Albert Portas Soy (, ; born 15 November 1973) is a Spanish former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 19 in October 2001.

Career

Portas turned professional in 1994. His first and only top-level singles title came at the 2001 Hamburg Masters tournament, where as a qualifier he defeated

Juan Carlos Ferrero Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Pro ...

in the final. His mastery of the drop shot (key to his victory in the final) earned him the nickname "Drop Shot Dragon". According to the BBC,

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...

said of Portas that "He sure hits a lot of drop shots, but he hits them so well, as well as anyone I have faced." His final at Barcelona Open in 1997 was also very remarkable. En route to the final he defeated

Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the list of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals f ...

(eventual champion this same year of

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

Marcelo Ríos Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the first Latin American to reach the t ...

, and

Carlos Moyá Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Moyá won 20 ATP Tour-level singles tit ...

, but lost in the final to

Albert Costa Albert Costa Casals (; born 25 June 1975) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002. Tennis career Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. He ...

. In 1999, Portas lost the final of

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

defeated by his countryman Galo Blanco. Immediately after his retirement from playing tennis in September 2007, Portas started coaching WTA player

Daniela Hantuchová Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Open, defeating Martin ...

, whom he coached from 2007–2012.

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

ATP career finals

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

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

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 19 (8–11)

Doubles: 22 (12–10)

Wins over top 10 players

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Portas, Albert 1973 births Living people Spanish male tennis players Tennis players from Barcelona Summer World University Games medalists in tennis FISU World University Games silver medalists for Spain Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade