Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for the first time on 13 August 2007, and reached a career peak of world No. 8 in January 2008, and again in October 2010.
Youzhny reached the quarterfinals of all majors, reaching the semifinals at the US Open in 2006 and 2010. The closest he came to a major final was at the 2006 US Open semifinals when he took the first set from world No. 9 Andy Roddick, after upsetting world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. At the other semifinal he lost in straight sets to the eventual champion, Nadal. Youzhny reached the finals of 21 ATP Tour-level titles, winning ten of them. He reached ATP Tour finals on all surfaces, but never won a singles title on grass. In 2010—his best season—Youzhny reached five ATP finals, winning two and ending the year as a top-10 player.
Youzhny was a member of the winning Russian national team at the Davis Cup in both 2002 and 2006, playing a crucial role in 2002 when he won the deciding rubber after coming back from two-sets-to-love down.
Youzhny was born on 25 June 1982 to Mikhail, a Soviet army colonel and Lubov, a professional tennis player. 25 June is also his father's birthday. His father sacrificed his career in the Soviet army to steer Youzhny and his older brother Andrei into becoming tennis players. It was because of his father that Boris Sobkin became his coach. At the age of 13, he was a ballboy for a Russia – United States Davis Cup final in Moscow. Youzhny's father was recommended that Mikhail and his brother should join the tennis club Spartak Club if they wanted to become professional players. Mikhail and Andrei had to travel on an underground metro train and then on two buses to reach their destination, taking well over an hour to reach the club. His mother had to take a part-time job to pay for their club membership fees.
At Spartak Club, Youzhny, along with many others his age, would watch Andrei Chesnokov, a former top-10 player, practice for hours. However, his parents had difficulty finding a good coach for Mikhail and Andrei. According to Mikhail, "It was not so easy. In the beginning me and Andrei would watch how coaches were working with students. Then we would make our own drills with a bag of old balls that we collected." Remembering Youzhny's early years, Sobkin said, "Mischa and Andrei were practising together all the time without [a] coach". Sobkin continued: "In the beginning, Mischa is all the time breaking racquets and crying. Not so many coaches want to work with boy with strong character like this. So, they would practise on one court for 15 minutes and then comes a member so they must leave court immediately and move to another court. Ten minutes maybe 20 minutes later comes another member and like this all day. There was something in Mischa's eyes, a sparkle, maybe, I don't know. Sometimes the eyes tells more than parents. Of course, I did not see Mischa is Top 10 player then. But I could see he had something special."
Youzhny played in his first junior tournament in April 1995 at the 8th Sochi International Junior Tournament, but lost in the first round to Andrei Stoliarov. He next played in a junior tournament—the Ozerov Cup—in 1997, where he reached the semifinals but lost to Belarusian Maxim Belski. In the quarterfinals, Youzhny beat Nikolay Davydenko. He also played doubles at the tournament, partnering with Davydenko; he reached the finals but lost to Belski and Igor Kunitsyn. Youzhny's first junior tournament win came in August 1997, where he partnered with Igor Kunitsyn and defeated Josef Neštický and Igor Ogrinc.
Youzhny first won a junior singles tournament in February 1998, defeating Frantisek Babej in the final. At Wimbledon, his first junior grand slam event, he lost to Andrej Kračman in the first round. At the US Open, he lost in the third round to David Nalbandian. At the junior Australian Open Youzhny defeated second-seed Jarkko Nieminen on his way to the final, which he lost in straight sets to Kristian Pless. Youzhny reached his highest junior world ranking of No. 20 in January 2000.
Youzhny began 2000 ranked 288 in the world. He reached his first ATP Challenger final in Cherbourg, France, but lost to Julien Boutter, then ranked 162 in the world. In May that year, Youzhny won his first ATP Challenger title in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, by defeating Jan Frode Andersen from Norway. His good form continued and he won his first ATP tour-level match at the 2000 edition of the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships by defeating 154-ranked Canadian Daniel Nestor. He lost to the runner-up Nicolas Escudé. At the Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow, Youzhny reached his first ATP tour-level quarterfinals, beating 36-ranked Frenchman Fabrice Santoro and 60-ranked Swede Thomas Johansson, but lost to Marc Rosset, 35th in the world. He ended the year ranked 113 in the world.
