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Colonel Youzhny Calls It A Day In St. Petersburg

By Siddhant Guru

TORONTO, ON - AUGUST 08: Mikhail Youzhny of Russia does the splits against Robin Haase of The Netherlands during a 2nd round match on Day 3 of the Rogers Cup at Aviva Centre on August 8, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - AUGUST 08: Mikhail Youzhny of Russia does the splits against Robin Haase of The Netherlands during a 2nd round match on Day 3 of the Rogers Cup at Aviva Centre on August 8, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny retired from Professional tennis following a second-round loss to Roberto Bautista-Agut in St. Petersburg. 

Career Highlights: Mikhail Youzhny, former Russian No. 1 and former top 10 player, called it a day after a 19-year long career. Youzhny played more than 900 matches in his career and won 10 tour level titles, having won at least one title in all surfaces other than grass. His first title came in the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart in 2002 in a 5 set thriller against Guillermo Cañas.

Youzhny reached a career high ranking of No. 8 in 2008. He reached at least the Quarterfinal of all the Majors once, with his best performance being the Semifinals of the US Open in 2006 and 2010, beating then-World no. 2 Rafael Nadal in 2006. He also won two Davis Cup titles with Russia in 2002 and 2006. His 2002 win is something he will cherish for long as he came from 2 sets to love down in the deciding match, against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.

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Youzhny was unlucky enough to play in the era of three of the greatest players to ever play the sport, which undoubtedly led to a not-so-glittering career for him, much like it did to a lot of his peers-David Ferrer, being the prime victim. But make no mistake about it, Mikhail Youzhny had a superb career. Not many tennis players can claim to have played 19 years in the sport as a professional and even lesser can claim to have beaten 31 top-10 players in their career and been a part of the top 10 in their careers.

However, Mikhail never beat Roger Federer in 17 tries, coming the closest in US Open 2017 when he led 2 sets to 1 but ultimately lost. He famously appealed to Andre Agassi to help him, in the Quarter final of Wimbledon 2012 against Federer after he was down two sets to love.

Arguably, Mikhail Youzhny’s most (in)famous incident is the moment he hit his head with his racquet after losing a point to Nicholas Almagro in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami .

Calling It Quits

Youzhny had a decent forehand, a pretty good serve (if not a big serve) and had a picturesque one-handed backhand that was as graceful as it was efficient. Youzhny reached 21 tour-level finals in his long career and has earned close to 15 million US Dollars as prize money.

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Youzhny, now 36, had a tough 2018 with many close losses, which, many believe has led to him retiring from Professional tennis. And in a 2018 of very close misses, Youzhny finished his career at 499 wins. Just one short of 500 Career wins that would have seen him become only the second Russian to achieve the feat. But, in an arguable reflection of his career, he lost one match too early.

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