A right-handed player, he made his Davis Cup debut in a 1996 World Group qualifier against Spain, where he was beaten by Carlos Moya.

[1] In 1997 he appeared in the main draw of an ATP Tour tournament for the first time, as a wildcard at his home event, the Copenhagen Open.

Playing as a qualifier, he featured in the main draw of the 1998 Dutch Open and had a win over Dinu Pescariu, then fell in the second round to top seed Karol Kucera.

Later in 1998 he finished runner-up in two Challenger tournaments in the space of a month, at Sopot and Brasov, after which his ranking rose to a career best 170 in the world.

[2] He received another wildcard into the Copenhagen Open in 1999 and won his only Davis Cup match that year, over Hungary's Zoltán Böröczky.