Simon Aspelin


Simon Aspelin is a former professional tennis doubles player from Sweden who turned professional in 1998. His success mainly came in doubles, winning 12 titles and reaching World No. 7 in March 2008. In men's doubles, Aspelin won the 2007 US Open and the Silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
A memorable part of Aspelin's career was when he and doubles partner Todd Perry were playing in the 2006 Wimbledon Championships men's doubles quarterfinals as the eighth-seeded doubles team against third-seeded Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor. Knowles and Nestor won the match by winning the final set 23–21.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, seeded tenth with his partner Julian Knowle, Aspelin achieved the greatest triumph of his career by winning the U.S. Open, his first Grand Slam. In the first two rounds, they won against Kubot/Skoch and got a walkover over Calleri/Horna. They went on to upset the eighth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they shocked the top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan, having lost to them only weeks before. In the semifinal, they held off unseeded Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut, before winning the final in two sets over the ninth seeds, Pavel Vízner and Lukáš Dlouhý. He had never before reached a Grand Slam semifinal. This win put them into the No. 5 position in the ATP Doubles Race, and also gave Aspelin his career-high ranking of No. 13. His Davis cup record in March 2009 is 3–5 in doubles.
Another notable performance in 2007 was the final against Knowles/Nestor in Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, which he lost with Julian Knowle.
In the 2008 Summer Olympics, he and fellow Swede Thomas Johansson defeated French pair Michaël Llodra and Arnaud Clément 7–6, 4–6, 19–17 in the semi-finals. The match that lasted 4 hours and 46 minutes. They went on to win the Silver medal.
Prior to his pro career, Aspelin competed for four seasons at Pepperdine University, in Malibu, Calif. He was one of just two Waves to earn All-American status all four seasons, and was inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame in the fall of 2010.
In May 2011, he was inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame.
In July 2011, Aspelin announced his retirement from professional tennis. He played his last tournament in Båstad, where he reached the final but failed to claim his thirteenth ATP title.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (1 title)

Olympics

Doubles: 1 (1 Silver)

Career finals

Doubles (12)

OutcomeNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Winner1.7 February 2000MarseilleHard Johan Landsberg Juan Ignacio Carrasco
Jairo Velasco, Jr.
7–6, 6–4
Runner-up1.15 July 2001BåstadClay Andrew Kratzmann Karsten Braasch
Jens Knippschild
6–7, 6–4, 6–7
Runner-up2.29 July 2001KitzbühelClay Andrew Kratzmann Àlex Corretja
Luis Lobo
3–6, 6–4, 3–6
Runner-up3.24 February 2002Buenos AiresClay Andrew Kratzmann Gastón Etlis
Martín Rodríguez
6–3, 3–6,
Runner-up4.14 April 2002EstorilClay Andrew Kratzmann Karsten Braasch
Andrei Olhovskiy
3–6, 3–6
Winner2.19 May 2003St. PöltenClay Massimo Bertolini Sargis Sargsian
Nenad Zimonjić
6–4, 6–7, 6–3
Winner3.7 July 2003BåstadClay Massimo Bertolini Lucas Arnold
Mariano Hood
6–7, 6–0, 6–4
Runner-up5.14 September 2003BucharestClay Jeff Coetzee Karsten Braasch
Sargis Sargsian
6–7, 2–6
Runner-up6.11 July 2004BåstadClay Todd Perry Mahesh Bhupathi
Jonas Björkman
6–4, 6–7, 6–7
Runner-up7.17 July 2004StuttgartClay Todd Perry Jiří Novák
Radek Štěpánek
2–6, 4–6
Runner-up8.9 January 2005AdelaideHard Todd Perry Xavier Malisse
Olivier Rochus
6–7, 4–6
Runner-up9.17 January 2005AucklandHard Todd Perry Yves Allegro
Michael Kohlmann
4–6, 6–7
Winner4.31 January 2005Delray BeachHard Todd Perry Jordan Kerr
Jim Thomas
6–3, 6–3
Winner5.14 February 2005MemphisHard Todd Perry Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan
6–4, 6–4
Runner-up10.20 June 2005NottinghamGrass Todd Perry Jonathan Erlich
Andy Ram
6–4, 3–6, 5–7
Runner-up11.25 July 2005IndianapolisHard Todd Perry Paul Hanley
Graydon Oliver
2–6, 1–3 ret.
Runner-up12.10 October 2005TokyoHard Todd Perry Satoshi Iwabuchi
Takao Suzuki
4–5, 4–5
Runner-up13.14 January 2006AucklandHard Todd Perry Andrei Pavel
Rogier Wassen
2–6, 7–5,
Winner6.23 October 2006St. PetersburgCarpet Todd Perry Julian Knowle
Jürgen Melzer
6–1, 7–6
Runner-up14.14 January 2007AucklandHard Chris Haggard Jeff Coetzee
Rogier Wassen
7–6, 3–6,
Winner7.26 May 2007PörtschachClay Julian Knowle Leoš Friedl
David Škoch
7–6, 5–7,
Winner8.17 June 2007HalleGrass Julian Knowle Fabrice Santoro
Nenad Zimonjić
6–4, 7–6
Winner9.15 July 2007BåstadClay Julian Knowle Martin García
Sebastián Prieto
6–2, 6–4
Winner10.7 September 2007U.S. OpenHard Julian Knowle Lukáš Dlouhý
Pavel Vízner
7–5, 6–4
Runner-up15.17 November 2007Tennis Masters Cup, ShanghaiHard Julian Knowle Mark Knowles
Daniel Nestor
2–6, 3–6
Runner-up16.16 August 2008Summer Olympics, BeijingHard Thomas Johansson Roger Federer
Stanislas Wawrinka
Runner-up17.11 April 2009CasablancaClay Paul Hanley Łukasz Kubot
Oliver Marach
6–7, 6–3,
Runner-up18.17 May 2009MadridClay Wesley Moodie Daniel Nestor
Nenad Zimonjić
4–6, 4–6
Winner11.26 July 2009HamburgClay Paul Hanley Marcelo Melo
Filip Polášek
6–3, 6–3
Runner-up19.25 October 2009StockholmHard Paul Hanley Bruno Soares
Kevin Ullyett
4–6, 6–7
Runner-up20.14 February 2010RotterdamHard Paul Hanley Daniel Nestor
Nenad Zimonjić
4–6, 6–4,
Winner12.27 February 2010DubaiHard Paul Hanley Lukáš Dlouhý
Leander Paes
6–2, 6–3
Runner-up21.17 July 2011BåstadClay Andreas Siljeström Robert Lindstedt
Horia Tecău
3–6, 3–6

Doubles Performance timeline