Alberto Berasategui - Tennis Career

Tennis Career

Berasategui began playing tennis at age 7 and was the European junior champion in 1991. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1993 in São Paulo. He established a reputation on the tour in the mid 1990s as a very strong clay court player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 7.

In 1994, he reached nine finals, winning seven of them. And he qualified for his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the French Open, where he faced fellow Spaniard and defending champion Sergi Bruguera. Bruguera won the final in four sets, 3–6, 5–7, 6–2, 1–6.

Berasategui won a total of 14 top-level singles titles and 1 tour doubles titles. His career prize-money earnings totalled $4,676,187. His last singles title was won in Estoril in 1998.

He was also known for his extreme western grip where his unusual hold on the racket would allow him to hit both forehands and backhands with the same side of the racket. This helped him on clay, but on other surfaces he did not have much of an impact save for a quarter-finals appearance at the 1998 Australian Open, in which he beat World No. 2, Patrick Rafter, in four sets, and came back from two sets down to beat the 1995 Australian Open champion, Andre Agassi.

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.