José Acasuso
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| Country | Argentina | |
| Residence | Buenos Aires | |
| Date of birth | October 20, 1982 | |
| Place of birth | Posadas, Misiones, Argentina | |
| Height | 6'3" (190 cm) | |
| Weight | 190 lbs (86 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | 1999 | |
| Plays | Right | |
| Career Prize Money | $2,039,758 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 116-105 | |
| Career titles: | 3 | |
| Highest ranking: | 20 (August 14, 2006) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | 2nd (2002, 2003) | |
| French Open | 4th (2005) | |
| Wimbledon | 1st (2001 - 2005) | |
| U.S. Open | 2nd (2005) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 58-49 | |
| Career titles: | 4 | |
| Highest ranking: | 27 (February 6, 2006) | |
José Javier "Chucho" Acasuso (born October 20, 1982 in Posadas, Misiones, Argentina) is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he favours clay. He is known for his strong serve and his languid on-court manner and hard groundstrokes off both sides.
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[edit] Career
Acasuso began playing tennis at the age of two when his father took his brother and sister to his grandfathers tennis club. Reportedly, he got the nickname of "Chucho" from the fact that, when he was a child, he used to say his name was "José Acachucho." Acasuso played both basketball and tennis up until the age of 12, and then gave up basketball for tennis. Like Carlos Moyá, Acasuso is a natural lefthander, but plays tennis right-handed.
Acasuso turned professional in 2000, playing futures and challenger events. In 2001 he made an immediate impact in his first ATP tournament in Buenos Aires, where defeated former top-10 player Félix Mantilla in the last round of the qualifying to make the main draw, and then defeated compatriots Franco Squillari in the quarter finals and Gastón Gaudio in the semi finals. However, he lost to then-number-1 player Gustavo Kuerten, 6-1 6-3. Later in the year, he won his first challenger event in Bermuda and finished the year ranked at 86 in the world an improvement of 89 places from the previous year.
In 2002, he was on the Argentine team that won the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf. He won his first ATP title in Sopot, defeating Franco Squillari, 2-6 6-1 6-3. He was also a finalist in Bucharest, losing to David Ferrer, and in Palermo to the Chilean Fernando González. He ended the year ranked 41st in the world.
After the previous two successful years, Acasuso's results declined due to injuries and a resulting lack of confidence. He did not win a title in 2003. 2004 was progessing in the same manner before Sopot, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Acasuso then went on to win his second career title in Bucharest by thrashing Russian Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-0.
Acasuso reached the fourth round of the 2005 French Open, his best ever result in any of the Grand Slam events. He defeated number-2-seeded Andy Roddick in five sets, coming back from 2 sets to love down and a break of serve to win 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 8-6. He then lost to fellow Argentine Mariano Puerta for the second time in the year. He also improved his results away from his favoured clay surface by making the quarter finals on hard courts in Cincinnati and on carpet in Basel.
In 2006, Acasuso won his third ATP title in Viña del Mar over Nicolas Massu and also made his debut for Argentina in the Davis Cup against Sweden in the singles. He then played against Croatia in the doubles with David Nalbandian. They won their match and the tie to play against Australia in the semi-finals.
After reaching his first TMS semi final in Hamburg, where Acasuso defeated Simon Greul, Ivan Ljubičić, Sebastien Grosjean, and Fernando Verdasco, before losing to Radek Štěpánek in straight sets, he was ranked inside the top 30 for the first time in his career. Acasuso lost in the final of Stuttgart to David Ferrer 6-4 3-6 6-7 7-5 6-4 after having a 5-1 lead in the fourth set and served for the match twice.
Acasuso ended the 11 consecutive wins by Lleyton Hewitt in 5 set matches, when he defeated Hewitt in the 2006 Davis Cup semi final between Argentina and Australia 1-6 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-1 in a match that was completed over two days. Of the win Acasuso said "I've beaten higher-ranked players in the past but to win at home in a Davis Cup semi-final with 14,000 people watching me here makes it one of the most important wins of my career". [1]
Acasuso's together with Sebastien Prieto, have won three titles: in 2005 in Stuttgart and Bucharest, and in 2006 in Viña del Mar. Previous to that Acasuso won a doubles with Flavio Saretta at Umag in 2004. He is coached by Argentine Daniel Orsanic. Acasuso is commonly referred to as a "stoner" due to his relaxed facial expression on the court.
[edit] Singles Titles (3)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (3) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 29-07-2002 | Sopot, Poland | Clay |  Franco Squillari (Argentina) |
2-6 6-1 6-3 |
| 2. | 19-09-2004 | Bucharest, Romania | Clay |  Igor Andreev (Russia) |
6-3 6-0 |
| 3. | 05-02-2006 | Viña del Mar, Chile | Clay |  Nicolás Massú (Chile) |
6-4 6-3 |
[edit] Singles Finalist (5)
- 2001: Buenos Aires (lost to Gustavo Kuerten)
- 2002: Bucharest (lost to David Ferrer)
- 2002: Palermo (lost to Fernando González)
- 2004: Sopot (lost to Rafael Nadal)
- 2006: Stuttgart (lost to David Ferrer)
[edit] Doubles Titles (4)
- 2004: Umag (with Flavio Saretta)
- 2005: Stuttgart (with Sebastián Prieto)
- 2005: Bucharest (with Sebastián Prieto)
- 2006: Viña del Mar (with Sebastián Prieto)
