Mikael Pernfors - Career

Career

Pernfors was born in Malmö.

Pernfors played a topspin-heavy baseline game with a double-handed backhand, like his countrymen Björn Borg and Mats Wilander, but he lacked their consistency and relied on a crowd-pleasing game full of variety, liberally employing the drop shot and the topspin lob.

Before turning professional, Pernfors played tennis for the University of Georgia in the United States and became the first player since Dennis Ralston two decades earlier to win back-to-back NCAA singles titles in 1984 and 1985.

In 1986 Pernfors reached his first (and only) Grand Slam singles final at the French Open. He defeated Boris Becker in the quarter-finals and Henri Leconte in the semi-finals. In the final he lost in straight sets to World No. 1 Ivan Lendl 6–3, 6–2, 6–4.

Pernfors played for Sweden in the final of the Davis Cup in 1986. He won one singles rubber against Paul McNamee in straight sets and lost the other to Pat Cash in five sets – after winning the first two – as Australia beat Sweden 3–2. The following year at Wimbledon he again lost a two-set lead, falling to Jimmy Connors 1–6, 1–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–2 after having led 6–1, 6–1, 4–1, and afterwards 3–0 in the fourth set.

In 1988, Pernfors won his first top-level singles title at Los Angeles, California, defeating Andre Agassi in the final. His second came just a month later in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In the fourth round of the Australian Open in 1990, Pernfors faced John McEnroe during an infamous match in which McEnroe became the first player to be disqualified under a new Code of Conduct that had recently been introduced in tennis. McEnroe was apparently unaware that under the new rules three code violations would result in disqualification (instead of the previous four), and Pernfors won the match by default after McEnroe attempted to intimidate a lineswoman, smashed a racket, and then verbally abused the umpire. Pernfors lost in the next round, the quarterfinals.

Injuries limited Pernfors' performances on the tour in the first few years of the 1990s. He came back strongly in 1993 to win the most significant title of his career at the Canadian Open (part of the Tennis Masters Series), where he defeated Todd Martin in the final 2–6, 6–2, 7–5. A few weeks later he pushed Wilander to five sets in the second round of the U.S. Open, falling 7–6, 3–6, 1–6, 7–6, 6–4.

Pernfors was the recipient of the ATP Tour's Most Improved Player award in 1986, and its Comeback Player of the Year award in 1993.

Pernfors retired from the professional tour in 1996 after a career in which he won three top-level singles and one doubles title. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 10 in 1986. His career prize-money earnings totalled $1,363,793. In addition to Becker, Agassi, McEnroe and Martin, Pernfors holds victories over Wilander, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Thomas Muster, Sergi Bruguera and Michael Stich.

Since retiring from the tour, Pernfors has been a regular competitor in seniors events.