Alberto Berasategui

Alberto Berasategui
Country (sports)	Spain
Residence	Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Born	28 June 1973 (age 51); Bilbao, Spain
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1991
Retired	2001
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,676,187
Singles
Career record	278–199
Career titles	14
Highest ranking	No. 7 (14 November 1994)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1998)
French Open	F (1994)
Wimbledon	1R (2000)
US Open	2R (1993, 1996)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1994)
Grand Slam Cup	1R (1994)
Doubles
Career record	47–59
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 55 (6 October 1997)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (1998, 2000)
French Open	1R (1999)
US Open	3R (1997)
	Last updated on: 22 November 2021.

Alberto Berasategui Salazar (born 28 June 1973) is a former top-10 professional tennis player from Spain. He was a Grand Slam finalist at the 1994 French Open, and won a total of 14 ATP singles titles, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7 in November 1994.

Tennis career

Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and one tour doubles title. All of them, as well as all losses in finals, were on clay. He won at least one singles title for six consecutive years (1993–1998). He began playing tennis at age seven and was the European junior champion in 1991. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1993, two years later.

In 1994, Berasategui reached nine finals, winning seven of them. He also reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he defeated Wayne Ferreira, Cédric Pioline, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Javier Frana, Goran Ivanišević and Magnus Larsson to face fellow Spaniard and defending champion Sergi Bruguera who defeated him in four sets.

Berasategui retired from the professional tour in May 2001, having had persistent wrist injuries since his match with Hernán Gumy at the Bologna tournament in June 1998. The injuries had an adverse effect on his results and form, and had caused his consistency and ranking to decline. He also suffered severe cramps of unknown origin in long matches.^{[citation needed]}

Playing style

Berasategui was known for his extreme western grip, known as the "Hawaiian grip", where his unusual hold on the racket would allow him to hit both forehands and backhands with the same side of the racket.^[1]^[2] This helped him on clay, but he did not have much of an impact on other surfaces except for a quarterfinals appearance at the 1998 Australian Open, after having beaten world No. 2, Patrick Rafter in four sets in the third round, and came back from two sets down to beat the 1995 Australian Open champion, former and future world No. 1, Andre Agassi, in the fourth round. He lost in quarterfinals to Marcelo Ríos after winning a tight first-set tiebreak.^[2]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1994	French Open	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6

ATP career finals

Singles: 23 (14 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series(0–0)
ATP Championship Series (1–1)
ATP World Series (13–7)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (14–9)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Finals by setting
Outdoors (14–9)
Indoors (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1993	Umag, Croatia	World Series	Clay	Thomas Muster	5–7, 6–3, 3–6
Loss	0–2	Oct 1993	Athens, Greece	World Series	Clay	Jordi Arrese	4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win	1–2	Nov 1993	São Paulo, Brazil	World Series	Clay	Sláva Doseděl	6–4, 6–3
Loss	1–3	Nov 1993	Buenos Aires, Argentina	World Series	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win	2–3	Apr 1994	Nice, France	World Series	Clay	Jim Courier	6–4, 6–2
Loss	2–4	May 1994	Bologna, Italy	World Series	Clay	Javier Sánchez	6–7^(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Loss	2–5	Jun 1994	Paris, France	Grand Slam	Clay	Sergi Bruguera	3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6
Win	3–5	Jul 1994	Stuttgart, Germany	Championship Series	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	7–5, 6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	4–5	Aug 1994	Umag, Croatia	World Series	Clay	Karol Kučera	6–2, 6–4
Win	5–5	Oct 1994	Palermo, Italy	World Series	Clay	Àlex Corretja	2–6, 7–6^(8–6), 6–4
Win	6–5	Oct 1994	Athens, Greece	World Series	Clay	Óscar Martínez	4–6, 7–6^(7–4), 6–3
Win	7–5	Oct 1994	Santiago, Chile	World Series	Clay	Francisco Clavet	6–3, 6–4
Win	8–5	Nov 1994	Montevideo, Uruguay	World Series	Clay	Francisco Clavet	6–4, 6–0
Win	9–5	Jun 1995	Porto, Portugal	World Series	Clay	Carlos Costa	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	9–6	Nov 1995	Montevideo, Uruguay	World Series	Clay	Bohdan Ulihrach	2–6, 3–6
Win	10–6	Jun 1996	Bologna, Italy	World Series	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–3, 6–4
Win	11–6	Jul 1996	Kitzbühel, Austria	World Series	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
Win	12–6	Sep 1996	Bucharest, Romania	World Series	Clay	Carlos Moyà	6–1, 7–6^(7–5)
Loss	12–7	Sep 1997	Marbella, Spain	World Series	Clay	Albert Costa	3–6, 2–6
Win	13–7	Oct 1997	Palermo, Italy	World Series	Clay	Dominik Hrbatý	6–4, 6–2
Win	14–7	Apr 1998	Estoril, Portugal	World Series	Clay	Thomas Muster	3–6, 6–1, 6–3
Loss	14–8	Apr 1998	Barcelona, Spain	Championship Series	Clay	Todd Martin	2–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	14–9	Oct 1999	Palermo, Italy	World Series	Clay	Arnaud Di Pasquale	1–6, 3–6

