Paradorn Srichaphan (Thai: ภราดร ศรีชาพันธุ์; born June 14, 1979) is a professional tennis player from Thailand. He is the highest ranked player from Thailand in history, reaching a career high World No. 9, the highest ranking that has been achieved by a player born in Asia. His nickname is "Ball".
Career

Paradorn Srichaphan on the cover of TIME magazine as one of Asian Heroes.

Paradorn started his professional ATP career in 1998. He remained in the lower ranks of the professional circuit for several years. However his ranking continued to improve. After being a surprise finalist in the 2000 Hopman Cup, 2002 was a breakthrough year for him as he managed to get into the top 30 after defeating Andre Agassi in Wimbledon. In 2003 he won his first ATP-level singles title, the Hamlet Cup. By the end of the year, he was ranked World No. 11 in the ATP rankings. He is however not in favor of playing doubles having won no title in this category on either Challenger or ATP level.

Paradorn is extremely popular in Asia, especially in Thailand. Paradorn was Thailand`s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece and participated in the Games` tennis event. Unfortunately he lost in the first round of the tournament to Joachim Johansson. His best Olympics performance was 2nd round in Sydney, beating Attila Savolt before being beaten by 3rd seed Magnus Norman. Paradorn plays with big serves and powerful forehands. He uses a one-handed backhand, and is known for being a weak player on clay courts due to his lack of patience when playing points.

At the 2006 Indian Wells masters tournament, Srichaphan reached the semi-finals and lost against World No. 1 Roger Federer in two sets (2–6, 3–6). En route to the semi-final he beat #20 Robby Ginepri in the second round, #16 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in the 3rd round, #4 David Nalbandian in the 4th round and #25 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the quarter-final.

In the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, Srichaphan received the 29th seed in the tournament but was upset in the first round by Agustin Calleri in five sets. Paradorn did not perform well in all the events he participated in early 2007 due to wrist injury and he missed basically the whole 2007 season. As a result his ranking fell to below 900th. After the end of the ATP Masters Series event in Miami that ended in early April 2008, Srichaphan fell entirely out of the ATP rankings. Srichaphan began practicing as of March 2008 for a return to the ATP tour. He has not yet announced which tournament he plans to enter as his return.

Paradorn is sponsored by Adidas (shoes & clothing), Yonex (racquets) and Thai Airways International.
Personal life

Paradorn is noted for his politeness on the court. At each match, he performs the wai, the traditional Thai greeting, clasping his hands together and bowing to the four corners of the stadium. The gesture is seen as thanking the fans and it has become his trademark. His success in tennis led to a spike in popularity of the game in Thailand. The Nation newspaper named him "Thai of the Year" in 2002. And in 2003, Paradorn was featured on the cover of Time and featured as one of the year`s "Asian heroes."[1]

In January 2005 Thai local media published Paradorn"s tsunami contribution at 10,000 THB ($250) to Thai Red Cross. Th