Felipe Rivera (10 May 1971 – 1 October 1995) was a 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 from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Career

Rivera was a semi-finalist in the 1989

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

and the top ranked Chilean junior in the 14s, 16s and 18s age categories.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> In 1991, Rivera reached the quarter-finals of the Banespa Open in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

with wins over

Martín Jaite Martín Jaite (born 9 October 1964) is a former top-10 professional tennis player from Argentina. Jaite's career-high Association of Tennis Professionals singles ranking was world no. 10, which he achieved in the summer of 1990, and he won a t ...

and

Jean-Philippe Fleurian Jean-Philippe Fleurian (; born 11 September 1965) is a former tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1985. In his career, he won one doubles title (1996, Marseille). The right-hander reached his highest ranking on the ATP Tour on ...

. At the French Open that year he came up against

Dinu Pescariu Dinu Mihail Pescariu (born 12 April 1974) is a former tennis player from Romania, who turned professional in 1991. The right-hander represented his native country at two Summer Olympics: in Barcelona (1992) and in Atlanta (1996). He reached his h ...

in the first round and won the opening set, but lost the next two and had to retire hurt in the fourth set. His only other

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appearance was in the US Open in 1992, where he lost a four set match in the first round to American Scott Davis. He also qualified for the 1992 German Open (an ATP Super 9 event) and made the second round, after defeating Spaniard

José Francisco Altur José Francisco Altur Gascón (born 24 March 1968) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Spain. Career Pro tour Altur won the 1989 San Marino Open, as a qualifier, although he didn't have to face a single top 100 player. It was ...

. As a doubles player he had his best win on tour when he and partner

Sergio Cortés Sergio Cortés Godoy (born 11 January 1968) is a former professional tennis player from Chile. Career Cortés was a leading junior player in South American, winning the continental championships in the 14s, 16s and 18s age groups. He was a quart ...

defeated third seeds

Tomás Carbonell Tomás Carbonell Lladó (born 7 August 1968) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. Carbonell won 2 singles and 22 doubles titles on the ATP Tour in his career. He won the French Open in 2001 in mixed doubles with Virginia Ruano P ...

and

Byron Talbot Byron Talbot (born 15 September 1964) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. He enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven doubles titles and finished as a runner-up six times. H ...

at the 1993 Movistar Open. He played three ties for the

Chile Davis Cup team The Chile men's national tennis team represents Chile in Davis Cup tennis tournament and is governed by Federación de tenis de Chile. The team played in the World Group on 2019 and reached the final one time in 1976, losing the cup against Ital ...

during his career, the first in 1991, when he was aged only 19. In that tie he teamed up with

Hans Gildemeister Hans Gildemeister Bohner (born Juan Pedro Gildemeister Bohner on 9 February 1956), is a Chilean former tennis player of German ancestry, who won four singles and 23 doubles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his hig ...

in the doubles and they defeated the Dominican pairing. In 1992 he appeared in Chile's tie against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. He won the opening rubber, over Juan Pino but Chile lost the other four matches, two of which Rivera played. The Chilean also participated in his country's tie against the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

in 1993, which they lost 2–3. Rivera took on Roger Smith in the opening match and

Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamians, Bahamian former professional tennis player and coach. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles tennis, doubles. He won three of the four Gran ...

in the final and deciding rubber, losing both.

Death

Rivera was killed in a car crash on 1 October 1995. At the time of his death he was still active on tour, having taken part in a Challenger tournament at

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

in July.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Felipe 1971 births 1995 deaths Chilean male tennis players People from Arica Province Road incident deaths in Chile