Gabriel Silberstein (born 17 October 1974) is a 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 from Chile.

Biography

Early career

As a junior he was a strong performer and most notably finished runner-up in the boys' doubles with

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 ...

at the 1992 US Open. He won his first

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, The Challenger, or, The Challengers, may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and telemovies * ''Challengers ...

match aged 17 and in 1992 won a Challenger tournament in Ribeirão.

Professional tour

In 1993 he began competing professionally and made his first ATP Tour main draw appearance the following year at Santiago. He was one of the successful qualifiers at the

1995 ATP German Open The 1995 German Open was a men's tennis tournament played on clay courts that was part of the ATP Championship Series, Single Week, Championship Series category of the 1995 ATP Tour. It was the 89th edition of the tournament and took place at the ...

, a top-tier event now known as the

Hamburg Masters The Hamburg Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual tennis tournament for professional players held in Hamburg, Germany and part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour and the Women's Tennis Association ...

. At the end of the 1997 season he reached his best ranking of 131 in the world, following a year which included wins over

Karol Kučera Karol Kučera (; born 4 March 1974) is a Slovak tennis coach and former professional player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open the same year. Tennis caree ...

in St Poelten and Carlos Costa in Santiago.

Representative career

Silberstein featured in a total of 9 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 ...

from 1993 to 1997. In 1995 he suffered disappointment, having started a tie against Argentina with a win over

Franco Davín Franco Davín (; born January 11, 1970) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Davín won three singles tournaments on the ATP Tour, and reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 30 in October 1990. Davín wo ...

, it was his loss to

Javier Frana Javier Alberto Frana Maggi (; 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 F ...

in the final reverse singles that decided the tie, a match Silbertein led two sets to love. He helped Chile reach the World Group qualifiers in the

1997 Davis Cup The 1997 Davis Cup (also known as the 1997 Davis Cup by NEC for sponsorship purposes) was the 86th edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 127 teams entered the competition, 16 in the World ...

. His defeat of Ecuador's

Nicolás Lapentti Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez (; born 13 August 1976) is an Ecuadorian former professional tennis player. Lapentti was ranked world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in April 2000. His brothers, Giov ...

in five sets started Chile's campaign and he finished off the tie by beating

Luis Morejón Luis Adrián Morejón (born 28 March 1973) is a former tennis player from Ecuador 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 Urug ...

in a dead rubber to secure a 4–1 win. His most significant contribution came in the next tie, against Argentina at the National Stadium in Santiago. With the tie level at 1-1, a scoreline which included a loss for Silberstein to

Hernán Gumy Hernán Pablo Gumy (; born 5 March 1972) is an Argentine former tennis player, who turned professional in 1991. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he was defeated in the first round by Venezuela's Ni ...

, he teamed up with Ríos in the doubles to beat Javier Frana and

Luis Lobo Luis Gustavo Lobo (born 9 November 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina, who won the gold medal in the men's doubles competition at the 1995 Pan American Games. He reached his career high doubles ranking, World No ...

in five sets. Ríos then gave Chile the tie over their South American rivals with victory in the first of the reverse singles, setting up a qualifying match against India. History repeated itself in the tie with India, as Silberstein again squandered a two set lead in the fifth and deciding rubber, to lose to

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

. He finished his Davis Cup career with an 8–6 record in singles, 11-9 overall. At the

1995 Pan American Games The 1995 Pan American Games, officially known as the XII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mar del Plata 1995, were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from 12 to 26 March 1995. After 44 years, this was the Pan American Games' first retur ...

he won a bronze medal for Chile in the men's doubles event, with 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 ...

Personal life

Silberstein emigrated to Chile from West Germany. He was born in

Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). The ''Holstenhallen'' and ...

, a city in the northern state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

. His youngest brother, Álvaro, was seriously injured in a 2004 car accident, which left him with full paralysis from the chest down In 2016 Álvaro trekked Patagonia in a wheelchair, a trip that captured media attention and was filmed by a documentary crew.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 3 (1–2)

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Silberstein, Gabriel 1974 births Living people Chilean male tennis players German emigrants to Chile Sportspeople from Neumünster Pan American Games bronze medalists for Chile Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis Tennis players at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games 20th-century Chilean sportsmen