Nicklas Kulti (born 22 April 1971) is a former professional

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 cov ...

from Sweden. He was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

Tennis career

Juniors

Kulti was ranked No. 1 in the junior world singles rankings in 1989 after winning 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 Ope ...

and Wimbledon junior titles, and finishing runner-up at the US Open.

Pro tour

In 1990, Kulti won his first top-level singles title at

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 ...

. He won a total of three tour singles titles during his professional career. He also won 13 top-level doubles titles, including the

Monte Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders on Monaco. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professio ...

in 1994 (partnering

Magnus Larsson Per Henrik ''Magnus'' Larsson (born 25 March 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Playing career Larsson turned professional in 1989 and won his first top-level singles title at Florence in 1990. His first doubles title ...

) and 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 ...

in 2000 (partnering

Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles spec ...

). Kulti was a men's doubles runner-up at the French Open in 1995 (with Larsson) and the US Open in 1997 (with Jonas Björkman). Kulti's best singles performance at a Grand Slam event came at the 1992 French Open, where he reached the quarter-finals by defeating

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beh ...

, Markus Zillner, Michael Chang and Diego Pérez before being knocked-out by

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 ...

. Kulti was a member of the Swedish teams which won the

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 organi ...

in both 1997 and 1998 (partnering Björkman to win doubles rubbers in the final on both occasions). He was also on the team which finished runners-up in the Davis Cup in 1996. In the fifth and deciding match against Frenchman

Arnaud Boetsch Arnaud Benjamin Boetsch (born 1 April 1969) is a French former tennis player who turned professional in 1987. Known for his stylish single-handed backhand, he won 3 career titles, reaching his highest ATP singles ranking of World No. 12 in Apr ...

, Kulti was a late replacement for the injured

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 19 ...

. In a 4-hour and 46-minute thriller, Boetsch saved three matchpoints and finally overcame Kulti, 7–6, 2–6, 4–6, 7–6, 10–8. Kulti's career-high rankings were World No. 32 in singles (in 1993), and World No. 11 in doubles (in 1997). His career prize-money totalled $3,186,946. He retired from the professional tour in 2000. He runs the Good to Great Tennis Academy together with

Magnus Norman 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 (ATP) world No. 2 singles ranking on June 12, 2000. His career highlights include r ...

and

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 ...

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

ATP career finals

Singles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Doubles: 25 (13 titles, 12 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Doubles: 7 (6–1)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

References

External links

* * *
www.goodtogreatworld.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulti, Nicklas Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players from Stockholm Swedish male tennis players Wimbledon junior champions 1971 births Living people Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Olympic tennis players of Sweden