Félix Mantilla Botella

Félix Mantilla
Country (sports)  Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Born (1974-09-23) 23 September 1974
Barcelona, Spain
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro 1993
Retired 7 April 2008
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $5,311,964
Singles
Career record 312–215
Career titles 10
Highest ranking No. 10 (8 June 1998)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open QF (1997)
French Open SF (1998)
Wimbledon 3R (1998)
US Open 4R (1997)
Other tournaments
Grand Slam Cup QF (1998)
Doubles
Career record 10–22
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 208 (2 August 2004)

Félix Mantilla Botella (Catalan: Fèlix Mantilla Botella [ˈfɛɫiɡz mənˈtiʎə βuˈteʎə]; 23 September 1974) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. In common with many of his fellow countrymen, Mantilla's best surface is clay. While not as successful away from the clay, Mantilla also produced good hardcourt results. Mantilla's best stroke was his single-handed backhand and he was known for his baseline consistency from both sides, high endurance levels. He reached the semi-finals of the 1998 French Open, won the 2003 Rome Masters and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 10.

Tennis career

Mantilla began playing tennis at the age of ten and was a member of the winning Spanish Sunshine Cup team along with Albert Costa in 1992.

Mantilla turned professional in 1993 playing Futures and Challenger events. In 1994 Mantilla won the Uruguay/Paraguay Satellite classification and was second in the Spanish satellite 2 and 4 events. He also played his first match on the ATP Tour in Prague, losing to compatriot Àlex Corretja in 3 sets.

At the beginning of 1994 Mantilla was ranked 301st in the ATP Entry Rankings, but at the end of 1995 he had progressed to 84th and had a 10–5 record for the season. Mantilla made his first two finals that year losing in the Budapest Challenger to Jiří Novák in 3 sets and following his first semi final appearance at the ATP level losing to Sjeng Schalken, it was followed up with his first final on the ATP Buenos Aires losing to Carlos Moyá in straight sets.

Mantilla's ranking had jumped up 66 places at the end of 1996 where he finished the year ranked 18th. He compiled a 48–27 record for the year mostly on the clay, and in the process won three Challenger titles, each of them without losing a set. This feat was achieved in Punta del Este defeating Kris Goosens in the final. Mantilla followed the success with victories in Naples over Karim Alami and later in the year in Tashkent over Lars Rehmann.

On the ATP main tour, Mantilla qualified for his first TMS event in Monte Carlo and defeated the two time Roland Garros champion Sergi Bruguera before losing in the quarter finals to Albert Costa. In the week before the French Open, Mantilla reached his second final in St Pölten losing to Marcelo Ríos.

In his grand slam debut at the 1996 French Open, Mantilla defeated Dirk Dier and Àlex Corretja, eventually falling to the eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets. After this he went on to win his first ATP title in Oporto over Hernán Gumy 6–7, 6–4, 6–3. Mantilla proceeded to make two more finals in Gstaad and Umag where he lost to Albert Costa on both occasions. In total for 1996 Mantilla won three Challenger titles and his first title in Oporto and made three finals.

In 1997 Mantilla went a career best of 53–22 for the season. He achieved his best result at the 1997 Australian Open before falling to finalist Carlos Moyà in the quarter finals. Mantilla made his first TMS final in Hamburg, losing easily to Andriy Medvedev. He then won all his four singles matches as Spain won the World Team Cup. After a disappointing second round exit to Magnus Larsson at Roland Garros, Mantilla went on a hot streak and won four titles in his next five tournaments at ATP level and in between made the final of the Braunschweig Challenger losing to Francisco Roig. Mantilla's run began at Bologna where defeated reigning French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, then followed up with titles in Gstaad over Joan Albert Viloca, in Umag over Sergi Bruguera and in San Marino over Magnus Gustafsson. Mantilla won another title in Bournemouth over Carlos Moyà and finished the year ranked 16th. This year also had his best performance at the US Open reaching 4th round losing to Richard Krajicek, and in 3rd round won over John Van Lottum in 5 sets, playing last sets with big crambs that impeded a normal movement. He closed the best year in his career with a victory on National Tennis Masters competition in Spain (national version of ATP World Tour Finals) defeating Francisco Clavet at the final in Zaragoza after losing the first set. After winning Clavet, Mantilla declared: "Next year I want to win more important tournaments, shine in the big occasions and be a better tennis player".[1]

In 1998 Mantilla after losing a bet with Luis Lobo in Rome, in which he had to dye his hair blonde.[2] Mantilla reached his highest ever ranking of number 10 on 8 June after reaching the semi finals at Roland Garros. He beat Wolfgang Schranz, Byron Black, Fabrice Santoro and Ramón Delgado to reach the quarter final. There he defeated Thomas Muster, gaining revenge for his loss in Rome against the same opponent who when Mantilla was eating a banana at the change of ends, had taken the banana out of his hands and started to eat it himself, at the end of the match Mantilla did not shake hands with Muster. He lost his semi final to Carlos Moyà. He defended his title in Bournemouth in clay, defeating Albert Costa. He also improves his achievements in hard courts and reached two finals: Dubai, losing to Àlex Corretja and Long Island losing to Patrick Rafter. He also reached the semifinals in Auckland.

