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Magnus Norman (born 30 May 1976) is a Swedish tennis coach and retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high
Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, an ...
(ATP) world No. 2
singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...
ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...
on June 12, 2000. His career highlights include reaching a Grand Slam final at 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 ...
in
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
(lost to
Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
), and winning an
ATP Masters Series The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
title at the 2000 Rome Masters (defeated Kuerten in the final). Norman owns the Good to Great Tennis Academy. Among its students are
Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
,
Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
, and
Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
. He also plays
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
, a sport he played in his youth before deciding to concentrate on tennis.


Tennis career

Norman turned professional in 1995 when he was 19. His career was cut short when injuries struck during his peak in late 2000, after he reached semifinals of the
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 ...
and the final of 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 ...
, as well as a Masters title in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
and several other titles earlier during the season. He was on the verge of becoming world No. 1. His last match was played in September 2003 when he retired in the third round against
Jiří Novák Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Career Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...
after just 3 games. He retired from tennis due to major hip and knee injuries in 2004 when he was only 27 and competed for just over 8 years 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 ...
.


Juniors

As a junior Norman posted a singles win–loss record of 46–24.


Professional playing career


1995


1996


1997

In June, Norman made his first impact on the tour by reaching the quarterfinals of
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 ...
. His most notable match of the tournament was his third round match against world No. 1
Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
, when Norman pulled off upset by defeating the heavily favored American in four sets. He then upset former semifinalist and Olympic gold medalist
Marc Rosset Marc Rosset (born 7 November 1970) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He is best known for winning the men's singles gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also won a major doubles title, at the French Open in 1992 partnering com ...
in 4 sets. Eventually Norman would lose to Belgian qualifier
Filip Dewulf Filip Dewulf (born 15 March 1972) is a former professional male tennis player from Belgium. In his career, he won two ATP Tour singles titles and one title in doubles. In 1997 he reached the semifinals of the French Open, his best singles resu ...
in four sets. As a result of this run, Norman cracked the Top 50 for the first time in his career. A month later at
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 * ...
, he astonished the tennis world even more when he defeated 2nd seed, 2-time finalist and 2-time semifinalist
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 The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon singles title as a Wild card (sports)#Professional tennis, w ...
in the second round in a titanic battle, 14–12 in the fifth set. A week later, Norman captured his first title 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 ...
by winning Swedish Open in Båstad by defeating Spaniard
Juan Antonio Marín Juan Antonio Marín Casero (born 2 March 1975) is a former professional male tennis player from Costa Rica. He originally played on tour under the Spanish flag, as he was born to a father from Murcia and a mother from Asturias, and lived in S ...
in straight sets. In October he reached another final in Ostrava, but has to retire after losing the first set in less than half an hour. He finished the year as world No. 22.


1998

Norman underwent corrective surgery for a heart valve condition in 1998 because of an irregular heartbeat. During the year he had a key role in Sweden's Davis Cup victory, which remained Sweden's last title to this date.


1999


2000

Norman experienced tremendous success during the first half of the year: he reached the semifinals of the
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 ...
, won the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, beating
Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in 4 sets, and was the runner-up at 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 ...
, where he defeated Thierry Guardiola,
Fabrice Santoro Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
,
Sargis Sargsian Sargis Sargsian ( hy, Սարգիս Սարգսյան, born 3 June 1973) is a former professional tennis player from Armenia. Sargsian turned pro in 1995, and has won one singles and two doubles titles during his career on the ATP Tour. He played ...
, Andrei Medvedev,
Marat Safin Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
and
Franco Squillari Franco Squillari (born 22 August 1975) is a former professional male tennis player from Argentina. He won 3 singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2000 French Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 11. Career As a ...
before Kuerten took revenge in the final, after Norman saved 10 championship points. Had he won the match he would have become the first Swede since his idol
Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
to ascend to the world No. 1 position. The loss also snapped his streak of winning 8 consecutive finals dating to 1998. His decline from persistent major injuries in the hips and knees began late that year at the
Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...
, when he lost in the third round to Frenchman
Arnaud Di Pasquale Arnaud Di Pasquale (born 11 February 1979) is a former professional tennis player from France. Tennis career Juniors Di Pasquale excelled as a junior, posting a 103–25 record in singles and reaching the No. 1 ranking in December 1997 (and No. ...
in straight sets (Di Pasquale went on to win the bronze medal). In 1999 and 2000, Norman won 10 titles in total, which was more than anyone else on the ATP Tour during that period.


