Juan Carlos Ferrero (ur. 12 lutego 1980 w Onteniente), tenisista hiszpañski, zwyciêzca wielkoszlemowego turnieju French Open w 2003.
Specjalista gry na kortach ziemnych; na tej nawierzchni ¶wiêci³ najwiêksze sukcesy, m.in. triumf we French Open 2003 (pokona³ w finale Holendra Verkerka), wygrane w wielkich turniejach w Rzymie (2001) i Monte Carlo (2002, 2003); przyczyni³ siê do zdobycia przez Hiszpaniê Pucharu Davisa w 2000 i 2004.
Innymi znacz±cymi osi±gniêciami Juana Carlosa Ferrero by³y m.in.: fina³ French Open 2002 (przegra³ z Albertem Cost±), fina³ US Open 2003 (przegra³ z Andy Roddickiem), fina³ turnieju Masters 2002 (przegra³ z Lleytonem Hewittem), pó³fina³y French Open 2000 i 2001 (dwukrotnie ulega³ pó¼niejszemu triumfatorowi, Kuertenowi).
W pa¼dzierniku 2003 awansowa³ na krótko na pozycjê nr 1 w rankingu ¶wiatowym. Jego kariera by³a kilkakrotnie przerywana powa¿nymi kontuzjami, szczególnie pleców.
Zdobyte tytu³y :
1. Majorka '99
2. Dubaj '01
3. Estoril '01
4. Barcelona '01
5. TMS Rzym '01
6. TMS Monte Carlo '02
7. Hong-Kong '02
8. TMS Monte Carlo '03
9. Valencia '03
10. Roland Garros '03
11. TMS Madryt '03
----------------------
12. Casablanca '09
1r Christoph Rochus 6/2 6/3
1/8 Potito Starace 6/4 7/6
QF Victor Hanescu 6/3 7/5
SF Igor Andreev 7/6 6/3
F Florent Serra 6/4 7/5
Dawniej ¶rednio go lubi³em jak rywalizowa³ z Kuertenem , ale jak przeczyta³em jego biografie,to jak prze¿y³ ¶mieræ matki i obejrza³em kilka meczy to dochodzê do wniosku ze brakuje Juana Carlosa w ¶cis³ej ¶wiatowej czo³ówce. Kolejny specjalista od gry na ziemi którego zniszczy³y kontuzje. To wspania³e, ¿e mimo ukoñczonych 29 lat wci±¿ potrafi wygraæ turniej ATP.
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"Wyj±tkowe miejsce dla mi³o¶ników tenisa, gdzie trenowa³em przez wszystkie lata i sta³em siê numerem 1" - JUAN CARLOS FERRERO
ACADEMIA DE TENIS EQUELITE - JUAN CARLOS FERRERO
Historia
Akademia ta zosta³a za³o¿ona w 1995 roku przez Antonio Martineza Cascalesa w celu kontynuowania pracy z juniorami która zapocz±tkowa³ w latach 80. Wraz z grupami zawodników zdobywa³ wiele narodowych tytu³ów mistrzowskich, w tym dru¿ynowe mistrzostwo Hiszpanii do lat 16.
Liderem tamtej dru¿yny by³ Juan Carlos Ferrero, wówczas najlepszy gracz ¶wiata do lat 14. I w³a¶nie w celu szkolenia tych ¶wietnych graczy w Villenie (w zasadzie 4 km od Villeny - 50 od Alicante, 120 od Walencji i 350 od Madrytu) powsta³a ta akademia. Co¶ co by³o w 1995 roku by³o ma³ym i skromnym obiektem z zaledwie 2 kortami, jest obecnie jednym z najlepszych o¶rodków tenisowych na ¶wiecie.
Trenuj± tu tacy gracze jak Ferrero, Ferrer,Ventura, Fyrstenberg czy ostatnio Domachowska i G.Garcia-Lopez. Kilka razy w roku trenuj± tu panie Henin i Szarapowa.
