Àlex Corretja Verdegay

Born: April 11, 1974 in Barcelona (Cataluña)
Height: 1.80 m
Plays: Right-handed

He grew up in La Salut – the best club in Barcelona, where players such as Manuel Orantes and Juan Aguilera had previously trained. His two older brothers also played tennis, but they weren’t as passionate about it as Álex. His brother Iván even won the national championships at the age of 14, but a serious car accident led to the amputation of his leg. Álex won the Orange Bowl 16s title in 1990 and turned professional the following year, reaching a semifinal in his Challenger debut (Sevilla). In 1992, he notched valuable wins over very experienced older compatriots (Sergio Casal and Emilio Sánchez) in his first ATP events. Later that year, he played his first ATP final (Guarujá), where he lost to Carsten Arriens from Germany (b. 1969, his only main-level final).
The years 1993-94 established him as a dangerous clay-courter who could also be unpredictable on hard courts (in 1994 he defeated Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg in Indianapolis). The years 1995-96 brought generally disappointment (in 1996 he reached the Hamburg final though), especially on clay – Corretja defeated the virtually unbeatable Thomas Muster in Gstaad ’95, only to lose in the following round to Jakob Hlasek, who was already talking about his upcoming retirement.
The turning point in Corretja’s career came at the 1996 US Open (one year before he led two-sets-to-one there against Andre Agassi) – not only did he reach his first major quarterfinal, he also held a match point in an astonishingly tight encounter against Pete Sampras. Each of them won 188 points and struck 25 aces. It was a huge boost of confidence for the Spaniard, who realised that all the hard work he had put into improving his serve had paid off.
Even though Corretja began the 1997 season with seven consecutive defeats (including an accidental Challenger appearance – his only one between 1994 and 2003), he went on to enjoy a very successful year, establishing himself among the Top 5 clay-court players (two Mercedes Super 9 finals against Marcelo Ríos – Monte Carlo and Rome). The year 1998 was by far the best of his career. He had already won three titles (one on clay, two on hard courts) when he arrived in Lyon to begin the indoor season – with a 1:12 record indoors – humiliating for a player of his caliber. Corretja captured the title, saving a match point in the second set against Tommy Haas in the final. It was played on carpet indoors, and the title guaranteed him participation at the “Masters” (Hanover), held on indoor hard courts.
Corretja, already with his first indoor title under his belt, felt very confident. He took advantage of favorable “round robin” circumstances – Agassi’s retirement and Ríos’ withdrawal. Sampras seemed unstoppable, but Corretja found a way to take sweet revenge for the New York loss – he saved three match points to win 7/3 in the deciding tie-break. In my opinion, it’s been the most valuable victory of his career, even though Corretja would be Sampras also in five sets on grass (Davis Cup 2002).
The final against Carlos Moyá (whom he had faced a few months earlier in the French Open final) was open to many possible scenarios. Based on their Head-to-Head, the younger Spaniard was a heavy favorite – Moyá had won all three of their 1998 meetings in straight sets and seemed on his way to a fourth as he easily grabbed the first two sets and created two mini-match points at 5-all. Corretja fought them off and came back from a 1:3* (30/40) deficit in the decider to survive the four-hour battle.
That triumph unexpectedly opened a path for Corretja to become the world No. 1 at the 1999 Australian Open. He needed a semifinal showing, but was already beaten in the second round by the average Christian Ruud. Similar opportunities didn’t arise again, but Corretja maintained a high level on all surfaces for several more years, and captured his second Masters 1K title triumphing at Indian Wells. His elegant movement and heavy topspin off both wings were his main assets. The year 2000 brought a new face of Corretja – a doubles specialist; he won a bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics (alongside Albert Costa) and was victorious in three of four doubles rubbers in the Davis Cup, including the final against Australia.
Certainly, he could have won Roland Garros – it didn’t happen (though he reached at least the quarterfinals five years in a row, including another final in 2001) – but I believe that magnificent triumph in Hanover compensates for the Parisian setbacks.
Trivia: in the late ’90s, Corretja introduced an unorthodox shot to the tour – when running to his backhand side, he was able to strike the ball with the forehand face of his racquet, using a sudden flick of the wrist.
After retirement, Corretja coached Andy Murray (2008-11) and the Spanish Davis Cup team (2012-13), then, as grey hair appeared on his head, he switched to commentary. His legacy places him among the best Open Era players never to win a major final.

Career record: 438–281 [ 293 events ]
Career titles: 17
Highest ranking: No. 2
Best GS results:
Roland Garros (runner-up 1998 and 2001; semifinal 2002; quarterfinal 1999-00)
US Open (quarterfinal 1996)
Masters champion 1998
Davis Cup champion 2000 (played doubles in the final)