Alberto Berasategui Salazar (born 28 June 1973) is a former top-10 professional tennis player from Spain. He was a Grand Slam finalist at the 1994 French Open, and won a total of 14 ATP singles titles, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7 in November 1994.
Tennis career Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and one tour doubles title. All of them, as well as all losses in finals, were on clay. 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. "Against the unflagging groundstrokes of Bruguera, the 23rd ranked Berasategui finally appeared mortal and he lashed out with 65 unforced errors and lost his serve half a dozen times".
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.Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001. 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 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.
Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1994 French Open Clay Sergi Bruguera 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6
ATP career finals
Singles: 23 (14 titles, 9 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–1)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series(0–0)ATP Championship Series (1–1)ATP World Series (13–7)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (14–9)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (14–9)Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Umag, CroatiaWorld SeriesClay Thomas Muster5–7, 6–3, 3–6Loss0–2Athens, GreeceWorld SeriesClay Jordi Arrese4–6, 6–3, 3–6Win1–2São Paulo, BrazilWorld SeriesClay Sláva Doseděl6–4, 6–3Loss1–3Buenos Aires, ArgentinaWorld SeriesClay Carlos Costa6–3, 1–6, 4–6Win2–3Nice, FranceWorld SeriesClay Jim Courier6–4, 6–2Loss2–4Bologna, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Javier Sánchez6–7(3–7), 6–4, 3–6Loss2–5Paris, FranceGrand SlamClay Sergi Bruguera3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6Win3–5Stuttgart, GermanyChampionship SeriesClay Andrea Gaudenzi7–5, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)Win4–5Umag, CroatiaWorld SeriesClay Karol Kučera6–2, 6–4Win5–5Palermo, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Àlex Corretja2–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–4Win6–5Athens, GreeceWorld SeriesClay Óscar Martínez4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3Win7–5Santiago, ChileWorld SeriesClay Francisco Clavet6–3, 6–4Win8–5Montevideo, UruguayWorld SeriesClay Francisco Clavet6–4, 6–0Win9–5Porto, PortugalWorld SeriesClay Carlos Costa3–6, 6–3, 6–4Loss9–6Montevideo, UruguayWorld SeriesClay Bohdan Ulihrach2–6, 3–6Win10–6Bologna, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Carlos Costa6–3, 6–4Win11–6Kitzbühel, AustriaWorld SeriesClay Àlex Corretja6–2, 6–4, 6–4Win12–6Bucharest, RomaniaWorld SeriesClay Carlos Moyà6–1, 7–6(7–5)Loss12–7Marbella, SpainWorld SeriesClay Albert Costa3–6, 2–6Win13–7Palermo, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Dominik Hrbatý6–4, 6–2Win14–7Estoril, Portugal World SeriesClay Thomas Muster3–6, 6–1, 6–3Loss14–8Barcelona, SpainChampionship SeriesClay Todd Martin2–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6Loss14–9Palermo, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Arnaud Di Pasquale1–6, 3–6
Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series(0–0)ATP Championship Series (1–0)ATP World Series (0–3)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (1–3)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (1–3)Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Barcelona, SpainChampionship SeriesClay Jordi Burillo Pablo Albano Àlex Corretja6–3, 7–5Loss1–1Marbella, SpainWorld SeriesClay Jordi Burillo Karim Alami Julian Alonso6–4, 3–6, 0–6Loss1–2Bournemouth, United KingdomWorld SeriesClay Wayne Arthurs Neil Broad Kevin Ullyett6–7, 3–6Loss1–3Mallorca, SpainWorld SeriesClay Francisco Roig Lucas Arnold Ker Tomas Carbonell1–6, 4–6
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 10 (7–3) LegendATP Challenger (7–3)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (7–3)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Reggio Calabria, ItalyChallengerClay Roberto Azar4–6, 2–6Win1–1Mar del Plata, ArgentinaChallengerClay Martin Stringari6–2, 7–5Win2–1Graz, AustriaChallengerClay Carlos Costa6–4, 6–3Win3–1Barcelona, SpainChallengerClay Carl-Uwe Steeb6–3, 7–5Win4–1Braunschweig, GermanyChallengerClay Jozsef Krocsko6–2, 6–2Win5–1Venice, ItalyChallengerClay Javier Sánchez6–2, 6–2Loss5–2Cairo, EgyptChallengerClay Fernando Meligeni6–3, 1–6, 2–6Win6–2Zagreb, CroatiaChallengerClay Ivan Ljubicic6–1, 6–2Win7–2Cairo, EgyptChallengerClay Karim Alami7–5, 6–3Loss7–3Buenos Aires, ArgentinaChallengerClay Guillermo Coria1–6, 6–4, 4–6
Doubles: 1 (1–0) LegendATP Challenger (1–0)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (1–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Cairo, EgyptChallengerClay German Puentes-Alcaniz Branislav Galik Borut Urh6–0, 6–0
Performance timeline
Singles Tournament199219931994199519961997199819992000SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAAA3RQF1R1R0 / 46–4French Open1R2RF3R3R1R4R4R1R0 / 917–9WimbledonAAAAAAAA1R0 / 10–1US OpenA2R1RA2R1R1RAA0 / 52–5Win–loss0–12–26–22–13–22–37–33–20–30 / 1925–19Year-end ChampionshipsTennis Masters CupDNQRRDid not qualify0 / 10–3ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAA1R3R1RQF1R1RA0 / 64–6MiamiAA3R3RA2R2R2R1R0 / 62–6Monte CarloAA3R3R1R2RSF1R1R0 / 78–7RomeAA2R2R2RSFSF2RQ10 / 611–6Hamburg2RA1R2R2RQF3R3RA0 / 78–7CanadaAAAA2RAAAA0 / 11–1CincinnatiAAA3RAA1RAA0 / 22–2StuttgartAAA1R2R1RAAA0 / 31–3ParisAAAA3R1RAAA0 / 22–2Win–loss1–10–04–55–76–711–79–63–50–20 / 4039–40Year-end Ranking1153683219232160153Career Earnings: $4,676,187
Doubles Tournament19961997199819992000SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA1RA1R0 / 20–2French OpenAAA1RA0 / 10–1WimbledonAAAAA0 / 00–0US OpenA3RAAA0 / 12–1Win–loss0–02–10–10–10–10 / 42–4ATP Masters SeriesMiamiAA1RAA0 / 10–1Monte CarloAAA1RA0 / 10–1HamburgAQF2RAA0 / 23–2RomeQ2AAAA0 / 00–0CanadaQ2AAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–02–11–20–10–00 / 23–4
References
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