Mariano Zabaleta

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**Mariano Zabaleta**
Zabaleta (left) with Carlos Moya
Country	Argentina
Residence	Tandil
Date of birth	February 28, 1978
Place of birth	Tandil, Argentina
Height	6'0 (182 cm)
Weight	170 lbs (77 kg)
Turned Pro	1996
Plays	Right
Career Prize Money	$2,912,343
Singles
Career record:	189-193
Career titles:	3
Highest ranking:	21 (April 3, 2000)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3rd (2000)
French Open	4th (2002-2003)
Wimbledon	1st (2000 - 2003)
U.S. Open	QF (2001)
Doubles
Career record:	11-29
Career titles:	0
Highest ranking:	174 (July, 2003)

Mariano Zabaleta (born February 28, 1978 in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province) is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. He turned professional in 1996. Zabaleta is known for his unusual service motion which is effective and fighting spirit. His best shot is his forehand and favourite surface is clay.

1 Career
2 Personal and Miscellaneous
3 Singles Titles (3)
- 3.1 Singles Finalist (4)
4 External link

[edit] Career

Zabaleta was an outstanding junior in 1995 and finished the year as number 1 with a junior career record of 81-6, with his only loss in 1995 to Peter Wessels at the quarter finals of the US Open.

Zabaleta won three of the major junior events in 1995. The Italian Open juniors without losing a set against Martin Lee in the final 6-4 6-2 and followed that up with French Open juniors which was also achieved without dropping a set and he defeated compatriot Mariano Puerta 6-2 6-3 as he had done four times in 1995 and not losing a set in the process. Zabaleta finished his junior career with victory in the Orange Bowl over Tommy Haas 6-2 3-6 6-1 and that was the only set he dropped in the tournament.

Zabaleta struggled inititally with the transition from juniors to seniors . In 1996 he won his first Challenger event in Birmingham, Alabama over Bill Behrens 6-4 6-4 and his quarter final performance in Bournemouth was his best showing on the main tour.

In 1997 he made the final of the Guayaquil Challenger losing to Tomas Nydahl. In 1998 Zabaleta reached the third round of the French Open as a qualifier and defeated the number 2 player in the world and reigning Australian Open champion Petr Korda 6-0 6-2 3-6 4-6 6-3 before losing to Hicham Arazi. Later in the year Zabaleta made his first semi final in Amsterdam losing to Magnus Norman and then in November he won his first ATP title as a senior at Bogotá defeating Ramon Delgado 6-4 6-4 in the final.

In 1999 Zabaleta was a finalist on three occasions without winning a title, his best perfornance was reaching the final of the Hamburg Masters against Marcelo Rios. Zabaleta was serving for the match in the fourth set but was unable to close it out and lost the fourth set in the tiebreak and couldn’t recover before losing to Rios 6-7(5) 7-5 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2. Zabaleta lost to Rios again in St Pölten and in Amsterdam to Younes El Aynaoui.

Zabaleta reached the third round of the 2000 Australian Open his best ever showing at the event before losing to Andre Agassi, but he was involved in an Americas Zone Group Davis Cup tie with rivals Chile in Santiago when Zabaleta was leading Nicolas Massu 7-5 2-6 7-6(1) 3-1, sections of the Chilean crowd incensed by what was perceived to be bad calls against Massu threw missiles, fruit, coins, bottles, plastic chairs among other things. Zabaleta’s father was hurt in the disturbances and required 10 stitches and the Argentines did not complete the tie after they were escorted from the court by police. [1] Zabaleta reached the third round of the Olympics in Sydney defeating Marcelo Rios and Jeff Tarango before losing to Max Mirnyi.

2001 and 2002 were moderately successful for Zabaleta while there were no titles, he achieved his best ever Grand Slam performance surprisingly at the US Open where he made the quarter finals on a fast hardcourt, whereas most of success has come on the clay. He defeated Sebastien Grosjean who was in the top 10 at the time, in the first round, then Taylor Dent, Greg Rusedski and Xavier Malisse were beaten before Marat Safin ended his run. He also reached the fourth round of the 2002 French Open defeating top 10 player Yevgeny Kafelnikov and falling to Alex Corretja.

2003 was Zabaleta’s best year overall with a 33-25 record and for the first time a positive record on both hardcourt 12-11 and on clay 20-11. He made the semis in Auckland and Scottsdale losing to Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis respectively, he made first his final since 1999 at Acapulco in the process avenging the defeat in Auckland by Gustavo Kuerten in the semi finals before losing to Agustin Calleri.

Zabaleta matched his fourth round showing from the previous year at the French Open losing to Guillermo Coria in a match that lasted over 4 hours and 40 minutes and went to 5 sets. Then Zabaleta won his second title in Båstad defeating Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-4. At the after match presentation the organisers played a recording of the ABBA song Money, Money, Money that Zabaleta made with Younes El Aynaoui which the crowd enjoyed and had a good laugh about. [2]. Zabaleta followed up with a semi final in Kitzbühel losing to reigining French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

In 2004 Zabaleta had defended his title in Båstad against childhood friend and French Open champion Gastón Gaudio 6-1 4-6 7-6(4). He made the semi finals of the Italian Open defeating Tim Henman and Nicolas Massu who were both in the top 15 at the time, before losing to Carlos Moya. He also had quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Kitzbühel.

Zabaleta started 2005 with quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar losing to Fernando Gonzalez. After pushing the world number 1 Roger Federer to 3 sets in TMS Miami, Zabaleta was looking to consolidate his form during the clay season, but when leading David Ferrer by a set in Monte Carlo, Zabaleta had to be carried off the court with a foot injury which kept him out for two months and he missed the French Open in the process. He came back to play in Båstad and lost in the quarter finals to Tomas Berdych and made the semi finals in Kitzbühel and after a series of poor results, then he had surgery on his knee.

Zabaleta has struggled with various injury problems in 2006 and has played mostly on the Challenger circuit and faces an uphill battle to establish himself back on the main tour.

[edit] Personal and Miscellaneous

In 2004 he started his own show called Tenis Pro in which he takes the video camera with him to all the tournaments and highlights life on tour in a light hearted manner and along with Juan Ignacio Chela conduct various interviews with other players, along with other various skits.

Zabaleta’s tennis idol as a child was Mats Wilander.

He is a fan of the River Plate football team.

He counts Gastón Gaudio, Juan Ignacio Chela and Carlos Moya as his closest friends on the tennis tour.

[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.	08-11-1998	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Ramon Delgado (Paraguay)	6-4 6-4
2.	13-07-2003	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador)	6-3 6-4
3.	11-07-2004	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Gastón Gaudio (Argentina)	6-1 4-6 7-6(4)