Marcelo Ríos

Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Ríos 2004
Nation:	Chile
Birthday:	December 26, 1975
Size:	175 cm
1st professional season:	1994
Resignation:	2004
Playing hand:	Left, two-handed backhand
Prize money:	$ 9,713,771
singles
Career record:	391: 192
Career title:	18th
Highest ranking:	1 (March 30, 1998)
Weeks as No. 1:	6th
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	36:57
Career title:	1
Highest ranking:	141 (May 7, 2001)
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (born December 26, 1975 in Santiago de Chile ) is a former Chilean tennis player . In his career he won 18 singles titles. He also reached the final of the Australian Open in 1998 . For six weeks, Ríos led the tennis world rankings , and this as the only player who could not win a single title in a Grand Slam tournament in his career.

Career

Ríos started playing tennis at the age of eleven and was one of the world's best players in his youth. He won the US Open in 1993 and finished the season in first place in the junior world rankings. A year later he started his professional career. In his first season he managed to win a tournament in the Challenger series. He ended 1994 just behind the top 100 in the world rankings.

In 1995 Ríos won his first title on the ATP Tour in Bologna . Two more tournament victories followed in Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur, so that he finished the season in 25th place. Even though he only won one other tournament in the following season, Ríos made it into the top 10 in the meantime . Three finals and three semi-finals each in tournaments of the Super 9 series (now the Masters Series ) contributed significantly to this development . At the French Open , Ríos also made it into the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. In 1997 he won a Super 9 tournament in Monte Carlo for the first time and this season he stayed in the top 10 with four other finals , rank 6 was his best placement. In all four Grand Slam tournaments he reached at least the last sixteen, in Melbourne and New York he had to admit defeat to Michael Chang in the quarterfinals . The season ended Ríos in 10th place in the world rankings.

1998 was the most successful of his professional career. After the opening win in Auckland, he reached the final of the Australian Open, in which he was defeated by the Czech Petr Korda, who was subsequently banned for doping . In the further course of the season Ríos won six titles and on March 30, 1998 he took over the top of the world rankings, which he held for four weeks before Pete Sampras regained the position. In August, Ríos led the ranking again for two weeks. He stayed within striking distance until the end of the year , but at the ATP World Championship he had to cancel his further participation after the opening match. Ríos finished the season in second place. In 1999, he won three more tournaments, but at the Grand Slam tournaments he only reached the quarter-finals in Paris. So he fell back to 8th place in the world rankings.

From the 2000 season, health problems began to affect his performance. In Croatia he won his only tournament of the season, which he finished in 37th place. After a good start to the season in Doha with his 17th career title, Ríos suffered numerous first and second round defeats in 2001. His 18th and last career title in Hong Kong couldn't prevent him from losing two more world rankings at the end of the year. In 2002 he remained without a title for the first time in seven years, but with several semi-finals and the quarter-finals at the Australian Open he worked his way back to the top 25. A year later he had his last season appearance in July; the rest of the season, which he finished outside the top 100 , Ríos said due to injury.

In 2004 he tried a comeback after a seven month break, but failed twice in the round of 16 at Challenger tournaments. He played his last match as a professional in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where he gave up his round of 16 against the Argentine Mariano Delfino when he was 7: 5, 3: 6.

Ríos has been playing regularly on the ATP Champions Tour since 2006 . He finished the 2006 season, in the course of which he won six tournaments, as number 1. In 2007 he wanted to participate again in a professional tournament in Viña del Mar, but he canceled due to a back injury.

Personal

His father is the businessman Jorge Ríos Jarvis and his mother the teacher Alicia Mayorga. Marcelo Ríos has an older sister (Paula).

In December 2000 he married the Costa Rican Giuliana Sotela in Santiago , whom he met while training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. In 2001 his daughter Constanza was born. In 2004, while working for a Chilean radio station, his marriage was annulled. In 2005 he married the model María Eugenia Larraín. This second marriage was divorced after five months.

successes

singles

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (1) ATP Masters Series (5) ATP Tour (12)

Title after covering Hard Court (7) Sand (9) Lawn (0) Carpet (2)

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	May 28, 1995	Bologna	sand	Marcelo Filippini	6: 2, 6: 4
2.	July 30, 1995	Amsterdam	sand	Jan Siemerink	6: 4, 7: 5, 6: 4
3.	October 8, 1995	Kuala Lumpur	Carpet (hall)	Mark Philippoussis	7: 6 6 , 6: 2
4th	May 26, 1996	St. Poelten (1)	sand	Félix Mantilla	6: 2, 6: 4
5.	April 27, 1997	Monte Carlo	sand	Alex Corretja	6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 3
6th	January 18, 1998	Auckland	Hard court	Richard Fromberg	4: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6 3
7th	March 15, 1998	Indian Wells	Hard court	Greg Rusedski	6: 3, 6: 7 15 , 7: 6 4 , 6: 4
8th.	March 29, 1998	Miami	Hard court	Andre Agassi	7: 5, 6: 3, 6: 4
9.	May 17, 1998	Rome	sand	Albert Costa	Where
10.	May 24, 1998	St Poelten (2)	sand	Vincent Spadea	6: 2, 6: 0
11.	October 5, 1998	Grand Slam Cup	Hard court (hall)	Andre Agassi	6: 4, 2: 6, 7: 6 1 , 5: 7, 6: 3
12.	October 18, 1998	Singapore (1)	Carpet (hall)	Mark Woodforde	6: 4, 6: 2
13.	May 9, 1999	Hamburg	sand	Mariano Zabaleta	6: 7 5 , 7: 5, 5: 7, 7: 6 5 , 6: 2
14th	May 23, 1999	St. Poelten (3)	sand	Mariano Zabaleta	4: 4 task
15th	October 17, 1999	Singapore (2)	Hard court (hall)	Mikael Tillström	6: 2, 7: 6 5
16.	July 23, 2000	Umag	sand	Mariano Puerta	7: 6 1 , 4: 6, 6: 3
17th	January 7, 2001	Doha	Hard court	Bohdan Ulihrach	6: 3, 2: 6, 6: 3
18th	September 30, 2001	Hong Kong	Hard court	Rainer Schüttler	7: 6 3 , 6: 2

Double

No	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	July 24, 1995	Amsterdam	sand	Sjeng Schalken	Wayne Arthur's Neil Broad	7: 6, 6: 2

Web links

Commons : Marcelo Ríos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile Marcelo Ríos (English)
• ITF profile Marcelo Ríos (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Marcelo Ríos (English)