Danish tennis legend loses dubious record

Kenneth Carlsen no longer has the most first round grand slam losses

Retired Danish tennis player Kenneth Carlsen has lost a record he held for almost a decade, but he’s not that upset about it.

Denmark’s top male tennis player from 1992-2007 actually lost his world record for losing more first round matches in grand slam tournaments than anyone else last year, but nobody told at the time.

While Carlsen bowed out of grand slams 30 times over his career, it turns out that Albert Montañés of Spain overtook Carlsen last year, and that it now stands at 33.

“Haha, then I’m out of the record books,” Carlsen said with a laugh to Metroxpress newspaper. “It wasn’t the best record to have.”

”It doesn’t make much of a difference to me, but it’s nice that there is someone else who has lost more [grand slam] matches than me now.”

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Ranked 41 at best
The Dane, now 41, took part in 46 grand slam tournaments between 1993 and 2006, with his best result coming in his first one, when he reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in 1993.

His best finishes in the other three grand slams were third round appearances in the US Open (1995) and French Open (1993 and 1994) and second round appearances at Wimbledon (1993, 1994 and 2004). He also reached the third round of the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.

At his peak, Carlsen was ranked 41st in the world and he won three ATP tournaments winning a total of around 20 million kroner over the course of this 15-year career.

The Australian Open reaches its climax this weekend with the women's and men's finals at 09:30am on Saturday and Sunday. Both will be shown on Eurosport.

Fact box

Top ten players with the most first round grand slam losses:

1 Albert Montañés, Spain 33
2 Kenneth Carlsen, Denmark 30
3 Vincent Spadea, USA 29
3 Michael Llodra, France 29
3 Filippo Volandri, Italy 29
3 Fabrice Santoro, France 29
7 Michael Russell, USA 28
8 Javier Sanchez, Spain 27
8 Rainer Schuettler, Germany 27
10 Potito Starace, Italy 26
10 Olivier Rochus, Belgium 26
10 Marc Rosset, Switzerland 26
10 Guillaume Raoux, France 26

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