Powierzchnia Akademii to 120 tys metrow kwadratowych.
Wyposa¿ona jest w :
* 10 kortów ziemnych
* 7 kortów "TechTennis"
* 1 hale "TechTennis"
* 1 kort centralny "TechTennis"
* 1 kort z nawierzchnia ze sztucznej trawy
* 1 padel
* 1 boisko do pi³ki no¿nej oraz siatkówki pla¿owej
* 1 bie¿niê
* pe³ne zakwaterowanie
* o¶rodek kszta³cenia ESO/Bachillerato (gimnazjum/liceum)
* bibliotekê
* sale-¶wietlicê dla zawodników
* sale tv dla zawodników
* internet
* kawiarnie i restauracje
* 2 baseny, ogrody
* 1 si³owniê
* hotel
* pralnie
* klinikê fizjoterapeutyczna
* sklep sportowy
* boisko do pi³ki no¿nej 7 (naturalna nawierzchnia)
* pole golfowe
* saunê
* jacuzzi
miesiêcznik "Tenis"
wiêcej na stronie : www.equelite.com
Ja tam bardzo tego zawodnika cenie. Na cegle momentami gra naprawde pieknie. Ale jedyny jego mecz, ktory jako tako pamietam to ten z Fedem z Wimbla 2005.
Roland Garros
1st Fererro def. Kratochvil 7-5, 7-5, 6-4
2nd Fererro def. Massu 6-2, 3-0 RET
3rd Fererro def. Henman 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1, 7-5
4th Fererro def. Mantilla 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-3
QF Fererro def. Gonzalez 6-2, 7-5, 7-5
SF Fererro def. Costa 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 8-6
F Fererro def. Verkerk 6-1, 6-3, 6-2
BRAVO !!!
SF Fererro def. Costa 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-8
Hm, czy¿by przegra³ w 1/2 ?
Racja sorry
Podnosi siê po kontuzjach by³ ju¿ blisko drugiej setki rankingu, ale teraz siê podniós³ jednak nie wydajê mi sie ¿eby by³o go staæ jeszcze na jakies dobre wyniki, chocia¿ QF Wimbledonu temu zaprzecza
The Net Post: Juan Carlos Ferrero is smart choice for Spain
Nine years ago, when Barcelona last played host to the Davis Cup final, the Spanish team were preceeded on to court by a flag-bearer whose impact on the sport was something we have come to marvel at. An unabashed 14-year-old Rafael Nadal strode out that first day followed by the Spanish captain Javier Duarte, Juan Carlos Ferrero - who may be a team-mate of Nadal's in this year's final - Albert Costa, now the captain, Alex Corretja, Nadal's hero, and Joan Balcells, the doubles specialist.
Spain were to defeat Australia in a final laced with emotion on court and off, in which Duarte and John Newcombe, the visiting captain, would lock horns ferociously; when Ferrero, whose match-winning backhand down the line against Lleyton Hewitt remains a vivid memory, was carried shoulder-high to greet his namesake, King Juan Carlos, in the front row of the crowd and when the Net Post was harangued in one press conference by Duarte as 'the man who keeps asking the ridiculous questions". Some things don't change. (Duarte, back after a long absence as coach to Tommy Robredo, exchanged a worryingly knowing glance with the NP on the steps of the hotel in Shanghai yesterday).
Once again, the final will be played on dead red clay which suits Nadal, the four-times Roland Garros champion down to the ground. Fernando Verdasco could be a singles pick but is more likely to figure with Feliciano Lopez in the doubles, which leaves the choice of the fourth member of the team - who may just need to win the conclusive rubber of the tie - as the most compelling.
Ferrero, approaching his 30th birthday, wants desperately to play, as he did in both the quarter- and semi-finals. Remarkably his clay court form earlier this year - a victory in Casablanca aside - was decidedly patchy. He played better on grass, reaching the semi-finals of the AEGON Championships at Queen's and the quarters of Wimbledon, where he was beaten on both occasions by Andy Murray. Ferrero recovered to reach the clay-court final in Umag, Croatia, in July and his hard-court season culminated with a fourth-round loss at the US Open to Juan Martin del Potro, the eventual champion.
