Tommy Robredo

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Tommy Robredo
Robredo at the 2007 Australian Open.
Country Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Date of birth May 1, 1982 (1982-05-01) (age 26)
Place of birth Hostalric, Spain
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 75 kg (170 lb/11.8 st)
Turned pro 1998
Plays Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money $6,296,589
Singles
Career record: 309 - 191
Career titles: 6
Highest ranking: No. 5 (28 August 2006)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (2007)
French Open QF (2003, 2005, 2007)
Wimbledon 3rd (2003)
US Open 4th (2001, 2004-2006)
Doubles
Career record: 72 - 105
Career titles: 2
Highest ranking: No. 30 (27 September 2004)

Infobox last updated on: 3 June 2008.

Tommy Robredo Garcés (born 1 May 1982 in Hostalric, Girona) is a professional tennis player from Spain. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time after rising to a rank of No. 10 in the world. His highest singles ranking to date is No. 5, which he first reached on 28 August 2006. He turned professional in 1998 and is currently coached by José Manuel "Pepo" Clavet, who has coached Àlex Corretja, Fernando Verdasco, and his brother Francisco Clavet. Robredo considers his forehand to be his best shot and red clay is his favorite surface.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Robredo is named after the rock opera Tommy by The Who, of which his father is a big fan; however, he admits that he has not yet watched the movie in its entirety. In his free time he enjoys golf, mountain biking, riding his quad bike, or going down to the sea, and his favorite color is blue. He is an enthusiastic supporter of Futbol Club Barcelona and his favorite player is Carles Puyol. He is a big fan of the American television program 24.

Robredo's favorite foods are fish and other seafoods, particularly sushi and sashimi; he also is fond of sweet things and was formerly sponsored by the European sweets company HARIBO. He is currently sponsored by Sergio Tacchini for his sportswear, Dunlop for his tennis racquets, TW Steel watches, and the Ukrainian Food Company.

Robredo is known for his patrician good looks and a gentle, quiet personality; he readily admits to being a homebody. His native languages are Spanish and Catalan, and he also speaks English and French.

In May of 2006, Robredo publicly stated that he was no longer in a relationship with Argentinian tennis player Gisela Dulko. They had been dating for about a year.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Robredo's childhood tennis idol was Stefan Edberg, along with John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, and various Spanish tennis players. He cites Arantxa Sánchez as his favorite female player among retired players; among recently active players his favorite male and female players are Roger Federer and Justine Henin.

Some fans refer to Robredo as "Disco Tommy" for the long, wavy hairstyle he began cultivating during the 2006 tennis season; after Robredo mentioned that he calls his coach "President Palmer" while his coach calls him "Jack Bauer" (from 24), fans also began referring to him as "Disco Jack."

2007 marked increased media exposure for Robredo. Besides posing nude for the July issue of the UK edition of Cosmopolitan, he was also recognized by the Spanish editions of Men's Health and Marie Claire, as well as People en Español.

[edit] Tennis career

[edit] Early years

Robredo began playing tennis regularly when he was five and his family moved to Olot, where his father Ángel became the director of the local tennis club, Club Natació Olot. (Robredo's mother Dolores is herself a former assistant coach.) He was coached by his father until 1996 when he joined the Spanish Tennis Federation at the Centre d'Alt Rendiment ("High Performance Center"), a famous center for professional sports training in Sant Cugat del Vallès. He turned professional in 1998.

As a junior player, Robredo won the Junior Orange Bowl 16-Under in both singles and doubles (with Marc López) in 1998. As a professional he made the singles and doubles finals of a Futures-level event, winning the doubles title with Pedro Cánovas. In 1999 he made the semifinals of the boys' event at the French Open and won a Futures tournament in singles as well as another in doubles. Earlier that year in Robredo's hometown tournament of Barcelona - his first event at the ATP Tour level - he recorded a fantastic win over Marat Safin, who was then ranked in the world's top thirty, before going on to lose to top ten player Todd Martin.

