Per Christian Bergström (born 19 July 1967) is a former

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, who turned professional in 1985. He did not win any titles (neither singles nor doubles) during his career, but reached three singles quarter-finals in Grand Slam tournaments:

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

(1990, 1994) and

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

(1993). The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...

on 27 January 1992, when he became World No. 32.

Career

1984–1985: Junior career

Bergström was the Swedish junior champion in 1984 and European junior champion in 1985. He reached the semi-finals of the 1985 U.S. Open Juniors, losing to

Joey Blake Joey Blake (born July 14, 1967) is an American former professional tennis player. Blake, born in Michigan, was the 1985 US Open (tennis), 1985 US Open junior doubles champion (with Darren Yates) and finished runner-up to Tim Trigueiro in the sing ...

. At the Junior French Open, he lost in the 3rd round to

Thomas Muster Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former world No. 1 tennis player. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, he won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was called "The King of Clay". In addition, he won eig ...

. Bergström was ranked No. 2 in the ITF Junior world rankings and turned professional at the end of 1985.

Junior Slam results – Singles

*French Open: 3R (1985) *US Open: SF (1985)

Junior Slam results – Doubles

*French Open: QF (1985) *US Open: 2R (1985)

1986–1987

Bergström started the year ranked 410 in the world on the

ATP rankings The Pepperstone ATP rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments. The first rankings ...

and mostly competed on the

ATP Challenger Series The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

. He reached the quarter-finals at the Parioli Challenger, the semi-finals at the

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Challenger and his best result was winning the Tampere Challenger. He also qualified for two Grand Slam events, the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and the US Open, losing in the first round of both. In 1987 Bergström reached the quarter-finals at the

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

Challenger and won the

Porto Challenger The Porto Challenger was a professional tennis tournament in Portugal played on clay courts that was part of the ATP Challenger Series. Held in Porto, the first edition of the tournament was in 1982, then it was contested every year from 1987 to 1 ...

. On the

Grand Prix Tour The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with t ...

he reached the quarter-finals at the

Lorraine Open The Lorraine Open is a defunct men's tennis tournament that was played as part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit from 1979 to 1989. It was held in Lorraine, one of the 26 regions of France. The venue alternated annually from Lorraine's two main citi ...

in Nancy and also in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Bergström participated in three Grand Slam events, beating countrymen in the first round of each. At the

he beat Johan Carlsson in the first round, at

Peter Lundgren Peter Lundgren (born 29 January 1965) is a former professional male tennis player and tennis coach from Sweden. He preferred playing indoors, hardcourt and on grass to clay. Playing career Lundgren was one of the second generation of Swedish ...

and at the US Open,

Mikael Pernfors Mikael Pernfors (born 16 July 1963) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1986, and won the 1993 Canadian Open in Montreal. Career Pernfors played a topspin-heavy baselin ...

had to retire in the first round. Bergström lost in the second round at all three events and ended the year ranked number 69 in the world on the

1988–1989

Bergström did not compete in any Challenger tournaments during the 1988 season. On the

he reached two quarter-finals, at

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and two semi-finals at Båstad and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. He had his first victory over a top ten player when he beat the world number 10,

Henri Leconte Henri Leconte (born 4 July 1963) is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. Leconte's ...

at the Toulouse tournament. The 1989 season was less successful as Bergström reaches three quarter-finals, at

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Båstad and

. In November he reached the semi-finals at the Copenhagen Challenger and finished the year ranked number 106 in the world.

1990–1991

During April 1990, Bergström reached the quarter-finals in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

as a qualifier, losing to the eventual winner

Karel Nováček Karel Nováček (born 30 March 1965) is a retired Czech former top ten tennis player born in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic). In his career, Nováček won 13 singles titles and six doubles titles. His highest singles ranking was Wor ...

. He also qualified for the

, losing in 5 sets in the 3rd round to the 11th-seeded

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of ...

. At

he upset the tournament 11th seed and word number 21,

Guy Forget Guy Forget (; born 4 January 1965) is a French tennis administrator and retired professional player. During his career, he helped France win the Davis Cup in both 1991 and 1996. Since retiring as a player, he has served as France's Davis Cup te ...

in the fourth round and lost in the quarter-finals to Stefan Edberg. During October he reached the quarter-finals in

and in November the semi-finals at the London-indoor. As a result of his Wimbledon success, Bergström qualified as one of sixteen players for the

Grand Slam Cup The Grand Slam Cup was a tennis tournament held annually at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany from 1990 through 1999. The event was organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which invited the best-performing players in the year's ...

, where he lost in the first round to

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...