Back inside the world's top 20, and with such a distinctive past record, Ferrero presents a compelling case for inclusion. None of David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro or Robredo can match his experience or gravitas and that may be the spark that Spain requires. We can be sure captain Costa will be keeping a weather eye on the opening round of the Shanghai Masters today, when, of all people, Ferrero meets Radek Stepanek, who will be the Czech No 1 for the final. The pair have not met for three years; the last time, at Wimbledon in 2006, the Czech prevailed 11-9 in the fifth set of their third-round match.
#13) Costa do Sauipe 2010
R32 Schwank 76 63
R16 Massu 62 57 62
1/4 Berlocq 63 62
1/2 Mello 64 62
F Kubot 61 60
#14) Buenos Aires 2010
R32 Mello 6/1 6/2
R16 Daniel 6/2 6/4
1/4 Ventura 6/3 3/6 6/2
1/2 Monaco 6/2 7/6
F Ferrer 5/7 6/4 6/3
JCF tak jak przed rokiem Robredo wygra³ 2 te same turnieje nastêpuj±ce po sobie w Ameryce Po³udniowej. Fajnie, ¿e Juan potrafi jeszcze wygrywaæ :) .
El Moskito wskoczy³ na 16 pozycjê w rankingu ATP ! :)
Chcia³bym aby uda³o mu siê jeszcze przed zakoñczeniem kariery awansowaæ do czo³owej 10.. Dobre wystêpy we wiosennych mastersach mog± mu to zapewniæ :)
Ferrero can go out in style
Juan Carlos Ferrero celebrating his 30th birthday by winning two titles in as many weeks is a terrific achievement.
Andre Agassi showed the way, winning the Australian Open at the age of 32 and then making the final in Flushing Meadows when he was a ripe old 35.
Ferrero can take heart from those achievements - and if anybody deserves to enjoy an unexpectedly bright twilight of his career, it's him.
I remember talking to Juan Carlos back in 2003. He'd just won the French Open and was knocking on the door of becoming the world number one, but just couldn't understand why nobody considered him a threat at Wimbledon.
Everyone else considered him a clay court specialist even though he always thought his game was good on any surface; he always had that confidence in himself and was tilting for the top titles.
He even proved himself right later that year, making the US Open final and taking the world number one spot.
The way he got hit by illness and injury soon after - specifically a severe bout of chicken pox and a wrist injury - was a real shame. He's the kind of player who takes those knocks badly: he's more a feel player than a power player, and needs everything to be working for him if he's to hit the heights.
Last year he came out of years in the doldrums to win his first title since that superb 2003 season, and now looks like he's flying.
So much so, that he's got every chance of getting into the top 10 by the time Roland Garros comes around.
If he does he'll have a decent seeding to give himself a chance of a good run. And if Rafael Nadal's injury woes continue, Ferrero will quite realistically have an outside chance of capping his late career resurgence with another Grand Slam title.
I koniec rozpusty. Juan trafi³ z form±, gra³ bardzo du¿o i z³apa³ kolejn± kontuzje. Póki co nie zagra w spotkaniu 1.rundy Pucharu Davisa.
No, ale ta jego 14 pozycja w rankingu Entry robi wra¿enie. :o
Juan Carlos’ Golden Touch
Juan Carlos Ferrero has already built a lasting legacy on and off the court, but following his resurgence during this year’s Golden Swing, the 30-year-old Spaniard is intent on a return to the Top 10.
Juan Carlos Ferrero has well-articulated responses for everything, but ask the amiable and unfailingly polite Spaniard what accomplishment he’s most proud of, and for once he’s unable to come up with an answer.
“I don’t know. I have to think this,” he says with a laugh. “Can we pass on this one?”
