Mikhail Youzhny is one of the characters of the game of tennis. His over the top celebrations have become quite legendary. The passionate Russian has a reputation for engaging the crowd and after each big victory gives a military style salute to the spectators. He does it by holding the tennis racquet above his head with his left hand and saluting with his right hand. His racquet imitates a hat, since according to Russian military tradition; one must wear a hat to give proper salute.

Perhaps inspired by the Central Red Army Tennis Club (CSKA), a major Russian sports club based in Moscow which Youzhny plays for, and which was associated with the Soviet Army, the Russian¡¦s victory salute is the perfect symbol of the dramatics and the consistency which dictate the standard of his tennis.

Born on 25 June 1982 in Moscow, Russia, Youzhny started playing tennis when he was six. His brother, Andrei, also played at a high level and from the age of 11, Youzhny was coached by Boris Sopkin, who is a retired professor of mathematics at Moscow Technical University. When he was 13, Youzhny was a ballboy in the Russia versus U.S.A Davis Cup Final in Moscow and posed for photos with U.S. team members Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Todd Martin. Little did he realise that in just seven years, he himself, would be responsible for one of the most notable performances in Davis Cup history, when he came from two sets down to defeat France's Paul-Henri Mathieu and claim the 2002 Davis Cup.

In this match, Youzhny became the first player to come from two sets behind in a fifth and decisive match in a Davis Cup Final. The marathon match against Mathieu took roughly four-and-a-half hours, and resulted in a 3-2 victory for Russia over France. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who had failed to win a single match for Russia, said: "I'm fully satisfied with what I have done prior to and during the final and I was really happy for Mikhail."

Youzhny turned professional in 1999 after compiling outstanding junior results and reaching the final of the Australian Open juniors. A year later he was the second youngest player, after Andy Roddick, in the top 200 of the ATP Champions Race and he won his first ATP title in Stuttgart in 2002.

Over the next seven years, Youzhny¡¦s results waxed and waned with the Russian obtaining two more career titles in Rotterdam (2007), Chennai (2008) with his best performance in a Grand Slam being a semifinal appearance at the 2006 US Open.

Having rare talents such as a strong backhand that stays steady throughout a match which offers him infinite ways to open up the court, Youzhny in the past had lacked consistency.

He would have moments of brilliance where he would keep his opponents off balance and display a shot range that includes the flat down-the-line bomb, the crosscourt topspin looper, a low, biting slice, the chipped return-of-serve, and even the occasional drop shot, almost all of which are executed to perfection. On other days he was vulnerable and mentally fragile.

There is no better example than his infamous on court antics at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in 2008.

Becoming an unlikely YouTube star, footage of the Russian hitting his head with a tennis racket became a worldwide smash, receiving over 700,000 hits on the net. The vision, which depicted Youzhny violently whacking his head three times in a row, sending blood streaming down his forehead and nose during a match against Nicolas Almagro of Spain, resulted when Youzhny¡¦s frustrations spilled over after he lost a lengthy rally.

Following the incident Youzhney received treatment and went on to win, 7-6 3-6 7-6, but it was a clear example of the former No.8 getting lost in the moment.

When asked about this incident Youzhny said: "When I was a kid I had big problems with my behaviour. It is common among players. One guy who coached me says the older Youzhny is fine but the younger brother Mikhail was crazy. I broke rackets and I cried. I'd then shout at my family during matches."

Add to this a player who has scored multiple wins over top ten players and then suffered multiple losses to relatively unknown players. One never knows quite what to expect from Youzhny on any given day. Over the last few years, he has defeated Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling but has lost to Jan Hernych, Mishcha Zverev, Julien Benneteau, Nicolas Lapentti and Marco Chiudinlli.

In order to establish himself as a consistent threat, Youzhny needed to avoid the bizarre losses in the early rounds of major events and from October 2009 things have seemed to steady for the passionate Russian.

His ranking has climbed from No.60 to No.14 in nine months, he has added two more titles to his name, in Moscow (2009) and Munich (2010) and he has been a finalist on four other occasions losing in Tokyo to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in Valencia to Andy Murray, in Rotterdam to Soderling and in Dubai to Djokovic, all top 10 players.

On the flip side Youzhny has also posted wins against Jo Wilfred Tsonga and Novak Djokovic as well as Giles Simon, Tomas Berdych, Lleyton Hewitt, Nikolay Davydenko, and Gael Monfils over this period.

One of the key differences between a good player and a great player is the ability to persevere and find a way to win over an unremarkable opponent even when they¡¦re playing below their normal level or when an opponent is playing above their normal level. Youzhny in recent times seems to have found this balance.

He has mastered his strengths on a more regular basis with a 28-11 win loss ratio, up until Wimbledon and is taming the elements have ever have restricted the Russian in the past as he powers his way back towards a top ten ranking.