Mantilla won his only title for 1999 in Barcelona over Karim Alami, destroying his rivals at the first three rounds and defeating excellent clay players from quarterfinals: Carlos Moya, Francisco Clavet and Karim Alami. He defeated world number 1 Pete Sampras at Indian Wells on hardcourt and managed to repeat the feat defeating the then number 1 Lleyton Hewitt in 2002 on hardcourt as well. Apart from his title he reached the semis of the TMS events in Monte Carlo and Rome losing to Gustavo Kuerten and to Pat Rafter respectively. Mantilla said that "Rafter's backhand was so slow it was like his mother hitting the ball".[3]

Mantilla played his only Davis Cup match for Spain in a promotion and relegation tie against New Zealand in New Zealand for the 2000 Davis Cup. The big stars at the time Àlex Corretja, Albert Costa did not want to travel to Hamilton for the tie. Mantilla defeated Mark Nielsen in 5 sets (last sets with back injury and much pain) on a fast indoor hardcourt to help Spain gain promotion to the World Group along with Julián Alonso, Francisco Clavet and Joan Balcells.

Mantilla experienced the first of his shoulder problems and underwent surgery in 2000 and was sidelined for six months and did not return to tennis until January 2001. He won two consecutive Challengers in Espinho over Tommy Robredo and Barletta defeating Markus Hipfl, this was followed up with a final in Estoril losing to nemesis Juan Carlos Ferrero as he did in all 8 of their matches.[4] Later in the year he won Palermo defeating David Nalbandian after saving nine match points for the second time in his career and winning in his semi final victory over Albert Portas,[5] the first time was against Alberto Berasategui in the 1998 TMS Hamburg. Mantilla made two finals in 2002 in Doha and Indianapolis on hardcourt losing to Younes El Aynaoui and Greg Rusedski respectively.

At the 2003 Australian Open Mantilla played 4 consecutive 5 set matches, winning the first three and then after leading two sets to love he lost the fourth one to Sébastien Grosjean. In May Mantilla won the Internazionali d'Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome, his last and biggest career title to date, defeating the favourite Roger Federer 7–5, 6–2, 7–6 and becoming the first unseeded player to win the event. Mantilla said about his game "I don't have the serve of Sampras or the volley of Rafter or the talent of Agassi, you know. I must be very focus every point. I must be strong mentally."[6]

After 2003 Mantilla's career went into decline, with the onset of injuries to his Achilles tendon and to his shoulder and the game moving at a speed that Mantilla's game could not keep up with. In 2004 he was involved in two more memorable matches in his defense of his TMS Rome title, Mantilla was down 7–5, 5–0 against Robby Ginepri and came back to win the next 13 games to win the match 5–7, 7–5, 6–0 and in the process he saved 5 match points. The other was a 5 set thriller at the French Open against Marat Safin which he lost 6–4, 2–6, 6–2, 6–7, 11–9, which he served for the match 3 times and was unsuccessful.

Mantilla's last match of 2005 was against Guillermo Coria at the 2005 US Open and he did not play tennis due to shoulder problems until 2007. In 2006 it was discovered that Mantilla had skin cancer from which he has recovered.[7]

Mantilla returned to tennis in the 2007 Monza Challenger and qualified for the main draw winning his 3 qualification matches. In April 2007, Mantilla played his first ATP match since 2005 in Barcelona at the age of 32, where he lost in the second round to Carlos Moyá.

In 2008 Mantilla was working part-time with Wayne Odesnik and he was appointed by Tennis Australia as a coach to help Australian youngsters with their clay court game, he moved between Australia and Barcelona[8]

He was the trainer of Aleksandr Dolgopolov and nowadays trains Toni Navarro.

Personal life

Both of Mantilla's parents are schoolteachers.

He is a fan of the football team FC Barcelona and his hobbies include reading. He owns a large collection of Spanish movies and his favourite actors are Gabino Diego, Coque Malla and Juanjo Puigcorbé. His favourite cities include Paris and Rome. During his championship win at the Rome Masters, Mantilla said of the latter, "When I come to Rome I always feel like a gladiator in the Colosseum. [...] The people enjoy watching me. I'm just running and fighting all the time."[9]

After winning the Rome Masters, Mantilla paid tribute to his longtime coach Jordi Vilaro. [10]

"I don't have the serve of Sampras or the volley of Rafter or the talent of Agassi," Mantilla once said, describing his game, "[but] I am strong physically, I am strong mentally. And when I am like that, I'm dangerous."[9]

