Simon Aspelin (; born 11 May 1974) 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 tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

doubles player 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 countries, Nordic c ...

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, Aspelin won the 2007 US Open and the Silver medal at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

A memorable part of Aspelin's career was when he and doubles partner Todd Perry were playing in the

2006 Wimbledon Championships The 2006 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 120th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...

men's doubles quarterfinals as the eighth-seeded doubles team against third-seeded

Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamian professional tennis coach and former professional tennis player, becoming the former number 1 in world as a specialist in doubles tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in ...

and

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; sr, Данијел Нестор, Danijel Nestor; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal a ...

. Knowles and Nestor won the match by winning the final set 23–21. At the 2007 U.S. Open, seeded tenth with his partner

Julian Knowle Julian Knowle (born 29 April 1974) is an Austrian former male professional tennis player. Being a born left-hander, Knowle was one of the few on the ATP Tour who played his forehand, backhand, and even volleys double-handed. He was Austria's ...

, Aspelin achieved the greatest triumph of his career by winning the U.S. Open, his first Grand Slam. In the first two rounds, they won against Kubot/Skoch and got a walkover over Calleri/Horna. They went on to upset the eighth seeds

Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...

and

Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...

in the third round. In the quarterfinals, they shocked the top seeds

Bob and Mike Bryan The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...

, having lost to them only weeks before. In the semifinal, they held off unseeded

Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...

and

Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at t ...

, before winning the final in two sets over the ninth seeds,

Pavel Vízner Pavel Vízner (born 15 July 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from the Czech Republic. Vízner has reached the French Open final twice, having had turned professional in 1990 and achieved a career high doubles ranking of World ...

and

Lukáš Dlouhý Lukáš Dlouhý (born 9 April 1983) is a retired professional Czech tennis player on the ATP Tour. A doubles specialist, Dlouhý reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5 in June 2009. Career Dlouhý has been part of two long-term double ...

. He had never before reached a Grand Slam semifinal. This win put them into the No. 5 position in the ATP Doubles Race, and also gave Aspelin his career-high ranking of No. 13. His Davis cup record in March 2009 is 3–5 in doubles. Another notable performance in 2007 was the final against Knowles/Nestor in Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, which he lost with

. In the

, he and fellow Swede

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 ...

defeated French pair

Michaël Llodra Michaël Llodra (; born 18 May 1980) is a French former professional tennis player. He was a successful doubles player with three Grand Slam championships and an Olympic silver medal, and has also had success in singles, winning five career titl ...

and

Arnaud Clément Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Part ...

7–6, 4–6, 19–17 in the semi-finals. The match that lasted 4 hours and 46 minutes. They went on to win the Silver medal. Prior to his pro career, Aspelin competed for four seasons at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

, in Malibu, Calif. He was one of just two Waves to earn All-American status all four seasons, and was inducted into the Pepperdine Hall of Fame in the fall of 2010. In May 2011, he was inducted into the ITA Hall of Fame. In July 2011, Aspelin announced his retirement from professional tennis. He played his last tournament in

Båstad Båstad () is a locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably more than twice as large b ...

, where he reached the final but failed to claim his thirteenth ATP title.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (1 title)

Olympics

Doubles: 1 (1 Silver)

Career finals

Doubles (12 wins, 21 losses)

Doubles Performance timeline

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aspelin, Simon Swedish male tennis players People from Nacka Municipality 1974 births Living people Olympic tennis players of Sweden Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in tennis Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics US Open (tennis) champions Pepperdine Waves men's tennis players Sportspeople from Stockholm County