[edit] 2000-2001

In 2000 Robredo reached the singles and doubles finals of the boys' event at Roland Garros, losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu in singles but winning the doubles with López. He also won the boy's doubles title at the Australian Open (with Nicolas Mahut) and won two Challenger-level tournaments, making the finals of a third and winning the doubles title in a fourth (with Michael Russell).

2001 was a breakthrough season for Robredo: He reached his first final at the ATP Tour level in Casablanca and won his first title on the main tour in Sopot. He also made the fourth round at two Grand Slams, losing to Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the French Open and winning a fantastic five-set match against world number five Juan Carlos Ferrero at the U.S. Open before losing to Andy Roddick. Robredo also made the semifinals of three other tour events, and by the end of 2001 he was the second youngest player to end the season inside the world's top thirty, behind Roddick.

Robredo at the 2006 Australian Open.
Robredo at the 2006 Australian Open.

[edit] 2006

2006 has been Robredo's best season to date. Shortly after reaching a career high ranking of #10 in the world, he reached a new ranking of #7 by winning his first ATP Masters Series title on 21 May at the AMS Hamburg tournament, where he beat Radek Štěpánek in the final in straight sets. He then beat Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets in the final of the Båstad tournament for his second title of the year. After briefly peaking at an all-time high rank of #5, Robredo qualified for the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup (TMC) for the first time in his career by reaching the quarterfinals of the AMS Paris tournament on 2 November. Entering the tournament ranked #6, he did not advance past the round-robin stage but did record a fantastic three-set victory over the tournament's eventual runner-up, James Blake.

[edit] 2007

Robredo started the season well, reaching the final of a tournament played on hardcourts for the first time in his career at Auckland; his previous appearances in finals had been solely in claycourt tournaments. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time, where he lost in straight sets to world number one Roger Federer. Although no one at the Australian Open managed to win a set off Federer, Robredo and the eventual finalist Fernando González tied for the most number of games won against the world number one during the tournament.

Since then Robredo had relatively poor results, losing in his first match at various tournaments: at Dubai; at the Hamburg Masters and the Swedish Open where he was defending champion; and at three other Master Series tournaments. However, he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for a third time, losing to Federer in four sets. Robredo was the first man since Andy Roddick in the 2006 U.S. Open to win a set off Federer in a Grand Slam tournament, snapping Federer's record winning streak of thirty-six consecutive sets in Grand Slam matches. His best results in Master Series tournaments this season were quarterfinal appearances at the Miami and Rome Masters.

By beating José Acasuso in straight sets, Robredo won his first title of the year in Sopot, the place where he had won his first ATP Tour title six years earlier. After losing the second hardcourt final of his career to González at the China Open, Robredo finally won his first title on hardcourt and second title of the season at Metz, defeating Andy Murray in three sets. He ended the year ranked #10 in the world - too low to compete at the Tennis Masters Cup but high enough to attend as an alternate.

Robredo at the 2008 Indian Wells Masters.
Robredo at the 2008 Indian Wells Masters.

[edit] 2008

To date Robredo's current season has not been as successful as the previous two; he did not put together more than two back-to-back victories until the start of the European clay season in April, and his multiple losses to lower ranked players include his earliest loss at the French Open since 2002. However, he has managed to make the semifinals of the Valencia event and the quarterfinals at Barcelona. His best result in Master Series tournaments this season is a quarterfinal appearance at the Rome Masters.

Robredo has had some significant doubles success this season, teaming up with compatriot Rafael Nadal to win his first doubles titles in four years by beating Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles at the Monte Carlo Masters. He also reached the semifinals of the Hamburg Masters with Leander Paes. Bhupathi, Knowles, and Paes are all former world number one doubles players.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] ATP Masters Series singles finals (1)

[edit] Wins (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2006 Hamburg Flag of the Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek 6–1, 6–3, 6–3

[edit] ATP Tour singles finals (12)

