Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his career. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open, the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2008 Australian Open.
Statistically Finland's best player to date, Nieminen is also the first and so far only Finnish player to have won an ATP singles title and to have reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam singles event. He is also notable for winning the shortest recorded Masters Tour tennis match in Open Era history, defeating Bernard Tomic in just 28 minutes and 20 seconds in the first round of the 2014 Sony Open Tennis.[1] He was ranked inside the Top 75 for 11 times in 14 years (2001 to 2014).[2]
On 23 June 2015, he announced his retirement from professional tennis at the end of the season, playing 2015 Stockholm Open as his last event.
Was defeated in five sets by Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Open, having become the first Finn to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
2006: First ATP title
Won his first ATP singles title in January by defeating Mario Ančić in the final in Auckland.
Won his first ATP doubles title in September, paired with Robert Lindstedt. They beat Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Rohan Bopanna in Mumbai, India on hard courts.
Lost to Michaël Llodra in the final at the Adelaide International, 3–6, 4–6.
Made the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, losing in straight sets to Rafael Nadal.
Represented Finland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, losing to Swede Thomas Johansson in the first round.
2009
Defeated top seed Novak Djokovic in the 2009 Medibank International semifinal, 6–4, 7–6. He lost to David Nalbandian in the final, 4–6, 7–6, 2–6.
Withdrew from the 2009 Australian Open halfway through his first-round clash with 28th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Underwent surgery for a wrist injury and sidelined for three months, thus missing Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Returned to professional tennis at the New Haven tournament in the US in August.
Defeated Frenchman Stéphane Robert in the ATP Challenger tournament final in Jersey, United Kingdom in November.
2010
Defeated Nick Lindahl in the first round of the Australian Open, before losing a tight five-set match to Florent Serra in the second round after having two match points in the fourth set. In the doubles competition, he reached the semifinals with partner Michael Kohlmann, losing to the top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.
Reached his first semifinal of the season at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, beating Paolo Lorenzi, 6–3, 6–4, in the first round, Evgeny Korolev, 5–7, 6–1, 6–0, in the second round, winning 12 consecutive games to close out the match, and finally third seed Benjamin Becker in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he lost against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who ended up winning the tournament against Ivo Karlović in the final.
Won his second doubles title with Swede Johan Brunström in Gstaad, Switzerland on clay courts.
Lost to Guillermo García-López in the PTT Thailand Open final, 6–4, 3–6, 6–4.
2011: 300 wins
Reached his 11th career ATP final in Stockholm, losing to Gaël Monfils.
2012: 2nd ATP Title
Nieminen won the Sydney International for his second career title against Julien Benneteau. He was a finalist in doubles in the same tournament with Matthew Ebden against Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan.
He was a quarterfinalist at the Open Sud de France and in Rotterdam.
In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Nieminen lost to Andy Murray in the second round, who went on to win Gold in the singles and Silver in the mixed doubles.
2013
Nieminen was the runner-up at the Power Horse Cup in Düsseldorf, beating no. 14 Tommy Haas.
Nieminen reached a Masters quarterfinal for the first time since 2006 after beating no. 7 Juan Martín del Potro in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. He also reached the third round in Indian Wells and Miami.
Nieminen was a quarterfinalist at the Valencia Open 500, the Japan Open, and the Sydney International.
He was semifinalist at the Open Sud de France, losing to Richard Gasquet.
Nieminen started the year 13th time in a row in the top 100.[2]
He reached the Open Sud de France and Malaysian Open semifinals and the third round of the Indian Wells Masters and the Madrid Masters.
He played the shortest recorded Masters tennis match, defeating Bernard Tomic at the Miami Masters in 28 minutes and 20 seconds.[5][6]
Reached the second round in three of the four Grand Slams, one of the longest Wimbledon tiebreakers losing to ninth seed John Isner.
He won his fourth doubles title at the Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbühel, the first by an all-Finnish team, with Henri Kontinen.
2015: 400 wins and retirement
At Wimbledon, Nieminen, who had already announced his retirement at the end of the season, played Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, with Hewitt also stating his intention to retire before the 2016 event. Nieminen earned his first win over Hewitt in five gruelling sets. At the US Open, Nieminen faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round, with Tsonga prevailing in straight sets despite Jarkko's best efforts. Afterwards, he confirmed that this was his last match at a grand slam.
Nieminen played his final ATP match on 20 October at the 2015 Stockholm Open, losing 6–3, 6–7, 4–6 to Nicolas Almagro. Jarkko had match points in the second-set tiebreaker but narrowly missed one and was very unlucky to lose the other. Fellow Scandinavian tennis player Robin Söderling was in attendance to pay tribute to Jarkko and the Finn was visibly moved as he gave his farewell speech.[7] His final official match was against his old friend and rival Roger Federer at the Hartwall Arena, Helsinki on the ninth of November.
2016: Comeback at the Davis Cup
Nieminen came out of retirement in order to play for his country at the Davis Cup against Zimbabwe. He won his singles tie with a so-called triple bagel.[8]
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Finland
Sjeng Schalken 
David Nalbandian 
Roger Federer 
Mario Ančić 
James Blake 
Michaël Llodra 
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Andrew Kratzmann 
Jonathan Erlich
Robert Lindstedt 
Rohan Bopanna
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 
Tommy Haas
Radek Štěpánek 
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Jean-Julien Rojer 
Dmitry Tursunov 
Marcos Baghdatis
Daniele Bracciali
Andrey Golubev 
Oliver Marach 
Paradorn Srichaphan 
Fernando González 
Novak Djokovic 