Danai Udomchoke (born August 11, 1981) is a
professional tennis player from Thailand. He was
born in Bangkok, where he still resides. He launched
his own website late last year
"www.danaiudomchoke.net".
Danai Udomchoke turned professional in 1997, and is
currently coached by Jan Stoce. He is 172 cm tall
and weighs 64 kg, or 5 foot 8 inches and 141 lbs,
respectively. He is currently (as of January 2008)
ranked 216th in the world; his career best ranking
is 77th in early 2007. Prior to 2007 he mostly
played at the Challenger level where he has won 7
titles, none of them in Thailand. He was also
finalist on the Challenger level a few times.
Udomchoke made his debut in the main draw of a grand
slam in 2004 when he qualified for the US Open. He
lost to Spaniard Tommy Robredo in straight sets. His
first grand slam victory came at the 2005 Wimbledon,
where he defeated Austria's Stefan Koubek in 5 sets,
5-7 6-4 4-6 6-3 8-6.
One of Udomchoke's highest profile matches was his
2006 Australian Open 1st round match against No. 3
seed David Nalbandian. After starting out slowly,
Udomchoke shocked Nalbandian by winning the third
and fourth sets. However his energy soon wore down,
and despite pushing the World No. 3 to five sets,
Udomchoke lost 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 1-6. In the
2007 Australian Open, Udomchoke advanced to the
third round, losing to 14th-seeded Novak Đoković
after defeating 24th-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Udomchoke has qualified for Wimbledon in 2007 and
was defeated in the second round against Andy
Roddick, though put up an extremely good fight and
lost in a tie break at the end in a final score 6-3,
6-4, 7-6.
In the 15th Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar, he won
the gold medal for Thailand, after beating Korean
Lee Hyung-taik in two sets, 7-5 and 6-3, in the
men's singles tournament.