It’s a fitting reaction from a man who’s accomplished more than one could even imagine achieving in a lifetime, yet continues to dream big.
If there were ever a how-to guide on building a lasting legacy by the age of 30, Juan Carlos Ferrero would be the quintessential player to profile.
“I try to be successful in all things I do,” says Ferrero. “I think it’s very important in life, when you’re working so hard with anything, you want to have something back. I think it’s normal.”
His success on the tennis court may have paved the way for his off-court endeavours, but his academy, hotel and tournament – collaborations with long-time coach Antonio Martinez Cascales – are each thriving in their own right, delivered with the Ferrero signature of class.
Today, the Equelite-Juan Carlos Ferrero in Villena is a high profile training base attracting promising young talents and pros alike. “This is a stand alone academy and is probably the nicest one I have been to,” wrote Andy Murray’s mother Judy upon a visit.
Hotel Ferrero, a cottage in nearby Bocairente refurbished into a 12-suite luxury lodging, is poised for Michelin star status and landed on the Condé Nast Traveler’s Hot List upon its grand opening in July 2007.
The Valencia Open, originally a modest clay court tournament held in the spring, has transformed into an elite ATP World Tour 500 hard court tournament held at one of the most stunning venues on the circuit, the Agora in the City of Arts and Sciences.
“I think it’s always important the quality that you want to do it in all things,” Ferrero explains, “not only in tennis or investments.”
FerreroDavid Ferrer, a part-owner of the Valencia Open 500, says: “He pays attention to all the details in his businesses, and with the help of his coach Toni Cascales, they are a great team.”
It seems almost impossible to think that a professional tennis player has time to juggle these ventures in between training and travel, but Ferrero asserts, “It’s not difficult. You have time to manage this, and I have a lot of people that are working on all of this. They have my confidence in all these works. I think a tennis career is very short and you have to do something for the future. I think my investment is going very well, having all these things. We will see what I’m going to do next.”
But for now, Ferrero’s main goal is a return to the top echelon of the tennis ladder.
“He's dedicated to his tennis at the moment,” says Cascales. “We've tried to put him into some other businesses with a view to life after tennis. But at the moment he's totally focused on his tennis, although he does like to help out young players in the academy who want to work, learn and improve.”
A fortune-teller predicted that 2003 would be Ferrero’s year. Manned with that certainty, the player whom the Spanish media had already anointed king went out and seized his opportunities.
In a five-month span, he fulfilled a childhood dream of winning Roland Garros, defeated Andre Agassi in the US Open semi-finals to claim the World No. 1 ranking, and proved that a Spaniard had the ability to excel on hard courts as he reached the US Open final.
FerreroBut with the spectacular highs of 2003 came the challenge in maintaining that same level of success. With a variety of maladies thrown into the mix in the years to follow – including a bout with chicken pox just months after reaching World No. 1 – Ferrero’s self-belief took a hit.
“When you get injured a lot, you go to the court and you go with no confidence because you're injured a lot and you're more worried about the injury you're going to have, but that's tennis,” Ferrero told the press in Canada last year. “It's quite tough to play like this.”
Although Ferrero posted solid results – reaching a final each year, the semi-finals at the 2004 Australian Open and the quarter-finals in 2007 at Wimbledon – he was unable to win a title.
“It was a difficult time for a player who had been No. 1 and won many important tournaments,” says Cascales. “Tennis is an individual sport and if things in your life are not quite right, whether it be physically or mentally, it's hard to perform at 100 percent.”
In the wake of Marat Safin’s announced retirement last season, rumours circulated that Ferrero – who had dropped outside the Top 100 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time since 1999 – would soon be following in the former World No. 1’s footsteps.
And then relief came in April 2009 at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca, where Ferrero had reached the semi-finals on his ATP World Tour debut 10 years earlier. After 110 tournaments without lifting a trophy, he finally ended the title-drought.
“That title helped me a lot,” admits Ferrero. “After that I take the confidence with me again. I could play with no stress.”
