Carlos Moyá Spanish Tennis Player Born 1976 in Palma

Early life

Carlos Moyá Llompart was born on 27 August 1976 in Palma, on the Spanish island of Mallorca. He became a professional tennis player in the 1990s, and he stands 190 centimetres tall.

Career

Moyá won his first top-level tournament in Buenos Aires in November 1995, beating Félix Mantilla in the final. In May 1996 he defeated the clay-court specialist Thomas Muster in the semi-finals in Munich, which ended Muster's run of 38 consecutive wins on clay. The Munich final went to Sláva Doseděl.

The 1997 Australian Open brought his first Grand Slam final. On the way he beat the defending champion Boris Becker in the first round and the world number three Michael Chang in the semi-finals, before losing to Pete Sampras in straight sets. Later that season he won the title on Long Island.

In 1998 he took the French Open, defeating Marcelo Ríos in the quarter-finals, Mantilla in the semi-finals and his compatriot Àlex Corretja in the final, which he won in straight sets. That year he also won his first Masters Series event, in Monte Carlo, reached the US Open semi-finals and finished runner-up at the ATP World Championships, where Corretja beat him in five sets after Moyá had led by two sets. In March 1999, after reaching the final at Indian Wells, he became the first Spanish player to reach world number one in the singles rankings. He held the position for two weeks.

A stress fracture in his lower back affected him from the 1999 US Open into the early part of 2000, but he still ended the season inside the top 50 for a fifth consecutive year. He won in Umag in 2001, and in 2002 he won four titles from six finals, including the Cincinnati Masters, where he beat the then world number one, Lleyton Hewitt, in the final.

Moyá won three clay-court titles in 2003 and went unbeaten in singles for Spain in that year's Davis Cup, where the team lost the final to Australia. In 2004 he returned to the final and won both of his singles matches against Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish as Spain defeated the United States 3–2. That year he also won the Rome Masters, beating David Nalbandian in the final. In January 2005 he took the Chennai title and donated his prize money to relief efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami.

He continued to compete at a high level later in the decade. In 2007 he reached the semi-finals in Hamburg after wins over Novak Djokovic and others, won again in Umag, and lost a first-round match at Wimbledon to Tim Henman 13–11 in the fifth set. He took a break from the tour in March 2009, returned in January 2010, and announced his retirement on 17 November 2010. A ceremony was held for him at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, attended by the top singles and doubles players of the year. He won 20 ATP Tour singles titles in all, across eleven countries.

After his playing days, Moyá worked as a coach. He was Rafael Nadal's main coach from 2016 to 2024.

Recognition

Moyá's career highlights are the 1998 French Open title and the 2004 Davis Cup win with Spain. He also won three Masters Series titles (Monte Carlo, Cincinnati and Rome) and finished as runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In recognition of his sporting achievements he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit in Spain.

Personal life

In July 2011 Moyá married the actress Carolina Cerezuela. They have three children, two daughters and a son.