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

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series(0–0)
ATP Championship Series (1–0)
ATP World Series (0–3)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (1–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–3)
Indoors (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Apr 1997	Barcelona, Spain	Championship Series	Clay	Jordi Burillo	Pablo Albano Àlex Corretja	6–3, 7–5
Loss	1–1	Sep 1997	Marbella, Spain	World Series	Clay	Jordi Burillo	Karim Alami Julian Alonso	6–4, 3–6, 0–6
Loss	1–2	Sep 1998	Bournemouth, United Kingdom	World Series	Clay	Wayne Arthurs	Neil Broad Kevin Ullyett	6–7, 3–6
Loss	1–3	Sep 1999	Mallorca, Spain	World Series	Clay	Francisco Roig	Lucas Arnold Ker Tomas Carbonell	1–6, 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (7–3)

Legend
ATP Challenger (7–3)
ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (7–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 1992	Reggio Calabria, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Roberto Azar	4–6, 2–6
Win	1–1	Feb 1993	Mar del Plata, Argentina	Challenger	Clay	Martin Stringari	6–2, 7–5
Win	2–1	Aug 1993	Graz, Austria	Challenger	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–4, 6–3
Win	3–1	Sep 1994	Barcelona, Spain	Challenger	Clay	Carl-Uwe Steeb	6–3, 7–5
Win	4–1	Jun 1996	Braunschweig, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Jozsef Krocsko	6–2, 6–2
Win	5–1	Jul 1996	Venice, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Javier Sánchez	6–2, 6–2
Loss	5–2	Oct 1996	Cairo, Egypt	Challenger	Clay	Fernando Meligeni	6–3, 1–6, 2–6
Win	6–2	Jun 1997	Zagreb, Croatia	Challenger	Clay	Ivan Ljubicic	6–1, 6–2
Win	7–2	Oct 1997	Cairo, Egypt	Challenger	Clay	Karim Alami	7–5, 6–3
Loss	7–3	Nov 2000	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Challenger	Clay	Guillermo Coria	1–6, 6–4, 4–6

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 1996	Cairo, Egypt	Challenger	Clay	German Puentes-Alcaniz	Branislav Galik Borut Urh	6–0, 6–0

Performance timeline

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	3R	QF	1R	1R	0 / 4	6–4	60%
French Open	1R	2R	F	3R	3R	1R	4R	4R	1R	0 / 9	17–9	65%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1	0%
US Open	A	2R	1R	A	2R	1R	1R	A	A	0 / 5	2–5	29%
Win–loss	0–1	2–2	6–2	2–1	3–2	2–3	7–3	3–2	0–3	0 / 19	25–19	46%
Year-end Championships
Tennis Masters Cup	DNQ		RR	Did not qualify						0 / 1	0–3	0%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	1R	3R	1R	QF	1R	1R	A	0 / 6	4–6	40%
Miami	A	A	3R	3R	A	2R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 6	2–6	100%
Monte Carlo	A	A	3R	3R	1R	2R	SF	1R	1R	0 / 7	8–7	53%
Rome	A	A	2R	2R	2R	SF	SF	2R	Q1	0 / 6	11–6	65%
Hamburg	2R	A	1R	2R	2R	QF	3R	3R	A	0 / 7	8–7	53%
Canada	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Cincinnati	A	A	A	3R	A	A	1R	A	A	0 / 2	2–2	50%
Stuttgart	A	A	A	1R	2R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 3	1–3	25%
Paris	A	A	A	A	3R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 2	2–2	50%
Win–loss	1–1	0–0	4–5	5–7	6–7	11–7	9–6	3–5	0–2	0 / 40	39–40	49%
Year-end Ranking	115	36	8	32	19	23	21	60	153	Career Earnings: $4,676,187

Doubles

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	A	1R	0 / 2	0–2	0%
French Open	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
US Open	A	3R	A	A	A	0 / 1	2–1	67%
Win–loss	0–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0 / 4	2–4	33%
ATP Masters Series
Miami	A	A	1R	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Hamburg	A	QF	2R	A	A	0 / 2	3–2	60%
Rome	Q2	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Canada	Q2	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Win–loss	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	0 / 2	3–4	43%

References

^ Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001.
^ ^a ^b "In praise of weirdness: Where have you gone, Alberto Berasategui?". The Oregonian. 21 April 2010.

External links

Alberto Berasategui at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Alberto Berasategui at the International Tennis Federation
Alberto Berasategui at the Davis Cup

[1] Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001.

[oregonlive-2] "In praise of weirdness: Where have you gone, Alberto Berasategui?". The Oregonian. 21 April 2010.

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