. Bergström kicked off 1991 with a fair amount of success by reaching the semi-finals in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and the quarter-finals in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He also reached the quarter-finals at

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and

, where he upset world number 5,

Michael Stich Michael Detlef Stich (, ; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991, the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in 1992, and was a singles r ...

in the first round. Bergström also made two semi-finals, in

where he beat

and in Båstad. His best result in a Grand Slam, was once again at

, where he beat Brad Gilbert on his route to the round of 16. Bergström broke into the top 50 in the world for the first time on 22 April 1991 at number 48 on the ATP ranking and during October advanced to number 40 on the ATP rankings. He made his debut for the Swedish Davis Cup team in the World Group Qualifying Round against the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. He won both his singles matches and teaming up with

Rikard Bergh Rikard Bergh (born 14 June 1966) is a former professional tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a ten ...

, won the doubles.

1992–1993

Bergström made his first ATP Tour final at the first tournament of the year in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

losing to

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

in three sets. The following week he reached the quarter-finals in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

beating the world number 9,

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for dopin ...

in the second round. He finished his 1992 Australian journey by beating world number 7, Guy Forget on route to the last 16 at the

. After the Australian Open he reached his highest individual ranking of 32, on the ATP ranking. Later in the year, he also reached the quarter-finals in Båstad and

. Partnering fellow Swede,

Magnus Gustafsson Magnus Nils Gustafsson (born 3 January 1967) is a tennis coach and former top ten professional tennis player from Sweden. Gustafsson won 14 tour singles titles during his career and finished 15 consecutive seasons within the world's top 100, r ...

he reached his first and only doubles final on the ATP Tour at Båstad. He made his second Davis Cup appearance for Sweden in the World Group quarter-finals against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, when he replaced Gustafsson for the reverse singles and then defeated

Richard Fromberg Richard James Fromberg (born 28 April 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Tennis career Fromberg began playing tennis at the age of 10. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

for the second year running, losing to fellow Swede

Nicklas Kulti Nicklas Kulti (born 22 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. He was born in Stockholm. Tennis career Juniors Kulti was ranked No. 1 in the junior world singles rankings in 1989 after winning the Australian Open and W ...

. At the

he became the first player to defeat Ivan Lendl in the first round of the Australian Open, and by so doing breaking Lendl's record run of 40 consecutive first round victories in Grand Slam appearances. After defeating the eighth seeded Lendl in die first round, he also defeated the world number eleven and tournament tenth seed,

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

before losing to Stefan Edberg in the quarter-finals. Bergström also made the quarter-finals in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and the semi-finals in Båstad and

and ended the year ranked number 52 in the world.

1994–1996

1994 started less successful for Bergström and he only reaches two quarter-finals prior to the

, where he lost in the second round of the qualifying event. His first quarter-final was at the South African Open in Sun City, where he defeated his compatriot and the world number 10, Magnus Gustafsson. His second quarter-final appearance was at the AT&T Challenge in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Bergström's best result of the year was at

where he reached the quarter-finals for the second time in his career, with victories over

Diego Nargiso Diego Nargiso (born 15 March 1970) is a former tennis player from Italy. Having turned professional in 1987, Nargiso represented his native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by America's even ...

Greg Rusedski Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 ...

Jordi Burillo Jordi Burillo Puig (; born 7 December 1972) is a retired tennis player from Spain. He won one singles title and a doubles title on the ATP Tour in his career. His style was very aggressive and powerful, hitting always the ball and serving very h ...

and

Bryan Shelton Bryan Shelton (born December 22, 1965) is an American college tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Shelton played collegiately for Georgia Tech from 1985 to 1988, and then played professionally from 1989 to 1997. He subsequently ...

, before losing to Boris Becker. Bergström started 1995 with a ranking of 112, but struggled to gain any momentum on the 1995 ATP Tour. He finished the year with only two match victories on the Tour and with an ATP ranking of number 259 in world. His best result was on the Challenger Tour, where he had to qualify for the main draw at the

Tampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It is currently part of the ATP Challenger Tour, and has been held annually at the Tampere Tennis Center in Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city ...

, and then made the final before losing to

Galo Blanco Galo Blanco (; born 8 October 1976) is a retired professional tennis player from Oviedo, Spain. After many years as a professional tennis coach Blanco joined the Davis Cup steering committee in 2018. Tennis career Most of Blanco's early prof ...

. In 1996 Bergström participated on ITF Satellite circuit and during April won the Germany 1 Circuit. He made his last appearance at an ATP Tour event at his hometown tournament, the

Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

in Båstad where he made the main draw as a

lucky loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw, usually when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness, injury ...

and then lost in the first round to Richard Fromberg.

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Challenger titles

Singles: (2)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergstrom, Christian 1967 births Living people Swedish male tennis players Sportspeople from Gothenburg 20th-century Swedish people