Àlex Corretja Spanish Tennis Player Born 1974 in Barcelona

Early life

Àlex Corretja Verdegay was born on 11 April 1974 in Barcelona. He stood out as a junior player and won the under-16 title at the Orange Bowl in 1990. He turned professional the following year, in 1991.

Career

Corretja won his first top-level singles title in Buenos Aires in 1994. His first title in doubles followed in 1995 at Palermo. In 1996 he played a five-set US Open quarterfinal against Pete Sampras that lasted 4 hours and 9 minutes; he held a match point before Sampras won it. The next year he won three titles, among them his first Masters Series event, in Rome, where he beat Marcelo Ríos in the final.

His strongest season was 1998. At the French Open he reached his first Grand Slam final, helped by a third-round win over Hernán Gumy in what was then the longest match in the tournament's history, 5 hours and 31 minutes. He lost the final in straight sets to his fellow Spaniard Carlos Moyà. He ended the year at the ATP Tour World Championships. After beating Andre Agassi in the group stage, he saved three match points against the world number one, Sampras, in the semifinals. In the final he faced Moyà again and came back from two sets down to win after 4 hours and 1 minute. He was the first player to take that title without having won a Grand Slam event. He won five singles titles that season on clay, hard courts and carpet, and finished the year ranked number three.

In February 1999 he reached his career-high ranking of number two in singles, and that year he played in three tournament finals and the quarterfinals of the French Open. In 2000 he won the Masters event at Indian Wells, defeating Thomas Enqvist in the final, and beat Agassi in the final at Washington while losing only five games.

The same year he was part of the Spanish team that won the Davis Cup for the first time. He won all three of his singles rubbers in the earlier rounds, and in the final against Australia he partnered Joan Manuel Balcells to win the doubles match as Spain took the tie 3-1. At the Sydney Olympics he and Albert Costa won the bronze medal in men's doubles.

In 2001 he reached his second French Open final and lost in four sets to the defending champion Gustavo Kuerten. In July he won the Dutch Open final against Younes El Aynaoui in five sets, a match of 53 games that was the longest tour final of the year. In 2002 he came back from two sets down to beat Sampras on grass in a Davis Cup quarterfinal, though Spain lost the tie. At that year's French Open he saved four match points against Arnaud Clément in the third round and reached the semifinals, where Costa beat him on the way to the title. In 2003 he helped Spain reach another Davis Cup final, winning two doubles rubbers and one singles rubber en route, but Spain lost the final to Australia.

Corretja announced his retirement on 24 September 2005. He finished with 17 top-level singles titles and three in doubles.

Public roles

After he stopped playing, Corretja turned to coaching. He worked with the British player Andy Murray, first temporarily during the 2008 clay-court season and then on a permanent basis from 2009 until 2011. In 2012 and 2013 he coached the Spanish Davis Cup team. He has also worked for Eurosport, where he has appeared as a field interviewer at Grand Slam tournaments.

Recognition

Corretja was named Catalan Sportsman of the Year in 1998, the season in which he won the World Championships and reached the French Open final. He has also been awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit. His Olympic bronze medal and his part in Spain's first Davis Cup title in 2000 are among the main team honours of his career. He is also recorded as holding a 2-0 record against Rafael Nadal, one of only two players with an unbeaten record over Nadal after more than one meeting.