Alberto Berasategui

Alberto Berasategui
Country Spain
Residence Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Born 28 June 1973 (1973-06-28) (age 38)
Bilbao, Spain
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro 1991
Retired 2001
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money US$4,676,187
Singles
Career record 278–199
Career titles 14
Highest ranking No. 7 (14 November 1994)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (1998)
French Open F (1994)
Wimbledon 1R (2000)
US Open 2R (1993, 1996)
Doubles
Career record 47–59
Career titles 1
Highest ranking No. 55 (6 October 1997)
Last updated on: 11 November 2007.

Alberto Berasategui (born 28 June 1973, in Bilbao, Spain) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1994.

Berasategui began playing tennis at age 7 and was the European junior champion in 1991. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1993 in São Paulo. He established a reputation on the tour in the mid 1990s as a very strong clay court player.

In 1994, he reached nine finals, winning seven of them. And he qualified for his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he faced fellow-Spaniard and defending-champion Sergi Bruguera. Bruguera won the final in four sets.

Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and 1 tour doubles titles. His career prize-money earnings totalled US$4,676,187. His last singles title was won in Estoril in 1998.

He was also known for his extreme western grip where his unusual hold on the racket would allow him to hit both forehands and backhands with the same side of the racket.[1] This helped him on clay, but on other surfaces he did not have much of an impact save for a quarter-final appearance at the 1998 Australian Open, in which he beat world number 2, Patrick Rafter, in four sets, and came back from two sets down to beat the 1995 Australian Open champion, Andre Agassi.

Berasategui retired from the professional tour in May 2001, having had persistent wrist injuries since his match with Hernán Gumy at the Bologna tournament in June 1998. The injuries had an adverse effect on his results and form, and had caused his consistency and ranking to decline. He also suffered severe cramps of unknown origin in long matches.

Contents

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0-1)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 1994 French Open Clay Sergi Bruguera 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6

Career finals

Singles: 23 (14-9)

Wins (14)
Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (1–1)
ATP Tour (13–7)
Outcome No. Date Championship Surface Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 1. 30 August 1993 Umag, Croatia Clay Thomas Muster 5–7, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up 2. 11 October 1993 Athens, Greece Clay Jordi Arrese 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner 1. 8 November 1993 São Paulo, Brazil Clay Sláva Doseděl 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 3. 15 November 1993 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Carlos Costa 6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Winner 2. 18 April 1994 Nice, France Clay Jim Courier 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up 4. 23 May 1994 Bologna, Italy Clay Javier Sánchez 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Runner-up 5. 6 June 1994 French Open, Paris, France Clay Sergi Bruguera 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6
Winner 3. 25 July 1994 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Andrea Gaudenzi 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Winner 4. 29 August 1994 Umag, Croatia Clay Karol Kučera 6–2, 6–4
Winner 5. 3 October 1994 Palermo, Italy Clay Àlex Corretja 2–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
Winner 6. 10 October 1994 Athens, Greece Clay Óscar Martínez 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Winner 7. 31 October 1994 Santiago, Chile Clay Francisco Clavet 6–3, 6–4
Winner 8. 7 November 1994 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Francisco Clavet 6–4, 6–0
Winner 9. 19 June 1995 Porto, Portugal Clay Carlos Costa 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up 6. 6 November 1995 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Bohdan Ulihrach 2–6, 3–6
Winner 10. 24 June 1996 Bologna, Italy Clay Carlos Costa 6–3, 6–4
Winner 11. 29 July 1996 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Àlex Corretja 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
Winner 12. 16 September 1996 Bucharest, Romania Clay Carlos Moyà 6–1, 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up 7. 15 September 1997 Marbella, Spain Clay Albert Costa 3–6, 2–6
Winner 13. 6 October 1997 Palermo, Italy Clay Dominik Hrbatý 6–4, 6–2
Winner 14. 13 April 1998 Estoril, Portugal Clay Thomas Muster 3–6, 6–1, 6–3
Runner-up 8. 20 April 1998 Barcelona, Spain Clay Todd Martin 2–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up 9. 11 October 1999 Palermo, Italy Clay Arnaud di Pasquale 1–6, 3–6

Singles performance timeline

Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A A A A A A A 3R QF 1R 1R A 0 / 4 6–4
French Open A A 1R 2R F 3R 3R 1R 4R 4R 1R A 0 / 9 17–9
Wimbledon A A A A A A A A A A 1R A 0 / 1 0–1
US Open A A A 2R 1R A 2R 1R 1R A A A 0 / 5 2–5
Grand Slam SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 0 0 / 19 N/A
Annual Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 0–1 2–2 6–2 2–1 3–2 2–3 7–3 3–2 0–3 0–0 N/A 25–19
Year-End Championship
ATP Tour World Championships A A A A RR A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0-3
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A 1R 3R 1R QF 1R 1R A A 0 / 6 4–6
Miami A A A A 3R 3R A 2R 2R 2R 1R A 0 / 6 2–6
Monte Carlo A A A A 3R 3R 1R 2R SF 1R 1R A 0 / 7 8–7
Rome A A A A 2R 1R 2R SF SF 2R A A 0 / 6 11–6
Hamburg A A 2R A 1R 2R 2R QF 3R 3R A A 0 / 7 8–7
Canada A A A A A A 2R A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Cincinnati A A A A A 3R A A 1R A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Stuttgart (Stockholm) A A A A A 1R 2R 1R A A A A 0 / 3 1–3
Paris A A A A A A 3R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Masters Series SR 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 5 0 / 7 0 / 7 0 / 7 0 / 6 0 / 5 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 40 N/A
Annual Win-Loss 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 4–5 5–7 6–7 11–7 9–6 3–5 0–2 0–0 N/A 39–40
Year End Ranking 495 298 115 36 8 32 19 23 21 60 153 737 N/A

References

  1. ^ Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001.

External links