2007 IN REVIEW
The Thai No. 1 finished outside Top 100 with his best result a 3rd RD showing in Grand Slam play at Australian Open...Posted wins over Vassallo Arguello and Ferrero (l. to No. 14 seed Djokovic) and afterwards climbed to a career-high No. 77 on Jan. 29...Made
11 first round exits during season and compiled marks of 4-11 on hard and 3-4 on grass. On Challenger circuit reached QF at Bussan and Durban.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1998 – Reached a pair of Futures QF…1999 – Claimed first Futures title at Nonthaburi, Thailand (d. Qureshi)…Finalist at three other events…Doubles finalist in a pair of Futures events…2000 – Made Davis Cup debut, playing ties against New Zealand and China, going 2-2 in singles, with both wins in dead rubbers…Won Challengers in Jakarta (d. Iwami) and Manila (d. Yoon)…Also won Manila doubles title (w/September)…2001 – Made ATP debut in Tokyo and reached 3rd RD with wins over Cowan and Levy (l. to Rios)…Was 2-2 in Davis Cup ties against Japan and China…2002 – Was 3-0 in Davis Cup Zonal action before splitting a pair of matches against Great Britain in World Group playoff (l. to Henman, d. Parmar)…Reached four Challenger SFs…Won doubles titles at one Challenger and one Futures…2003 – Won Dharwad Challenger (d. Wang)…Finalist at Challengers in New Delhi (l. to Heuberger) and Belo Horizonte (l. to Peralta)…Also reached a Futures final…Doubles winner at Granby Challenger (w/Lu)…2004 – Made Grand Slam debut at US Open (l. to Robredo)…Finalist at Binghampton Challenger (l. to Okun)…Doubles finalist at Mexico City and Nashville Challengers…2005 – Reached Wimbledon 2nd RD with 8-6 in the fifth win over Koubek (l. to Ancic)…Won Challenger titles in Busan (d. Goldstein), Granby (d. Carraz) and Champaign (d. Gimelstob) while reaching finals at Fergana (l. to Lu) and Sunderland (l. to Bogdanovic)…Reached doubles QF at ATP stops in Beijing (w/Wang) and Bangkok (w/Srichaphan)…Finalist at Fergana Challenger (w/Lu)...2006 -- Thai No. 2 finished in Top 100 with a trio of Challenger titles (29-11 record) and his first career ATP QF... Open season at first Australian Open and pushed Nalbandian to five sets in 1st RD...Early in year, picked up Davis Cup wins against Uzbekistan (d. Istomin) and Japan (d. Soeda)...Won Challenger title at Chikmagalur (d. Matsui)...In May, won Fergana title (d. Peya)...In his next event, reached Busan Challenger final (l. to Lee)... Reached 2nd RD at Queen’s (d. Zib, l. to Tursunov)...Made second Wimbledon appearance (l. to Tursunov)... Reached 2nd RD at Indianapolis (d. Cakl, l. to eventual champion Blake)...Reached SF at Bronx Challenger (l. to Russell)...Advanced to first ATP QF in Beijing, picking up wins over Chiudinelli and Karlovic before falling to eventual winner Baghdatis)...Reached 2nd RD in Bangkok (d. Bastl, l. to Ginepri) and Tokyo (d. Cilic, l. to Becker)...In November, reached QF at Seoul (l. to Lee) and won Busan Challenger (d. Goldstein) to reach a career-high No. 80...In doubles, reached SF at Beijing (w/Pless) and QF at Bangkok (w/Schuettler) and Newport (w/Kunitsyn)...Finalist at Chikmagalur Challenger (w/Lu).
PERSONAL
Began playing tennis at age eight with his grandmother...Nicknamed Pik...Father, Vutthiphan, is a lawyer; mother, Kavnjana, works in a business office...Has one older sister, Kittiwan...Speaks Thai and English...Idol growing up was 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras...Considers forehand ground strokes his strength and hard courts his favorite surface...Goal is to rank in Top 50...Has a 28-15 career record in Davis Cup (26-12 in singles) in 25 ties...Captured gold medal at Asian Games in December 2006 (d. Lee) and gold medal at World University Games in Bangkok in August 2007...Coached by Jan Stoce (since 2004).
