Marcelo Ríos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||
| Nickname | El Chino, El zurdo de Vitacura | |
| Country |  Chile |
|
| Residence | Santiago, Chile | |
| Date of birth | December 26, 1975 | |
| Place of birth | Santiago, Chile | |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | |
| Weight | 160 lb (73 kg) | |
| Turned Pro | 1994 | |
| Retired | 2003 | |
| Plays | Left | |
| Career Prize Money | $9,713,771 | |
| Singles | ||
| Career record: | 391 - 192 | |
| Career titles: | 18 | |
| Highest ranking: | 1 (March 30, 1998) | |
| Grand Slam results | ||
| Australian Open | F (1998) | |
| French Open | QF (1997, 1998) | |
| Wimbledon | 4th (1997) | |
| U.S. Open | QF (1997) | |
| Doubles | ||
| Career record: | 36 - 57 | |
| Career titles: | 1 | |
| Highest ranking: | 141 (May 7, 2001) | |
|
Infobox last updated on: January 19, 2007. |
||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pan American Games | ||
| Silver | 2003 Santo Domingo | Men's Singles |
| Silver | 2003 Santo Domingo | Men's Doubles |
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (born December 26, 1975) is a former world number one tennis player from Chile. Nicknamed El Chino ("The Chinese") and El zurdo de Vitacura ("The lefty of Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American player to reach the number one position on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings in 1998. He also held the number one ranking in juniors and seniors.
Contents |
[edit] Tennis career
Ríos was born in Santiago, Chile to Jorge Ríos and Alicia Mayorga. He began playing tennis at the relatively-late age of 11 at the Sport Française country club in Vitacura, Santiago. He was soon recognized for his talented left-hand and reserved personality.
Ríos was ranked the world's No. 1 junior tennis player in 1993 (he was the first male player from Latin America to achieve the top spot). He won the boys' singles title at the US Open that year, and also captured his first Satellite tournament in Chile at the age of 17.
Ríos turned professional in 1994. He won his first Challenger Series tournament at Dresden later that year. In 1995, he won his first top-level tour title at Bologna. He became the first Chilean to be ranked in the world's top 10 in 1996.
In January 1998, Ríos reached his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. Having been in strong form leading up to the final, he entered as a slight favourite against Petr Korda of the Czech Republic. But Korda was in inspired form and brushed a nervous Ríos aside in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
In March 1998, Ríos became the first Latin American male to reach the World No. 1 singles ranking after defeating Andre Agassi in the final of the Miami Masters (then called the Miami Super 9). Ríos held the No. 1 ranking for six weeks, and ended the year ranked at No. 2 behind Pete Sampras. Ríos is currently the only player to have held the No. 1 ranking despite never winning a Grand Slam singles title; his accession to the top spot was one of the events that led to the restructuring of the points and rankings system on the men's tour.[citation needed]
A number of injuries and operations sidelined Ríos from competition during much of 2000 and 2001, with his ranking dropping below the 300s.
In 2004, six years after claiming the No. 1 ranking, and after a long absence from the tour, Ríos returned to competition with a 6-0, 6-0 victory at a Challenger Series tournament in Ecuador.
On July 16, 2004, Ríos announced his retirement from the sport. He organized a farewell tour across his home country, travelling through several cities, meeting with fans, offering tennis clinics, and playing friendly matches with international and local tennis players. The tour ended on December 22, 2004, at a soccer stadium in Santiago, where he played his final tennis match against Guillermo Coria of Argentina.
On March 29, 2006 Ríos —aged 30— debuted on the Merryl Lynch's Tour of Champions, an exclusive senior's competition. Playing on his first senior tournament in Doha, Qatar, he defeated former tennis stars such as Thomas Muster, Henri Leconte, Pat Cash and Cédric Pioline to claim the title. His inclusion on the senior circuit caused mild controversy, as he was significantly younger than many of his fellow competitors.[1] He ended the year as number one, winning a total of six tournaments and holding winning streak of 25 matches.
Ríos was to return to ATP competition in February 2007 at the Viña del Mar tournament (Movistar Open), however he retired with a back injury.
[edit] Personal life
Ríos married Costa Rican Giuliana Sotela in December 2000 in Santiago. He met her while training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Their only daughter, Constanza, was born in June 2001. Soon after returning to competition in 2004, Ríos and his wife split, and their marriage was annulled. During this period, Ríos worked as a sports commentator for a radio station in Chile.
Ríos was remarried in April 2005 to model María Eugenia "Kenita" Larraín , a former fiancée of soccer star Iván Zamorano. The couple subsequently experienced a very public break up in September of the same year after an incident in Costa Rica, in which Larraín was allegedly injured in an accident. Rios claimed that marrying her was "the biggest mistake of my life."
[edit] Controversies
Ríos' career has been marked by a number of controversies.
- He was fined US$10,000 for speeding during the 1998 Stuttgart tournament.
- At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he had been selected as Chile's standard-bearer for the opening ceremony, but refused to parade at the last minute, arguing that the Chilean Olympic Committee (Coch) had left his parents without promised tickets for the ceremony. Nicolás Massú took his place.
- In a confusing incident, he ran over his physical trainer, Manuel Astorga, with his jeep, leaving him gravely injured at the foot. Astorga was later fired as trainer.
- After a magazine published some photos of him dancing seductively with a woman at a Paris disco, he and his girlfriend Giuliana Sotela broke up. Later, during a Davis Cup press conference, he read a letter, asking Sotela for forgiveness. He ended the press conference in tears.
- He was accused by his second wife, Eugenia Larraín, of throwing her off of his car, while visiting his daughter in Costa Rica. Larraín arrived to Santiago's airport in dramatic fashion, on a wheelchair and showing multiple bruises on her legs (he said those bruises were caused by falling while skying).