2001


2002


2003


2004


After retirement

Since retiring as a player with a bittersweet career at such a young age, Norman decided to spend time away from tennis; he cursed the sport: "I didn't watch any tennis, didn't pick up a racquet." In 2005 he served as the Board of the Swedish Tennis Federation, and also worked with a Swedish Junior Team for a while. Between 2006 and 2008, he studied marketing and economics at IHM Business school in Stockholm. At the same time he also worked at Catella Fund Management. Norman gradually realized that he still had a lot to give back to tennis, saying that he thought it was really good for him to be away from tennis, have other friends and develop outside the tennis world, but he wanted to hang out in locker rooms; he missed tennis. And because of his tragic career, Norman said he felt he still had something to prove to himself with respect to tennis, that he "left something on the table" in his career. With this motivation, he decided to pick up tennis once more. He started working with former doubles partner
Thomas Johansson Karl Thomas Conny Johansson (; born 24 March 1975) is a Swedish retired professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking on 10 May 2002. His career highlights i ...
in the latter stages of Johansson's career during his vacation time in 2008, at the same time serving as coach of the Swedish Olympic Tennis team. He guided the Swedish team to silver medals in men's doubles (Johansson and
Simon Aspelin Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) 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, Aspel ...
).


Coaching

Norman has gradually built himself a reputation as one of the greatest and most respected tennis coaches around the world. After Johansson, Norman left Catella altogether to begin coaching fellow Swedish
Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
who under his wing reached consecutive
Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...
finals at 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 ...
in
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
and
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, won the
Paris Masters The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association o ...
in
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, qualified for the
ATP World Tour Finals The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results t ...
both years and reached a career-high world No. 4 before they parted by the end of 2010 season as Norman decided that he wanted to spend more time with his young family and Söderling needed a full-time coach. Söderling took Norman's recommendation for the coach and was on the track of another good season before injuries and mononucleosis ended his career, 7 months after Norman's departure when he was still ranked No. 5 in the world and having just won a title with 2 consecutive top 10 wins in the semifinal and finals with the loss of just 5 games in total during the process. Norman was then wanted by a few prominent players on tour as their coach; Norman declined the requests as he still needs more time with his family and he had just started a new tennis academy that needed careful management, called the Good to Great Tennis Academy in 2011 with fellow former Swedish tennis players
Mikael Tillström Mikael Tillström (born 5 March 1972) is a former tennis player from Sweden, who turned professional in 1991. Career He represented his native country as at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he was defeated in the third round by Switzer ...
and
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 ...
. He eventually decided to coach
Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
starting from the 2013 season, who has since won three Grand Slams: the
2014 Australian Open The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...
,
2015 French Open The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of e ...
, and the 2016 US Open; an
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
title at the 2014 Monte-Carlo Masters; and Switzerland's maiden
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
title in
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, while also qualifying for the Tour Finals every year since their partnership and ending significant losing streaks against
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
and
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
in the process (as well as earning previously rare wins over compatriot
Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
) and reached world No. 3. As a recognition of his achievements Norman won the inaugural ATP Coach of the Year award in 2016.


Playing style

Magnus Norman was known as one of the most powerful and fittest athletes on tour. On top of that, he is known for his work ethic and his perfectionism on court. During earlier stages of career he played serve and volley style tennis, influenced by his idol
Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...
, but later started employing aggressive baseline play. Norman possessed a very dangerous forehand and he would often flatten his groundstrokes whenever he had a chance and go for winner. He could also generate great pace on his flat two-handed backhand. Norman also utilized drop shots and attacked the net on occasion. He also has one of the strongest and toughest mental game of all time. One of the best displays of it was 2000 French Open final, when Norman saved 10 championship points before falling to
Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times ( 1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
in the tiebreak of the fourth set.


Personal life

Norman began playing tennis at the age of 8 when his grandmother gave him a racquet for his birthday. He is the oldest child of his father, Leif (who played
bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...
in the Swedish second division), and his mother, Leena (who was a swimmer on Swedish national team). He has a younger brother, Marcus, who also plays bandy and is the Secretary General of the
Swedish Bandy Association The Swedish Bandy Association ( sv, Svenska Bandyförbundet) is the governing body of bandy in Sweden. It organizes the bandy leagues, Elitserien and Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women, and the men's and women's national teams. It ...
. He briefly dated Swiss tennis player
Martina Hingis Martina Hingis (, sk, Martina Hingisová; 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks a ...
.


Significant finals


Grand Slam finals


Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)


Masters Series finals


Singles: 1 (1 title)


Career finals


Singles: 18 (12 titles, 6 runner-ups)


Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)


Performance timeline


Singles


Top 10 wins


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Magnus 1976 births Living people People from Filipstad Olympic tennis players of Sweden People from Monte Carlo Swedish expatriates in Monaco Swedish male tennis players Swedish bandy players Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swedish tennis coaches Sportspeople from Värmland County