A devastating injury right after reaching a career pinnacle is enough to ruin the life of any tennis player, but former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson refused to let it happen.
Suffering from injury-plagued 2003 and 2004 seasons which saw him fall outside the world top 100, the tenacious Swede fought back hard to reach the top 15 this month and now eyes a return to the top.
"I am really looking forward to rediscovering the form I displayed in 2002," said the former world No 7. "I've been working my way back and I'm starting to play a lot better than I did last year.
Once deemed as the man to bring the glory days back to Swedish tennis following the achievements of Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg, Johansson, 30, shocked the world in 2002 when the 16th-seeded Swede upset the then title favourite Marat Safin of Russia in a four-set tiebreaker at the Australian Open final, becoming the first Swede since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win the Australian Open and the second-lowest seed in history to claim the championship.
His career was brought to an abrupt halt however when a serious injury to his left knee led to him missing most of the 2002 and the entire 2003 season.
"There was a time when I couldn't practice as hard as I wanted and I couldn't play as many tournaments as I wanted," he recalled.
"When I decided to have an operation on my left knee, I did not think I was going to be able to come back. It hurt me a lot and it took a while before I could even walk on my knee. So that was very tough."
Johansson, with eight ATP singles' titles under his belt, returned to the tour in 2004 and launched his comeback with a championship at the Stockholm Open after brushing aside veteran Andre Agassi in the final.
A rapid recovery saw him lifted to 30th in the world rankings at the end of 2004. He made it into quarter-finals at the season-opening Australian Open and made a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon this year, narrowly losing to American big server Andy Roddick.
"I think I have been in pretty good form recently," said Johansson. "I am also happy to see I have done a good job over the past months.
"I can feel the improvement step by step and I believe I can compete against those world top players."
Despite a second round exit at the US Open this month, the Swedish all-court player is now aiming for a title in Beijing.
"For sure, I am coming for the title here in China," said Johansson. "I've prepared well before the tournament and I'm really focused on the task ahead."
The Swede has played twice before in Beijing at the previous indoor Beijing Salem Open. Each time, he lost in the semi-finals first to Martin Damm of the Czech Republic in 1996 and then to American Jim Courier the following year.
"There are plenty of tournaments left in the rest of the year, so I just want to make a good start," he added.
Tough road
However, his boosted confidence will not make his Chinese trip much easier as he might face a group of strong rivals in the first three rounds.
Johansson, the event's fourth seed, will take on the newly-crowned US Open doubles champion Jonas Bjorkman tomorrow in his debut match and will face Russian Mikhall Youzhny, Gulliermo Coria of Argentina and Spaniard Carlos Moya if he entered the final from the second half of the draw.
Today, the Beijing Tennis Centre will see five ATP singles and six doubles matches along with the final round of qualifiers when four players will earn their first round berths at the Open.
Clashes between Asian players and Spaniards are set to draw the attention of fans.
Former world No 1 and the eighth seed Carlos Moya goes up against Thai Paradorn Srichaphan in the centre court at 7 pm while Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea plays French Open title holder Juan Carlos Ferrero later tonight.
(China Daily September 12, 2005)