- He was arrested in Rome in 2001 after he hit a taxi driver and then had a fight with the police men arresting him.
- In 2003, he urinated on a man in a La Serena bar's bathroom. He was later expelled from his hotel after being accused of swimming in the nude.
- In 2003 he and a friend were expelled from a Santiago bar after insulting other clients and being involved in a brawl with some waiters. Both were arrested.
- His second wife, Eugenia Larraín, has said that he has undergone treatment for alcoholism.
- He reportedly told Monica Seles to move her "fat ass" while on a lunch queue, but he has denied this.
- During the Wimbledon tournament he commented that grass was for "cows and soccer" and not suitable for tennis playing.
- He was disqualified from the 2000 Mercedes-Benz Cup tennis tournament in Los Angeles, California during a first round match with Gouichi Motomura of Japan and fined US$5,000 for saying "fuck you" to the chair umpire.
- He insulted a journalist under his breath during a post-match interview after she asked him whether he had Native American ancestry.
[edit] All finals
[edit] Singles wins
[edit] Singles runners-up
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | October 29, 1995 | Santiago, Chile | Clay |  Slava Dosedel |
6-7(3), 3-6 |
| 2. | March 10, 1996 | Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. | Hard |  Wayne Ferreira |
6-2, 3-6, 3-6 |
| 3. | April 21, 1996 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay |  Thomas Muster |
3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6 |
| 4. | November 10, 1996 | Santiago, Chile | Clay |  Hernán Gumy |
4-6, 5-7 |
| 5. | February 16, 1997 | Marseille, France | Hard (i) |  Thomas Enqvist |
4-6, 0-1, retired |
| 6. | May 18, 1997 | Rome Masters | Clay |  Àlex Corretja |
5-7, 5-7, 3-6 |
| 7. | August 24, 1997 | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | Hard |  Sjeng Schalken |
5-7, 3-6 |
| 8. | November 9, 1997 | Santiago, Chile | Clay | Julián Alonso |
2-6, 1-6 |
| 9. | February 1, 1998 | Australian Open | Hard | Petr Korda |
2-6, 2-6, 2-6 |
| 10. | April 25, 1999 | Monte Carlo Masters | Clay |  Gustavo Kuerten |
4-6, 1-2, retired |
| 11. | October 10, 1999 | Shanghai, China | Hard | Magnus Norman |
6-2, 3-6, 5-7 |
| 12. | October 27, 2002 | Stockholm, Sweden | Hard (i) |  Paradorn Srichaphan |
7-6(2), 0-6, 3-6, 2-6 |
| 13. | February 16, 2003 | Viña del Mar, Chile | Clay | David Sánchez |
6-1, 3-6, 3-6 |
[edit] Doubles wins
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1. | July 30, 1995 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Clay | Sjeng Schalken |
 Wayne Arthurs Neil Broad |
7-6(?) 6-2 |
[edit] Doubles runners-up
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1. | March 11, 2001 | Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. | Hard | Sjeng Schalken |
 Donald Johnson Jared Palmer |
6-7(3), 2-6 |
[edit] Team competition wins
- May 25, 2003: World Team Championship, Düsseldorf, Germany (Clay)
[edit] Performance timeline
| Tournament | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | - | - | 1r | QF | RUP | - | - | 1r | QF | - | 0 |
| French Open | 2r | 2r | 4r | 4r | QF | QF | 1r | 2r | - | 1r | 0 |
| Wimbledon | - | 1r | - | 4r | 1r | - | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| US Open | 2r | 1r | 2r | QF | 3r | 4r | 3r | 3r | 3r | - | 0 |
| Grand Slam Win-Loss | 2-2 | 1-3 | 4-3 | 14-4 | 12-4 | 7-2 | 2-2 | 3-3 | 6-2 | 0-1 | 51-26 |
| ATP Tour Championships | - | - | - | - | RR | - | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Indian Wells Masters | - | 3r | SF | 2r | W | 3r | 2r | 1r | 3r | 2r | 1 |
| Miami Masters | - | 3r | 3r | 3r | W | 4r | 4r | 2r | SF | 4r | 1 |
| Monte Carlo Masters | - | - | SF | W | - | F | 1r | 2r | 3r | - | 1 |
| Rome Masters | - | 2r | QF | F | W | 1r | 1r | 2r | - | - | 1 |
| Hamburg Masters | - | - | - | 3r | 2r | W | SF | 2r | - | - | 1 |
| Canada Masters | - | - | SF | - | - | - | 3r | - | 3r | 0 | |
| Cincinnati Masters | - | 1r | - | 3r | 2r | - | 2r | - | 2r | - | 0 |
| Madrid Masters | - | - | QF | QF | QF | QF | - | 3r | 2r | - | 0 |
| Paris Masters | - | - | 2r | 2r | QF | 2r | - | - | 1r | - | 0 |
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
[edit] ATP Tour career earnings
| Year | Majors | ATP wins | Total wins | Earnings ($) | Money list rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1,397,445 | 12 |
| 1998 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3,420,054 | 2 |
| 1999 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1,794,244 | 5 |
| 2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 493,816 | 40 |
| 2001 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 466,025 | 43 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 506,160 | 39 |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 308,140 | 73 |
| Career | 0 | 18 | 18 | 9,713,771 | 30 |
[edit] References
[edit] Sources
- ATP Tour profile for Marcelo Ríos
[edit] External links
- Official site
- ATP Tour profile for Marcelo Ríos
- Marcelo Rios Videos
| Preceded by Pete Sampras Pete Sampras |
World No. 1 March 30, 1998 - April 26, 1998 August 10, 1998 - August 23, 1998 |
Succeeded by Pete Sampras Pete Sampras |