But Casablanca was just a preface to Ferrero’s long-awaited resurgence. In a near perfect three-week stretch during the 2010 Latin American ‘Golden Swing’, the Spaniard appeared invincible once again. “It’s difficult to feel like this, but of course I felt like I was playing very well and the opponent has to play better than me to beat me,” he says. “In that moment it was difficult to play better than me because I was playing 100 percent.”
Two days after celebrating his 30th birthday, he contested his 30th ATP World Tour final and was in devastating form as he dropped just one game against Poland’s Lukasz Kubot at the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe.
He rallied past top-seeded countryman Ferrer the following week at the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 2001, and afterwards stated: “My goal is to get back to the Top 10. This victory makes me believe in this goal.”
His exceptional clay run continued at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Acapulco as the Spaniard won his 14th straight match – the second-longest winning streak of his career. Though he lost to Ferrer in the final, his performance in South America elevated Ferrero to No. 14 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings.
Ferrero, who thrived on self-belief during his 2003 season, stresses the importance of the results – “The South American tournaments gave me a lot of confidence to get going, keep working pretty hard as I was doing it before” – and pinpoints his mental work as an integral part of his success. “In the past during my career I was very focused on the results of the match,” he says. “Now I’m working on trying to play all points at the same level and it doesn’t matter the score you have in front.”
Mentally, Ferrero may be prepared, but his physical condition will be the biggest question mark heading into Roland Garros. The Spaniard has struggled with a knee injury since the Abierto Mexicano Telcel final, and recorded modest results on the transition to European clay. Though he reached the quarter-finals at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, posting an upset over World No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the process, he made early exits at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell, the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome and then withdrew from the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open.
FerreroBut the silver lining may be that Ferrero’s performance in February showed that the 30 year old still has what it takes be a true contender. “I don't see his game being that different [from 2003] especially when he's playing well, like when he played in Buenos Aires and Acapulco this year,” Cascales says. “He's playing at the same level, but maybe what is sometimes missing is a bit of consistency.
“I hope he can arrive well in Roland Garros physically and playing good tennis. I can see him getting through quite a few rounds at Roland Garros but you have to take it one match at a time.”
Ferrero reached the semi-finals on his first two visits to Roland Garros, the final the following year and hoisted the Coupe des Mousquetaires on his fourth try. Since then he hasn’t managed to advance beyond the third round, but should fitness be in his favour, this may be his chance to reclaim glory.
Ferrer has every faith in his countryman: “He's one of the best players in history on clay… I think he can win Roland Garros again. Nadal and Federer will be there but Juan Carlos will be right there behind them. Why not?”
For a man who has met with success in each of his endeavours, anything is possible.
Ferrero’s tennis career was nearly derailed before it began, devastated at the age of 16 by the loss of his mother to cancer, but he made a decision to honour her memory by continuing on with the sport.
His choice has given his family, friends and all of Valencia many different reasons to be proud.
“From a tennis point of view, the fact that he's been No. 1 in the world, more than Grand Slam, Davis Cup, Masters [1000] wins,” Cascales says. “It's very difficult to be No. 1 in the world. Many great players haven't achieved that. As a person, I'm proud of his loyalty.”
Ferrer points to the quality of his character. “He’s an even better person than he is a player, which is very difficult. He's very humble, a great friend, and very generous.”
As for Ferrero himself? He concludes, “I’m very proud of all the things I’ve done.”
#15) Umag 2010
R32 bye
R16 Pablo Cuevas 4-6 6-4 6-4
Q Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1 6-2
S Andreas Seppi 6-4 6-2
W Potito Starace 6-4 6-4
Bardzo dobre spotkanie rozegrane z Potito, który zrobi³ na mnie psore wra¿enie w Umag. Cieszy mnie fakt, ze Juanqui nadal wygrywa i gra tenis na wysokim poziomie
Ferrero ma problemy z nadgarstkiem i w tym sezonie ju¿ nie zagra
Turniej w Walencji odbêdzie siê bez jego w³a¶ciciela w stawce zawodników, Juana Carlosa Ferrero. Ex lider rankingu ATP jest kontuzjowany de facto ju¿ od stycznia, ale jego cia³o powiedzia³o basta dopiero teraz.
