Alberto Berasategui

Alberto Berasategui Salazar (born 28 June 1973) is a former top-10 professional tennis player from Spain. He was Grand Slam finalist at the 1994 French Open, and won a total of ATP 14 singles titles, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world no. 7 in November 1994.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Berasategui and the second or maternal family name is Salazar.
Alberto Berasategui
Country (sports) Spain
ResidenceBellaterra, Spain
Born (1973-06-28) 28 June 1973
Bilbao, Spain
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Turned pro1991
RetiredMay 2001
PlaysRight-handed (one and two-handed backhand)
Prize money$4,676,187
Singles
Career record278–199
Career titles14
Highest rankingNo. 7 (14 November 1994)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenQF (1998)
French OpenF (1994)
Wimbledon1R (2000)
US Open2R (1993, 1996)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (1994)
Doubles
Career record47–59
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 55 (6 October 1997)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open1R (1998, 2000)
French Open1R (1999)
US Open3R (1997)

Tennis career

Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and one tour doubles title. He won at least one singles title for six consecutive years (1993–1998). He began playing tennis at age seven and was the European junior champion in 1991. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1993, two years later.

In 1994, Berasategui reached nine finals, winning seven of them. He also reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he defeated Wayne Ferreira, Cédric Pioline, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Javier Frana, Goran Ivanišević and Magnus Larsson to face fellow Spaniard and defending champion Sergi Bruguera who defeated him in four sets.

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.

Playing style

Berasategui was known for his extreme western grip, known as the "Hawaiian 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][2] This helped him on clay, but he did not have much of an impact on other surfaces except for a quarterfinals appearance at the 1998 Australian Open, after having beaten world No. 2, Patrick Rafter in four sets in the third round, and came back from two sets down to beat the 1995, 2000, and 2001 Australian Open champion, former and future world No. 1, Andre Agassi, in the fourth round. He lost in quarterfinals to Marcelo Ríos after winning a tight first-set tiebreak.[2]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up1994French OpenClay Sergi Bruguera3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6

Career finals

Singles: 23 (14 titles, 9 runner-ups)
Legend
Grand Slam (0–1)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (1–1)
ATP Tour (13–7)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. Aug 1993 Umag, Croatia Clay Thomas Muster 5–7, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 2. Oct 1993 Athens, Greece Clay Jordi Arrese 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win 1. Nov 1993 São Paulo, Brazil Clay Sláva Doseděl 6–4, 6–3
Loss 3. Nov 1993 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Carlos Costa 6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win 2. Apr 1994 Nice, France Clay Jim Courier 6–4, 6–2
Loss 4. May 1994 Bologna, Italy Clay Javier Sánchez 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Loss 5. Jun 1994 French Open, Paris Clay Sergi Bruguera 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6
Win 3. Jul 1994 Stuttgart, Germany Clay Andrea Gaudenzi 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win 4. Aug 1994 Umag, Croatia Clay Karol Kučera 6–2, 6–4
Win 5. Oct 1994 Palermo, Italy Clay Àlex Corretja 2–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
Win 6. Oct 1994 Athens, Greece Clay Óscar Martínez 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win 7. Oct 1994 Santiago, Chile Clay Francisco Clavet 6–3, 6–4
Win 8. Nov 1994 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Francisco Clavet 6–4, 6–0
Win 9. Jun 1995 Porto, Portugal Clay Carlos Costa 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss 6. Nov 1995 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Bohdan Ulihrach 2–6, 3–6
Win 10. Jun 1996 Bologna, Italy Clay Carlos Costa 6–3, 6–4
Win 11. Jul 1996 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Àlex Corretja 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
Win 12. Sep 1996 Bucharest, Romania Clay Carlos Moyà 6–1, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 7. Sep 1997 Marbella, Spain Clay Albert Costa 3–6, 2–6
Win 13. Oct 1997 Palermo, Italy Clay Dominik Hrbatý 6–4, 6–2
Win 14. Apr 1998 Estoril, Portugal Clay Thomas Muster 3–6, 6–1, 6–3
Loss 8. Apr 1998 Barcelona, Spain Clay Todd Martin 2–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 9. Oct 1999 Palermo, Italy Clay Arnaud Di Pasquale 1–6, 3–6

Performance timelines

Singles
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
Tournament19911992199319941995199619971998199920002001SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A 3R QF 1R 1R A 0 / 4 6–4
French Open 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 1R A 0 / 1 0–1
US Open A A 2R 1R A 2R 1R 1R A A A 0 / 5 2–5
Win–Loss 0–0 0–1 2–2 6–2 2–1 3–2 2–3 7–3 3–2 0–3 0–0 0 / 19 25–19
Year-end championships
Tennis Masters Cup Did Not Qualify RR Did Not Qualify 0 / 1 0–3
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A 1R 3R 1R QF 1R 1R A A 0 / 6 4–6
Miami A A A 3R 3R A 2R 2R 2R 1R A 0 / 6 2–6
Monte Carlo A A A 3R 3R 1R 2R SF 1R 1R A 0 / 7 8–7
Rome A A A 2R 1R 2R SF SF 2R A A 0 / 6 11–6
Hamburg A 2R A 1R 2R 2R QF 3R 3R A A 0 / 7 8–7
Canada A A A A A 2R A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1
Cincinnati A A A A 3R A A 1R A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Stuttgart (Stockholm) A A A A 1R 2R 1R A A A A 0 / 3 1–3
Paris A A A A A 3R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Win–Loss 0–0 1–1 0–0 4–5 5–7 6–7 11–7 9–6 3–5 0–2 0–0 0 / 40 39–40
Year-end ranking 298 115 36 8 32 19 23 21 60 153 737
gollark: THIS is in fact bridged to APIONET.
gollark: Yep, it's newlines.
gollark: This is not working. I assume the issue is newlines.
gollark: Ugh, 🐝 golang.
gollark: Ugh, Go build tools are so Go.

References
  1. Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001.
  2. "In praise of weirdness: Where have you gone, Alberto Berasategui?". OregonLive.com. 21 April 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.