Christian Meira Lindell (born 20 November 1991) is an inactive professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Brazil who plays for Sweden. He has played seven

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

matches, with a 4–3 record.

Personal information

He has a Swedish father and a Brazilian mother. Although he has lived his entire life in Brazil, Lindell represents Sweden through a curious chain of events. Despite having been one of the best Brazilian juniors in his age group, he was not picked to play for Brazil in the South American Junior Championships in 2007. A few months later, while on holiday in Sweden, he decided to play in the Swedish Junior Championships. Lindell won the title and received an invitation to train with the Swedish Tennis Federation and to represent Sweden, which he accepted. On 15 May 2011 Lindell was invited to join Sweden's number one singles player

Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in November 2010. Söderling won ten singles titles on th ...

and the doubles pairing of

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, Aspeli ...

and Robert Lindstedt for the 2011 Power Horse World Team Cup. He faced the top-tier players

John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...

, Mikhail Kukushkin and

Juan Ignacio Chela Juan Ignacio Chela (; born 30 August 1979), nicknamed as "El Flaco" or "Liliano," is a tennis coach and former professional player from Argentina. Chela was given a three-month ban from the professional tour in 2001 for failing a drugs test. Post ...

, but lost his three matches. On 6 February 2012, Lindell announced via Twitter that he would be representing Brazil from then on.Revista TÊNIS – Christian Lindell e CBT chegam a final feliz e carioca voltará a jogar oficialmente pelo Brasil (in Portuguese)
/ref> Then, in June, it emerged that Lindell had again swapped allegiances. The Swedish tennis site ''tennissverige.se'' reported that because the Brazilian Tennis Confederation wouldn't fund him to train with his long-term Swedish coach Julius Demburg, Lindell had decided to return to the Swedish Federation, allegedly for good this time.tennissverige.se – Lindell blir svensk – igen (in Swedish)

Career

2008

Lindell made his professional debut on the ITF Futures circuit. In his second tournament, he earned his first ranking points as he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Juan-Pablo Villar.

2010

Lindell made his ATP Tour debut, receiving a wild card into the main draw in Bastad. With a ranking of 856, he performed admirably, winning the first set against #63

Jarkko Nieminen Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...

in a 6–4 0–6 4–6 defeat. Later in the year, Lindell, having improved his ranking to 445, reached his first ATP Challenger semi-final, losing to #27

Thomaz Bellucci Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê, São Paulo, Tietê) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challeng ...

2014

Won his first ever ATP Tour match in Bastad, defeating Inigo Cervantes before losing to

Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is a Uruguayan tennis coach and a former professional player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open – Men's doubles, 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna, and was especially noted t ...

in the 2nd round.

2015

Reached his first ATP Challenger final in São Paulo, losing to

Guido Pella Guido Pella (; born 17 May 1990) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. In August 2019, Pella reached his career best world No. 20 in singles. In July 2019, he peaked at No. 55 in doubles. Personal life His father, Carlos, taught hi ...

. Lindell qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros, defeating Aslan Karatsev, James Ward and Jan Hernych. He lost in the 1st round to home favourite

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...

Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour Finals

Singles: 31 (13–18)

Doubles: 13 (7–6)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindell, Christian Brazilian male tennis players Brazilian people of Swedish descent Tennis players from Rio de Janeiro (city) Swedish male tennis players Swedish people of Brazilian descent 1991 births Living people 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen 21st-century Swedish sportsmen