Ferrero, który w lutym wygra³ 14 kolejnych meczów (Costa do Sauípe-Buenos Aires-Acapulco), cierpi z powodu urazu ¶ciêgna w lewym kolanie i prawym nadgarstku. - Gdyby chodzi³o tylko o kolano, prawdopodobnie móg³by graæ - mówi Antonio Martínez Cascales, jego trener.
Martínez jest jednocze¶nie dyrektorem turnieju rangi 500 w hali Ágora (30 pa¼dziernika - 7 listopada). Ferrero tam nie wyst±pi, bo w³a¶nie przeszed³ zabieg (artroskopiê), która ma rozwi±zaæ problem towarzysz±cy mu od wystêpu w Australii. To znaczy, ¿e 30-latek spod Walencji przez lwi± czê¶æ sezonu gra³ kontuzjowany, a mimo to wszed³ do Top 15 rankingu.
Rehabilitacja potrwa do czterech tygodni, ale wed³ug Nacho Muñoza, prywatnego lekarza Ferrero (zajmuj± siê nim tak¿e ci sami medycy kojarzeni z Raf± Nadalem), mistrz Roland Garros 2003 potrzebuje dwóch miesiêcy, by wróciæ do normalnej dyspozycji.
2010 w liczbach
Ranking: 29
Turnieje: 3 (Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires, Umag)
Fina³y: 1 (Acapulco)
Mecze: 33-14
Zarobki: $731,394
Juan Carlos Ferrero opu¶ci pocz±tek 2011 roku, nie zagra w Australian Open.
http://www.livetennis.it/post/64095/aus … ificazioni
Hiszpanowi dalej dokucza nadgarstek, ¿e nie zagra³ w tym sezonie (w zasadzie to od USO) ani jednego spotkania? Orientuje siê kto¶?
jaccol55 napisał:
Hiszpanowi dalej dokucza nadgarstek, ¿e nie zagra³ w tym sezonie (w zasadzie to od USO) ani jednego spotkania? Orientuje siê kto¶?
Ponoæ ju¿ trenuje. Zrezygnowa³ ze startu w IW, by móc korzystaæ z rankingu chronionego podczas clay court swing w Europie (w po³owie marca mija 6 miesiêcy od ostatniego rozegranego turnieju). Nie znam planów JCF, ale wydaje mi siê, ¿e jak na rasowego po³udniowca przysta³o odpu¶ci on Miami, by wróciæ na pocz±tek sezonu wiosennego na europejskiej m±czce. ;)
Ferrero: I feel like a tennis player again
Juan Carlos Ferrero has returned to the tennis circuit at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell with a straight set victory (6-4, 6-2) against Xavier Malisse. The Spaniard admitted after the match that he “felt better than he expected, actually like a real tennis player again” during his combeback. Ferrero played his last match at the US Open last year.
Ten years after claiming the Trofeo Conde de Godó title, Ferrero came to Barcelona with the goal to “finish the match without injuries, as it is still early in the day to set higher objectives. For now, staying injury-free is the most important thing”.
“I have to gain back my confidence. It’s not that I have to start from zero, but I never suffered from such a severe injury. I want to keep competing on the highest level for at least two or three more years”, said Ferrero at the press conference.
The Spaniard is facing now facing Michael Zverev, who replaced injured Andy Murray. Ferrero admitted that he “would have had fewer chances against Andy. He is playing on a very high level. Now it looks better for me against Zverev”.
A history lesson courtesy of King Juan Carlos
Should you find yourself outside a court where Juan Carlos Ferrero is playing, then sit down and start watching. First of all, the Spaniard is now 31 years old and his appearances and Roland Garros will not continue indefinitely. And secondly, we should not forget that at the turn of the millennium, he it was who wrote his name in the annals of the tournament alongside Gustavo Kuerten.