2001 saw Youzhny's grand slam debut; at the Australian Open. he reached the third round, where he lost to 49th-ranked Australian Andrew Ilie, who had beaten number nine seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round. He continued his good form into February, reaching his first ATP tour-level semifinals at the 2000 Copenhagen Open, but lost to eventual runner-up Andreas Vinciguerra from Sweden. Playing at his first and only ATP Masters 1000 event that year in Monte Carlo, Youzhny reached the third round; an achievement he never repeated. At his French Open debut he lost in the first round to world number seventy-nine Jacobo Díaz from Spain. At the Queen's Club Championships, Youzhny defeated future world number one Andy Roddick in straight sets, but then lost in the second round to world number 107 Raemon Sluiter. He reached the fourth round at his Wimbledon debut, where he lost to 3rd-seed and runner-up, Australian Patrick Rafter in 4-sets. In between Wimbledon and the US Open, Youzhny competed at two tournaments. At the US Open, he reached the third round, losing to world number ten Pete Sampras in straight sets. Youzhny ended the year ranked 58th in the world.
2002's season started with a first round loss to fellow Russian Nikolay Davydenko in Doha and a second round loss to Croat Goran Ivanišević in Auckland. At the Australian Open he reached the third round again, this time losing to fellow Russian, and world no. 9 Marat Safin in straight sets. At the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament in Casablanca, Youzhny reached his first ATP tour-level semifinal, but lost to Younes El Aynaoui in straight sets. At the BMW Open in Munich, Youzhny again reached the semifinals, but lost again to El Aynaoui, this time in three sets. This loss was followed up with first round losses at the Hamburg Masters to world number twenty Carlos Moyá and at the French Open to world number fifteen Jiří Novák from the Czech Republic. In the next tournament, Youzhny reached the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, losing to world number ten Roger Federer in straight sets. At Wimbledon, Youzhny reached the fourth round and lost to Australian world number one Lleyton Hewitt—who went on to win the tournament—in a three setter. At the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Youzhny won his first ATP-tour level title in a five-set victory over Argentinian world number nineteen Guillermo Cañas. Youzhny did not participate at the US Open because of a back injury, and was absent from the sports for six weeks. At the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, Youzhny reached the third round, but lost to world number eight Sébastien Grosjean from France in two sets. Youzhny reached his second ATP 250 final in October at the St. Petersburg Open, but lost to world number seven Sébastien Grosjean. He ended 2002 as world number thirty-two.
Youzhny began the 2003 season with a semifinal appearance at the Qatar Open in Doha, losing to American world number forty-two Jan-Michael Gambill. Youzhny, who was seeded for the first time at a grand slam event, reached the fourth round of the Australian Open losing to world number nine Andy Roddick in five sets after failing to close out the match with a two-set lead. After this defeat Youzhny fell in the first or second round five consecutive times. At the BMW Open in Munich, Youzhny reached the quarterfinals but lost to world number five Roger Federer. At the Hamburg Masters, Youzhny reached the third round by defeating world number ten Jiří Novák in straight sets before losing in the third round to Argentine world number sixteen Guillermo Coria. At the French Open, Youzhny was seeded number twenty-seven, and for the first time in his career he won his first round, but lost in the second round to Attila Sávolt, world number 141 from Hungary, in a five-setter. At the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, Youzhny reached the semifinals, but lost to Roger Federer. At Wimbledon Youzhny was seeded 16th, and lost—for the first time in his career before the fourth round—to Spain's Feliciano López, ranked number fifty-two in the world, in the second round. Youzhny immediately recovered from his defeat to reach the quarterfinals of the Synsam Swedish Open in Båstad, Sweden, but lost in the quarterfinals at the MercedesCup—in which he was the defending champion—to world number seven Guillermo Coria. At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Youzhny lost for a third consecutive time to Coria—now ranked world number five. At the US Open he continued his poor form by losing in the first round to world number sixty-four Antony Dupuis from France. However, he reached the semifinals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in Lyon, losing to world number six Rainer Schüttler from Germany. At his next tournament, the St. Petersburg Open, he reached the quarterfinals but lost again to Schüttler, this time in straight sets. He ended the season with 29–27 win–loss record, making it his worst season since 2001, and ended the year ranked world number forty-three.