Perhaps the match that Pernfors is most famous for is his round 16 match at Wimbledon in 1987 against Jimmy Connors where he led 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 but eventually lost 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 4-6, 2-6. He is one of a select group of players who can claim a winning record again McEnroe. This is the result of just one meeting in the 1990 Australian Open - McEnroe received a warning for intimidating a lineswoman, and was then penalised a point after flinging his racket. Finally, he was defaulted for verbally abusing the umpire, supervisor and referee and Pernfors was awarded the match!

In 1988 Mikael recovered quickly from knee surgery to win his first two career titles within three weeks of each other. Injury played a brutal part in the rest of his career. He developed an Achilles tendon problem in 1989 but despite being in pain, played on for a further ten months before undergoing surgery, which took eighteen months to heal. The road back was long and hard, but the work paid of in 1993 when he stormed through the Canadian Open draw beating Courier, Korda and finally Todd Martin to win the prestigious Super Nine title. However, his injury troubles were still not over and two further operations on his heel bone in 1994 ended his playing days.

When off the court Mikael is likely to be found out on the golf course where he has an impressive handicap of three. Looking back on his career Mikael philosophically says “There are a few results from my career that I would like to change, but I can walk away from the fact that I played the best I’ve ever played and lost. So what’s the big deal? Injuries played such a big part of my career that I am happy I have a chance to play competitive tennis again on the Champions Tour”