[edit] Wins (6)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (1)
ATP Tour (5)
Titles by Surface
Hard (1)
Grass (0)
Clay (5)
Carpet (0)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 29 July 2001 Sopot, Poland Clay Flag of Spain Albert Portas 1–6, 7–5, 7–6(2)
2. 2 May 2004 Barcelona, Spain Clay Flag of Argentina Gastón Gaudio 6–3, 4–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3
3. 21 May 2006 Hamburg, Germany Clay Flag of the Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek 6–1, 6–3, 6–3
4. 16 July 2006 Båstad, Sweden Clay Flag of Russia Nikolay Davydenko 6–2, 6–1
5. 5 August 2007 Sopot, Poland Clay Flag of Argentina José Acasuso 7–5, 6–0
6. 7 October 2007 Metz, France Hard (i) Flag of the United Kingdom Andy Murray 0–6, 6–2, 6–3

[edit] Runners-up (6)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 15 April 2001 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Flag of Argentina Guillermo Cañas 7–5, 7–2
2. 20 July 2003 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Flag of Argentina Guillermo Coria 6–2, 6–2, 6–1
3. 1 May 2005 Estoril, Portugal Clay Flag of Argentina Gastón Gaudio 6–1, 2–6, 6–1
4. 30 April 2006 Barcelona, Spain Clay Flag of Spain Rafael Nadal 6–4, 6–4, 6–0
5. 14 January 2007 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Flag of Spain David Ferrer 6–4, 6–2
6. 16 September 2007 Beijing, China Hard (i) Flag of Chile Fernando González 6–1, 3–6, 6–1

[edit] ATP Tour doubles finals (5)

[edit] Wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents in the final Score
1. 5 January 2004 Chennai, India Hard Flag of Spain Rafael Nadal Flag of Israel Jonathan Erlich
Flag of Israel Andy Ram		 7–6(3), 4–6, 6–3
2. 27 April 2008 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay Flag of Spain Rafael Nadal Flag of India Mahesh Bhupathi
Flag of the Bahamas Mark Knowles		 6–3, 6–3

[edit] Runners-up (3)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents in the final Score
1. 29 April 2001 Barcelona, Spain Clay Flag of Spain Fernando Vicente Flag of the United States Donald Johnson
Flag of the United States Jared Palmer		 7–6(2), 6–4
2. 1 May 2005 Estoril, Portugal Clay Flag of Argentina Juan Ignacio Chela Flag of the Czech Republic František Čermák
Flag of the Czech Republic Leoš Friedl		 6–3, 6–4
3. 24 July 2005 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Flag of Argentina Mariano Hood Flag of Argentina José Acasuso
Flag of Argentina Sebastián Prieto		 7–6(4), 6–3

[edit] Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current up to the end of the 2008 French Open tournament.

Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career win-loss
Australian Open - - LQ 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R 4R QF 2R 11-8
French Open - - LQ 4R 3R QF 4R QF 4R QF 3R 25-8
Wimbledon - - - 2R 1R 3R 2R 1R 2R 2R 6–7
U.S. Open - - LQ 4R 3R 1R 4R 4R 4R 3R 16-7
Grand Slam Win-Loss 0-0 0-0 0-0 7-4 5-4 6-4 7-4 9-4 10-4 11-4 3-2 58-30
Tennis Masters Cup - - - - - - - - RR - 1–2
Indian Wells Masters - - - - 1R 3R 2R 4R 3R 2R 3R 6–7
Miami Masters - - - - 2R 2R 4R 3R 2R QF 2R 7–6
Monte Carlo Masters - - - - 1R 3R 1R - QF 3R 3R 8–6
Rome Masters - - - LQ QF 3R 2R 1R 1R QF QF 11–7
Hamburg Masters - - - LQ SF 2R 3R 3R W 2R 2R 16-6
Canada Masters - - - - 2R 3R 2R 3R 2R 2R 7–6
Cincinnati Masters - - - - 3R 1R SF 2R SF 2R 11-6
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart) - - - LQ 2R 2R QF 3R 3R 2R 5–6
Paris Masters - - - 1R 2R 3R 2R QF SF QF 9–7
Total Titles 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 2 6
Year-End Ranking 511 249 131 30 30 21 13 19 7 10 N/A

(LQ = lost in qualifying draw)

[edit] External links and references