another final in Ostrava, but has to retire after losing the first set in less than half an hour. He finished the year as world No. 22. 1998 Norman underwent corrective surgery for a heart valve condition in 1998 because of an irregular heartbeat. During the year he had a key role in Sweden's Davis Cup victory, which remained Sweden's last title to this date. 1999 2000 Norman experienced tremendous success during the first half of the year: he reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, won the Rome Masters, beating Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil in 4 sets, and was the runner-up at the French Open, where he defeated Thierry Guardiola, Fabrice Santoro, Sargis Sargsian, Andrei Medvedev, Marat Safin and Franco Squillari before Kuerten took revenge in the final, after Norman saved 10 championship points. Had he won the match he would have become the first Swede since his idol Stefan Edberg to ascend to the world No. 1 position. The loss also snapped his streak of winning 8 consecutive finals dating to 1998. His decline from persistent major injuries in the hips and knees began late that year at the Sydney Olympics, when he lost in the third round to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale in straight sets (Di Pasquale went on to win the bronze medal). In 1999 and 2000, Norman won 10 titles in total, which was more than anyone else on the ATP Tour during that period. 2001 2002 2003 2004 After retirement Since retiring as a player with a bittersweet career at such a young age, Norman decided to spend time away from tennis; he cursed the sport: "I didn't watch any tennis, didn't pick up a racquet." In 2005 he served as the Board of the Swedish Tennis Federation, and also worked with a Swedish Junior Team for a while. Between 2006 and 2008, he studied marketing and economics at IHM Business school in Stockholm. At the same time he also worked at Catella Fund Management. Norman gradually realized that he still had a lot to give back to tennis, saying that he thought it was really good for him to be away from tennis, have other friends and develop outside the tennis world, but he wanted to hang out in locker rooms; he missed tennis. And because of his tragic career, Norman said he felt he still had something to prove to himself with