Joachim Johansson, who had not played since March of 2011 prior to this week and is listed as “inactive” on the ATP website, qualified for the main draw of the If Stockholm Open on Monday.
Johansson earned victories over Erik Chvojka and No. 4 seed Matthias Bachinger before getting past sixth-seeded Damir Dzumhur in the final round of qualifying. The 31-year-old Swede will contest his main-draw opener against Alejandro Falla before a possible date with No. 2 seed Milos Raonic.
This is Johansson’s 10th appearance in Stockholm, an event he played every season from 2006 through 2009 even when he was mostly off the tour during that stretch. He made a semifinal run in 2006 and reached the quarters in 2009.
Johansson, who has assured that this will be the only tournament of his latest comeback no matter how well he fares, reached a career-high ranking of No. 9 in the world in 2005. He reached the semifinals of the 2004 U.S. Open, upsetting Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals before losing to Lleyton Hewitt.
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update: defeated Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-3 in the first round. Milos Raonic next.
Rafa is skipping Basel:
“Hi all, sorry to announce that I won’t travel to Basel in Switzerland but after very exhausting weeks I have to regroup my fitness and my body. I will do my best to come back to the Swiss Indoors next year.”
https://www.facebook.com/Nadal
1. I support Rafa in this move, he needs to rest that body, it has been a long and fruitful season. I think this means he is gearing up for a true assault on Paris and London.
2. The “conspirator” in me is suspicious this is all part of an attempt to spice up the WTF with a winner-take-all match between him and Novak there………………
discussion on the Federer thread