Henri Laaksonen

Early life

Laaksonen's father, Sandro della Piana, is a former Swiss tennis player. His mother is from Finland. His parents separated very early in his life, but nonetheless he kept contact with his father.

He started playing tennis at the age of 3. During his adolescent years he lived in Hyvinkää where he was coached by Pasi Virtanen. At 16, he became European champion for the under-16s category.

In 2009, he moved to Switzerland to train at the national tennis center in Bienne.

Davis Cup career and controversy

He was first called to play for Switzerland for the first round against the Czech Republic in 2013 (lost to Berdych). In September 2013, Switzerland played against Ecuador in Neuchâtel for the Davis Cup World Group play-off. Laaksonen was initially called to play with Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli and Michael Lammer. However, during the Thursday training before the match, Laaksonen displayed very bad behaviour during practice which led to his exclusion from the team.

Wawrinka commented as follows: "There are very few promising young players [in Switzerland]. Unfortunately, among them, there are some who believe that everything is allowed and everything is granted for free. If Henri is not here today, it is because there are certain things we cannot accept. I also dislike his behaviour. Someone in his age, with his ranking and who has been supported by Swiss Tennis for many years and thinks he can not fully commit to a practice session and even complains about the coach, cannot be part of the team". He went on saying that he "never wants to be on a tennis court with him again".

Laaksonen was later fined and received a formal warning from the Swiss Tennis Federation. The amount of the fine was never publicly disclosed. He was then left out from the first round tie of the World Group against Serbia in February 2014, but surprisingly called back for the second round tie in Geneva against Kazakhstan in April 2014. He replaced Marco Chiudinelli, who had won the doubles in Serbia (partnering Lammer). However, Laaksonen did not play in any of the rubbers. It remains unclear why he was called back in the team after the September 2013 controversy and despite Wawrinka's clear objection to it.

For the semifinal against Italy in September 2014, Laaksonen was completely left out of the team and not even called as a sparring partner. He was replaced by Marco Chiudinelli, coming back to the team after good results on the Challenger Tour. As a fifth player and sparring partner, the Swiss coach Severin Lüthi called Yann Marti. For the Final against France, Chiudinelli and Lammer were nominated. Yann Marti was put on standby by the Swiss captain, due to a possible withdrawal of Federer suffering from a back injury. Laaksonen was not considered for this game.

Laaksonen never publicly apologized for his behaviour in Neuchâtel.

In 2015, Laaksonen was called upon to play in the first round against Belgium in Liège. He won his two singles in 5 sets against Bemelmans and local hero Steve Darcis.

In September 2016, Switzerland played against Uzbekistan in Tashkent, in the world-group playoffs. Henri was the Swiss team-leader and secured the match winning points for his country. Because of their victory against Uzbekistan, Switzerland remained in the World Group.

Singles performance timeline

Current till 2017 Davis Cup World Group Play-offs.