Alberto Berasategui

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.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Berasategui and the second or maternal family name is Salazar.
Alberto Berasategui
Country (sports) Spain
ResidenceAndorra la Vella, Andorra
Born (1973-06-28) 28 June 1973
Bilbao, Spain
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro1991
Retired2001
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$4,676,187
Singles
Career record278–199
Career titles14
Highest rankingNo. 7 (14 November 1994)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (1998)
French OpenF (1994)
Wimbledon1R (2000)
US Open2R (1993, 1996)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (1994)
Doubles
Career record47–59
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 55 (6 October 1997)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (1998, 2000)
French Open1R (1999)
US Open3R (1997)
Last updated on: 22 November 2021.

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.

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
Loss1994French OpenClaySpain Sergi Bruguera3–6, 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 Austria Thomas Muster 5–7, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Oct 1993 Athens, Greece World Series Clay Spain Jordi Arrese 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Win 1–2 Nov 1993 São Paulo, Brazil World Series Clay Czech Republic Sláva Doseděl 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1–3 Nov 1993 Buenos Aires, Argentina World Series Clay Spain Carlos Costa 6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win 2–3 Apr 1994 Nice, France World Series Clay United States Jim Courier 6–4, 6–2
Loss 2–4 May 1994 Bologna, Italy World Series Clay Spain Javier Sánchez 6–7(3–7), 6–4, 3–6
Loss 2–5 Jun 1994 Paris, France Grand Slam Clay Spain Sergi Bruguera 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6
Win 3–5 Jul 1994 Stuttgart, Germany Championship Series Clay Italy Andrea Gaudenzi 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win 4–5 Aug 1994 Umag, Croatia World Series Clay Slovakia Karol Kučera 6–2, 6–4
Win 5–5 Oct 1994 Palermo, Italy World Series Clay Spain Àlex Corretja 2–6, 7–6(8–6), 6–4
Win 6–5 Oct 1994 Athens, Greece World Series Clay Spain Óscar Martínez 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win 7–5 Oct 1994 Santiago, Chile World Series Clay Spain Francisco Clavet 6–3, 6–4
Win 8–5 Nov 1994 Montevideo, Uruguay World Series Clay Spain Francisco Clavet 6–4, 6–0
Win 9–5 Jun 1995 Porto, Portugal World Series Clay Spain Carlos Costa 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss 9–6 Nov 1995 Montevideo, Uruguay World Series Clay Czech Republic Bohdan Ulihrach 2–6, 3–6
Win 10–6 Jun 1996 Bologna, Italy World Series Clay Spain Carlos Costa 6–3, 6–4
Win 11–6 Jul 1996 Kitzbühel, Austria World Series Clay Spain Àlex Corretja 6–2, 6–4, 6–4
Win 12–6 Sep 1996 Bucharest, Romania World Series Clay Spain Carlos Moyà 6–1, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 12–7 Sep 1997 Marbella, Spain World Series Clay Spain Albert Costa 3–6, 2–6
Win 13–7 Oct 1997 Palermo, Italy World Series Clay Slovakia Dominik Hrbatý 6–4, 6–2
Win 14–7 Apr 1998 Estoril, Portugal World Series Clay Austria Thomas Muster 3–6, 6–1, 6–3
Loss 14–8 Apr 1998 Barcelona, Spain Championship Series Clay United States Todd Martin 2–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 14–9 Oct 1999 Palermo, Italy World Series Clay France 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 Spain Jordi Burillo Argentina Pablo Albano
Spain Àlex Corretja		 6–3, 7–5
Loss 1–1 Sep 1997 Marbella, Spain World Series Clay Spain Jordi Burillo Morocco Karim Alami
Spain Julian Alonso		 6–4, 3–6, 0–6
Loss 1–2 Sep 1998 Bournemouth, United Kingdom World Series Clay Australia Wayne Arthurs United Kingdom Neil Broad
South Africa Kevin Ullyett		 6–7, 3–6
Loss 1–3 Sep 1999 Mallorca, Spain World Series Clay Spain Francisco Roig Argentina Lucas Arnold Ker
Spain 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 Argentina Roberto Azar 4–6, 2–6
Win 1–1 Feb 1993 Mar del Plata, Argentina Challenger Clay Argentina Martin Stringari 6–2, 7–5
Win 2–1 Aug 1993 Graz, Austria Challenger Clay Spain Carlos Costa 6–4, 6–3
Win 3–1 Sep 1994 Barcelona, Spain Challenger Clay Germany Carl-Uwe Steeb 6–3, 7–5
Win 4–1 Jun 1996 Braunschweig, Germany Challenger Clay Hungary Jozsef Krocsko 6–2, 6–2
Win 5–1 Jul 1996 Venice, Italy Challenger Clay Spain Javier Sánchez 6–2, 6–2
Loss 5–2 Oct 1996 Cairo, Egypt Challenger Clay Brazil Fernando Meligeni 6–3, 1–6, 2–6
Win 6–2 Jun 1997 Zagreb, Croatia Challenger Clay Croatia Ivan Ljubicic 6–1, 6–2
Win 7–2 Oct 1997 Cairo, Egypt Challenger Clay Morocco Karim Alami 7–5, 6–3
Loss 7–3 Nov 2000 Buenos Aires, Argentina Challenger Clay Argentina 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 Spain German Puentes-Alcaniz Slovakia Branislav Galik
Slovenia 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
Tournament199219931994199519961997199819992000SRW–LWin %
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
Tournament19961997199819992000SRW–LWin %
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
  1. Roetert, P. & J.L. Groppel: World-Class Tennis Technique, p. 156. Human Kinetics, 2001.
  2. "In praise of weirdness: Where have you gone, Alberto Berasategui?". The Oregonian. 21 April 2010.
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