Henri Laaksonen

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.

Before January 2011, he represented his country of birth, Finland. Since then, he has represented Switzerland.

Professional career

2019-21: Two Major third rounds & two top-20 wins, back to top 100 in two years

Laaksonen won the biggest match of his career at the 2021 French Open against world No. 11 Roberto Bautista Agut in four sets in order to advance to a Grand Slam third round for the first time in his career.

At the 2021 US Open he reached the third round of a Major only for the second time in his career defeating world No. 19 and sixteenth seed Cristian Garín in four sets.

He won his sixth Challenger title at the 2021 Open d'Orléans defeating Dennis Novak. As a result, he returned to the top 100 at world No. 98 on 4 October 2021, five spots shy of his career-high ranking of No. 93 reached more than two years ago on 15 July 2019.

2022-24: Career-high in top 85, retirement

He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 84 on 14 February 2022 after qualifying for the 2022 Rotterdam Open. As of 20 June 2022 he became the No. 1 Swiss player ahead of Roger Federer before being overtaken on 29 August 2022 by Marc-Andrea Huesler.

He reached the Challenger final in Hamburg, losing to compatriot Alexander Ritschard, after he retired in the second set when Ritschard was 7–5, 6–5 up and had 40–30 on his service game, climbing 9 positions back to No. 171 in the singles rankings on 24 October 2022. He reached another final at the Challenger in Roanne losing to Hugo Gaston and climbed 27 positions up to No. 155 on 14 November 2022. He finished the year ranked No. 171 on 21 November 2022.

Laaksonen retired from professional tennis in the 2024 season, in August (last match played), and started coaching Mika Brunold.

Davis Cup career and controversy

He initially was 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 called to play with Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli, and Michael Lammer. However, Laaksonen was excluded from the team following his behavior during Thursday practice.

Wawrinka said: "There are very few promising young players [in Switzerland]. 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". Wawrinka added 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 later was fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine never was disclosed.

He was 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 (with Lammer). However, Laaksonen did not play in any of the rubbers as the top players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were in 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. For the final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated.

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 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. Laaksonen was again the Swiss team leader and secured the winning points. Because of its 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. In the World Group play-offs against Belarus, despite losing his first singles rubber, Laaksonen defeated Dzmitry Zhyrmont with Switzerland behind 2−1 in the tie. The team won the final rubber and remained in the World Group.

Laaksonen opened Switzerland's 2018 Davis Cup World Group tie against Kazakhstan, losing in four sets. He won both his singles matches in the World Group Play-off tie against Sweden, but these were the only points Switzerland registered as the team was 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. Switzerland lost the tie 1–3 and then lost to Slovakia in September. Due to this performance, Switzerland was relegated to the second division.

In 2020, away against Peru in Lima, Laaksonen won his first match but lost the decisive rubber against the top Peruvian player Juan Pablo Varillas, resulting in Switzerland's relegation to Group II, the third level of world's tennis.

In 2021, Laaksonen won both singles matches as Switzerland won 5–0 against Estonia in World Group II.

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2023 Wimbledon qualifying.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 18 (8–10)

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Doubles: 12 (4–8)

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Record against top 10 players

Laaksonen's match record against players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher is as follows, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface. Only ATP Tour main draw and Davis Cup matches are considered.

• ITA Matteo Berrettini 1–0
• ESP Roberto Bautista Agut 1–1
• CAN Félix Auger-Aliassime 0–1
• TCH Tomáš Berdych 0–1
• SRB Novak Djokovic 0–1
• ESP David Ferrer 0–1
• USA Taylor Fritz 0–1
• BEL David Goffin 0–1
• RUS Karen Khachanov 0–1
• ARG Juan Mónaco 0–1
• JPN Kei Nishikori 0–1
• RUS Andrey Rublev 0–1
• DEN Holger Rune 0–1
• NOR Casper Ruud 0–1
• CAN Denis Shapovalov 0–1
• USA Jack Sock 0–1
• AUT Dominic Thiem 0–1
• ESP Fernando Verdasco 0–1
• ARG Juan Martín del Potro 0–2
• FRA Richard Gasquet 0–2
• USA John Isner 0–2
• RUS Daniil Medvedev 0–2 :** .*

References

References

1. "The pronunciation by Henri Laaksonen himself". ATPWorldTour.com.
2. "Henri Laaksonen siirtyy edustamaan Sveitsiä". Suomen Tennisliitto.
3. (2 June 2021). "Hold The Salmon! Laaksonen Is Catch Of The Day In Paris | ATP Tour | Tennis".
4. (4 June 2021). "Preview: Tsitsipas, Medvedev Face A Tall Order In Paris".
5. (September 2, 2021). "Qualifiers Make Huge Impact at the 2021 US Open".
6. "#NextGenATP Cerundolo, Bellucci Continue Challenger Tour Hot Streak | ATP Tour | Tennis".
7. (October 23, 2022). "Ritschard Reigns In Hamburg, Lifts Maiden Challenger Trophy".
8. Graber, Yoann. (June 30, 2025). "Cet ancien crack du tennis suisse n’a pas eu les adieux qu’il méritait".
9. (13 September 2013). "«J'espère que Swiss Tennis va punir Laaksonen»".
10. (13 September 2013). "Eklat im Schweitzer Davis-Cup-Team".
11. "Davis-Cup-Eklat: Busse und Verwarnung für Henri Laaksonen – Tennis – Blick".
12. (8 March 2020). "Without Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland loses Davis Cup tie to Peru".
13. "Davis Cup – Draws & Results".