The latter half of his career has seen him fly under most people's radars, but the man who shares his name with his country's monarch also enjoyed a time when he reigned supreme on red clay. Back then, the question was not: "Will he win Roland Garros?" but "How many times?"
The answer turned out to be just once, almost a crime when you consider the potential he had as a teenager who, despite a slim physique, had a powerful forehand and a real eye for the angles of the court. People first sat up and took notice when he won the Majorca Open in 1999, bagging an ATP title in his first season up with the pros, no less.
2000 saw him continue where 1999 left off and start to fulfil his potential. At his first French Open, he defeated Mark Philippoussis and Alex Corretja before locking horns with Kuerten in the semi-final in a match which observers still remember to this day. Five sets of ultra-high intensity, with the young upstart coming oh so close to ousting the Brazilian who was en route his second of three French Open titles (7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3). People were hoping that this would be the first of many battles between the two…
"Juanqui" became a national hero in December of that year by helping Spain capture its first ever Davis Cup, but by the time the 2001 clay season rolled around, the terrible twosome were soon at it again. Kuerten won in Monte Carlo, Ferrero in Barcelona. Rome saw them face off in the final, with the Spaniard coming out on top in another five-set thriller (3-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2). The draw at Roland Garros pitted them together in the semi-final, and the spectators settled in for another battle which everyone expected to go the distance.
The match was indeed a classic, but in a different way. Kuerten, who had looked out-of-sorts all fortnight, pulled out one of the best performances of his career and booked a final berth on the back of a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win.
We did not realise it at the time, but we had witnessed the grand finale between those two, as "Guga's" hip was already beginning to cry foul. And despite the fact that a painful groin cut short his progress the following year, Ferrero won the French Open crown that he so richly deserved in 2003. A few months later after making the final of the US Open, "King" Juan Carlos became world No.1.
Noah: "Don't stop at one title like I did"
"Don't stop at one title like I did!" joked Yannick Noah as he handed over the Coupe des Mousquetaires to Ferrero, but his words would turn out to be hauntingly prophetic. Ferrero was only 23 at the time, but his best years were already behind him, and his fall from the pinnacle of the sport would be one of the big surprises of the decade. 2004 saw him suffer from chicken pox and then rib and wrist injuries which all conspired to keep him out of action. When he returned, he found that things had changed: Roger Federer had become the undisputed No.1, while a young Rafael Nadal had already laid down a marker when it came to clay.
Ferrero soon realised the enormity of the task which lay ahead of him and by his own admission, struggled to find his motivation. After all, with a Roland Garros trophy and a Davis Cup in his cabinet, he had already achieved everything that he had dreamt of as a young player…
The Spaniard has continued to struggle with his fitness and had many an up-and-down year, though he has added another two Davis Cups to his already impressive resume. His head-to-heads against the players in the top 10 are more than respectable, proving that while form is temporary, class is permanent.
What is perhaps a little sad is that Ferrero has never managed to recapture his form at Roland Garros, and what fans would give to see him involved in another French Open epic like the ones he enjoyed against Kuerten, his good friend Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and even Andre Agassi towards the end of the latter's career.
He is unlikely to go deep at many tournaments nowadays, but true fans know exactly how much Ferrero contributed to clay-court tennis in general and Roland Garros in particular. So if you see his name on the order of play this year, you can be sure that a healthy crowd with gather to watch him, even if he is plying his trade on one of the outside courts. Grab a seat, and find out whether the world No.73 is capable of turning back the clock to 2003…
Sprzed roku:
#16) Stuttgart 2011
R32 Bastian Knittel (GER) 6-2 6-4
R16 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2
Q Marcel Granollers (ESP) 6-4 6-3
S Federico Delbonis (ARG) 3-6 6-4 6-4
W Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-4 6-0