Career finals

Singles: 21 (10 titles, 11 runners-up)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (1–1)
ATP Championship Series (1–1)
ATP Tour (8–9)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. 13 November 1995 Buenos Aires Clay Spain Carlos Moyá 0–6, 3–6
Runner-up 2. 26 May 1996 St. Pölten Clay Chile Marcelo Ríos 2–6, 4–6
Winner 1. 10 June 1996 Oporto Clay Argentina Hernán Gumy 6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 3. 14 July 1996 Gstaad Clay Spain Albert Costa 6–4, 6–7(2–7), 1–6, 0–6
Runner-up 4. 11 August 1996 San Marino Clay Spain Albert Costa 6–7(7–9), 3–6
Runner-up 5. 18 August 1996 Umag Clay Spain Carlos Moyá 0–6, 6–7(4–7)
Runner-up 6. 12 May 1997 Hamburg Clay Ukraine Andrei Medvedev 0–6, 4–6, 2–6
Winner 2. 9 June 1997 Bologna Clay Brazil Gustavo Kuerten 4–6, 6–2, 6–1
Winner 3. 7 July 1997 Gstaad Clay Spain Juan Albert Viloca 6–1, 6–4, 6–4
Winner 4. 21 July 1997 Umag Clay Spain Sergi Bruguera 6–3, 7–5
Winner 5. 4 August 1997 San Marino Clay Sweden Magnus Gustafsson 6–4, 6–1
Winner 6. 8 September 1997 Bournemouth Clay Spain Carlos Moyà 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up 7. 15 February 1998 Dubai Hard Spain Àlex Corretja 6–7(0–7), 1–6
Runner-up 8. 30 August 1998 Long Island Hard Australia Patrick Rafter 6–7(3–7), 2–6
Winner 7. 14 September 1998 Bournemouth Clay Spain Albert Costa 6–3, 7–5
Winner 8. 12 April 1999 Barcelona Clay Morocco Karim Alami 7–6(7–2), 6–3, 6–3
Runner-up 9. 15 April 2001 Estoril Clay Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Winner 9. 24 September 2001 Palermo Clay Argentina David Nalbandian 7–6(7–2), 6–4
Runner-up 10. 6 January 2002 Doha Hard Morocco Younes El Aynaoui 6–4, 2–6, 2–6
Runner-up 11. 18 August 2002 Indianapolis Hard United Kingdom Greg Rusedski 7–6(8–6), 4–6, 4–6
Winner 10. 5 May 2003 Rome Clay Switzerland Roger Federer 7–5, 6–2, 7–6(10–8)

Singles performance timeline

Tournament19951996199719981999200020012002200320042005SRW–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A QF 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 4R 1R 1R 0 / 9 7–9
French Open A 3R 2R SF 4R 1R 1R A 4R 2R 3R 0 / 9 17–9
Wimbledon A 1R A 3R 2R 1R 2R A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 8 5–8
US Open A 2R 4R 2R 1R A 2R 1R 1R A 1R 0 / 8 6–8
Win–Loss 0–0 3–3 8–3 8–4 4–4 0–3 2–4 0–2 6–4 2–3 2–4 0 / 34 35–34
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A 1R 1R 3R 1R A 1R 1R 1R A 0 / 7 2–7
Miami A A 2R 2R 3R 3R A 3R 2R A A 0 / 6 4–6
Monte Carlo A QF 2R 1R SF 2R A 2R 2R 2R 2R 0 / 9 13–9
Hamburg A A F SF 2R 2R A 2R 2R A A 0 / 6 12–6
Rome A A 1R 2R SF QF 3R 2R W 2R A 1 / 8 18–7
Canada A A A A A A A 2R A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Cincinnati A A A 1R A A 1R 1R 1R A A 0 / 4 0–4
Madrid1 A 3R 2R A A A A 1R 3R A A 0 / 4 2–4
Paris A 3R 2R A 1R A A 1R 2R A A 0 / 5 1–5
Win–Loss 0–0 5–3 6–7 5–6 11–6 6–5 2–2 5–9 10–7 2–3 1–1 1 / 50 53–49
Career statistics
Titles 0 1 5 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 10
Finals 1 5 6 3 1 0 2 2 1 0 0 21
Year End Ranking 92 18 16 20 22 99 45 55 22 102 117

1This event was held in Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.

References

  1. ↑ "F�lix Mantilla ya es el mejor maestro espa�ol". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2016-03-31. replacement character in |title= at position 2 (help)
  2. ↑ "Felix Mantilla Profile". Spanish Tennis Federation. 7 December 2004.
  3. ↑ "Rafter rolls into Italian Open final". Sports Illustrated. 7 December 2008.
  4. ↑ "Head to Head with Juan Carlos Ferrero". ATP. 7 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Miraculous win for Mantilla". BBC. 7 December 2008.
  6. ↑ "Felix Mantilla Press Conference Transcript". ASAP Sports. 7 December 2008.
  7. ↑ "Felix Mantilla skin cancer foundation". 12 August 2013.
  8. ↑ "Australia signs Spanish ace". The Age. 7 December 2008.
  9. 1 2 "ASAP Sports Transcripts - Tennis - 2003 - TELECOM ITALIA MASTERS - May 10 - Felix Mantilla". www.asapsports.com. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  10. ↑ "Mantilla interview". ASAP Sports. 7 December 2008.
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