26 Facts About Marco Chiudinelli

Marco Chiudinelli was born on 10 September 1981 and is a retired tennis player from Switzerland.

Marco Chiudinelli later joined a region-wide tennis group, where he first met Roger Federer, who belonged to the nearby Old Boys Tennis Club.

In 2001, at the suggestion of Allegro, Marco Chiudinelli moved to Halle in Germany to train.

Marco Chiudinelli played his first professional matches in 2000, but did not compete on a regular basis until 2002.

Marco Chiudinelli lost in the next round of qualifying to Argentine Gaston Etlis.

Marco Chiudinelli spent the bulk of the 2003 season playing on the Challenger Tour and reached the semi-final stage of events in Fergana and, after coming through qualifying, Nottingham, where he lost to second seed John Van Lottum.

Marco Chiudinelli began 2004 well, winning 18 of his first 22 matches.

Marco Chiudinelli won his first main draw match on the ATP Tour at the 2004 Gerry Weber Open, overcoming compatriot Michel Kratochvil in straight sets, but lost in the next round to Jiri Novak.

At the 2004 Swiss Indoors, his hometown tournament, Marco Chiudinelli defeated Albert Montanes in the first round, and lost his next match to Rainer Schuttler.

Marco Chiudinelli finished the season ranked 142 in the world and having earned $97,936 in prize money, which was more than twice as high as the previous two seasons combined.

Marco Chiudinelli's ranking reached a then high of 129 in January 2005 after making the round of 16 at the Qatar Open.

Marco Chiudinelli soon received his first call up to the Switzerland Davis Cup team for the tie versus the Netherlands, losing in five sets to the more established Sjeng Schalken, and later winning the dead rubber against Peter Wessels.

Marco Chiudinelli initially struggled to recover his ranking during the first half of 2006 and had fallen to 775 in the world by the start of May That same month he won 10 straight matches to take successive Futures titles in Kuwait.

Marco Chiudinelli then fell to 25th seed Richard Gasquet in four sets, though the points accumulated from this event ensured he broke back into the top 200.

Marco Chiudinelli experienced a disappointing first round defeat to 5th seed David Ferrer at the 2006 Swiss Indoors, having taken the first set in a tiebreak.

Marco Chiudinelli ended the season at 155 in the world, with earnings of $114,646 in singles.

Marco Chiudinelli played less during the 2007 and 2008 tennis seasons, owing to persistent injury problems.

Marco Chiudinelli lost in a three-set match to top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals.

Marco Chiudinelli reached the semifinals in Basel, his hometown tournament by beating eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, and his countryman, qualifier Michael Lammer.

Marco Chiudinelli defeated Richard Gasquet before losing to compatriot and world No 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals.

At the 2010 French Open, Marco Chiudinelli was accepted into the main draw by direct entry and beat Somdev Devvarman to advance to the second round for the first time.

Marco Chiudinelli played the longest doubles match ever with Stanislas Wawrinka, being defeated by Lukas Rosol and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the first round of the 2013 Davis Cup.

Marco Chiudinelli again represented Switzerland in the 2014 Davis Cup World Group first round, partnering Michael Lammer.

At the 2014 Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Marco Chiudinelli played doubles with childhood friend and Roger Federer.

Marco Chiudinelli then lost the resulting tiebreaker and could not regain his form in the last two sets.

In 2017, after an injury plagued-season, Marco Chiudinelli announced on his website that he would be retiring following the 2017 Swiss Indoors tournament where he enjoyed the greatest success of his career, reaching the semifinals in 2009.