Magnus Norman

Magnus Norman (born 30 May 1976) is a Swedish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in June 2000. Norman won twelve ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters event at the 2000 Rome Masters, and was runner-up at a major at the 2000 French Open.

Since retiring from the sport in 2004, Norman has coached Thomas Johansson, Robin Söderling, and Stan Wawrinka. He owns the Good to Great Tennis Academy. Among its students are Wawrinka, Gaël Monfils, and Grigor Dimitrov. Norman also plays bandy, a sport he played in his youth before deciding to concentrate on tennis.

Norman turned professional in 1995 when he was 19. His career was cut short when injuries struck during his peak in late 2000, after he reached semifinals of the Australian Open and the final of the French Open, as well as a Masters title in Rome and several other titles earlier during the season. He was on the verge of becoming world No. 1. His last match was played in September 2003 when he retired in the third round against Jiří Novák after just 3 games. He retired from tennis due to major hip and knee injuries in 2004 when he was only 27 and competed for just over 8 years on the ATP Tour.

As a junior Norman posted a singles win–loss record of 46–24.

In June, Norman made his first impact on the tour by reaching the quarterfinals of French Open. His most notable match of the tournament was his third round match against world No. 1 Pete Sampras, when Norman pulled off upset by defeating the heavily favored American in four sets. He then upset former semifinalist and Olympic gold medalist Marc Rosset in 4 sets. Eventually Norman would lose to Belgian qualifier Filip Dewulf in four sets. As a result of this run, Norman cracked the Top 50 for the first time in his career. A month later at Wimbledon, he astonished the tennis world even more when he defeated 2nd seed, 2-time finalist and 2-time semifinalist Goran Ivanišević in the second round in a titanic battle, 14–12 in the fifth set. A week later, Norman captured his first title on the ATP Tour by winning Swedish Open in Båstad by defeating Spaniard Juan Antonio Marín in straight sets. In October he reached another final in Ostrava, but has to retire after losing the first set in less than half an hour. He finished the year as world No. 22.

Norman underwent corrective surgery for a heart valve condition in 1998 because of an irregular heartbeat. During the year he had a key role in Sweden's Davis Cup victory, which remained Sweden's last title to date.

Norman experienced tremendous success during the first half of 2000: he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, won the Rome Masters, beating Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil in 4 sets, and was the runner-up at the French Open, where he defeated Thierry Guardiola, Fabrice Santoro, Sargis Sargsian, Andrei Medvedev, Marat Safin and Franco Squillari before Kuerten took revenge in the final, after Norman saved 10 championship points. Had he won the match he would have become the first Swede since his idol Stefan Edberg to ascend to the world No. 1 position. The loss also snapped his streak of winning 8 consecutive finals dating to 1998.

His decline from persistent major injuries in the hips and knees began late that year at the Sydney Olympics, when he lost in the third round to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale in straight sets (Di Pasquale went on to win the bronze medal).