having received a wildcard into the main draw. Suzuki, ranked World No. 1078 at the time, won surprise victories over 8th seed Paradorn Srichaphan and World No. 126 Alexander Waske en route to his quarter finals berth against Federer. Suzuki once again lost to Federer in three tight sets, 6–4, 5–7, 6–7.
