Alberto Berasategui Salazar (born 28 June 1973) is a former top-10 professional

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

from Spain. He was a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

finalist at the

1994 French Open The 1994 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 23 May until 5 June. It was the 98th staging of the French Open, and the second Gra ...

, 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

final at the French Open, where he defeated

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

, Cédric Pioline,

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...

Javier Frana Javier Alberto Frana (born 25 December 1966) is a former tennis player from Argentina and former tennis commentator for ESPN Latin America. He won 1996 French Open Mixed Doubles title with compatriot Patricia Tarabini. Tennis career Frana tur ...

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

and

Magnus Larsson Per Henrik ''Magnus'' Larsson (born 25 March 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Sweden. Playing career Larsson turned professional in 1989 and won his first top-level singles title at Florence in 1990. His first doubles title ...

to face fellow Spaniard and defending champion

Sergi Bruguera Sergi Bruguera i Torner (; born 16 January 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994, a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in men's singles and reache ...

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 Hernán Gumy (born 5 March 1972) is a former tennis player from Argentina, who turned professional in 1991. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was defeated in the first round by Venezuela' ...

at the

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

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 The 1998 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Albert Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 86th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 19 January through 1 February 1998. Seniors M ...

, after having beaten world No. 2,

Patrick Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...

in four sets in the third round, and came back from two sets down to beat the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 2000 Australian Open – Men's singles, 2000, and 2001 Australian Open – Men's singles, 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.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 23 (14 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (7–3)

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Performance timeline

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berasategui, Alberto Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Andorra Spanish male tennis players 1973 births Living people People from Arrigorriaga Mediterranean Games medalists in tennis Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Competitors at the 1991 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Sportspeople from Biscay Tennis players from the Basque Country (autonomous community)