Mariano Zabaleta
Zabaleta (left) with Carlos Moyà |
| Country |
 Argentina |
| Residence |
Tandil, Argentina |
| Date of birth |
February 28 1978 (1978--) (age 29) |
| Place of birth |
Tandil, Argentina |
| Height |
m ({{FORMATNUM:5 ft 11+1⁄2 in}}) |
| Weight |
77 kg (169 lb) |
| Turned Pro |
1996 |
| Plays |
Right |
| Career Prize Money |
US$3,136,253 |
| Singles |
| Career record: |
202-209 |
| Career titles: |
3 |
| Highest ranking: |
No. 21 (April 3, 2000) |
| Grand Slam results |
| Australian Open |
3rd (2000) |
| French Open |
4th (2002, 2003) |
| Wimbledon |
1st (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) |
| U.S. Open |
QF (2001) |
| Doubles |
| Career record: |
12-35 |
| Career titles: |
0 |
| Highest ranking: |
No. 174 (July, 2003) |
|
Infobox last updated on: August 19,
2007.
|
Mariano Zabaleta (born February 28, 1978 in
Tandil, Buenos Aires Province) is a professional
male tennis player from Argentina. He
turned professional in 1996. Zabaleta is known for his unusual service motion which is effective
and fighting spirit. His best shot is his forehand and favourite surface is clay.
Career
Zabaleta was an outstanding junior in 1995 and finished the year as number 1 with a junior
career record of 81-6, with his only loss in 1995 to Peter Wessels at the quarter finals
of the US Open[1].
Zabaleta won three of the major junior events in 1995. The Italian Open juniors without
losing a set against Martin Lee in the final 6-4 6-2 and followed that up with
French Open juniors which was also achieved without dropping a set and he defeated
compatriot Mariano Puerta 6-2 6-3 as he had done four times in 1995 and not losing a set
in the process. Zabaleta finished his junior career with victory in the Orange Bowl
over Tommy Haas 6-2 3-6 6-1 and that was the only set he dropped in the tournament [2].
Zabaleta struggled inititally with the transition from juniors to seniors. In 1996 he won his
first Challenger event in Birmingham,
Alabama over Bill Behrens 6-4 6-4 and his quarter final performance in Bournemouth was his best showing on the main tour.
In 1997 he made the final of the Guayaquil Challenger losing to Tomas Nydahl. In 1998 Zabaleta reached the third round of the French
Open as a qualifier and defeated the number 2 player in the world and reigning Australian Open champion Petr Korda 6-0, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 before
losing to Hicham Arazi. Later in the year Zabaleta made his first semifinal in
Amsterdam losing to Magnus Norman and then in November
he won his first ATP title as a senior at Bogotá defeating Ramon
Delgado 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
In 1999 Zabaleta was a finalist on three occasions without winning a title, his best perfornance was reaching the final of the
Hamburg Masters against Marcelo Ríos. Zabaleta
served for the match in the fourth set and lost the set in the tiebreak and lost the match 6-7(5) 7-5 5-7 7-6(5) 6-2. Zabaleta
lost to Rios again in St Pölten and in Amsterdam to
Younes El Aynaoui.
Zabaleta reached the third round of the 2000 Australian Open his best ever showing at
the event before losing to Andre Agassi, but he was involved in an Americas Zone Group
Davis Cup tie with rivals Chile in Santiago when Zabaleta was leading [[]] 7-5 2-6 7-6(1) 3-1, sections of the Chilean crowd incensed by
what was perceived to be bad calls against Nicolás Massú threw missiles, fruit, coins, bottles, plastic chairs among other
things. Zabaleta’s father was hurt in the disturbances and required 10 stitches and the Argentines did not complete the tie after
they were escorted from the court by police. [3] Zabaleta reached the third round of the Olympics in Sydney defeating
Marcelo Ríos and Jeff Tarango before losing to
Max Mirnyi.
While there were no titles in 2001 and 2002 for Zabaleta, he
achieved his best ever Grand Slam performance surprisingly at the US Open where he made the quarter finals on a fast hardcourt, whereas most of success has come on the
clay. He defeated Sebastien Grosjean who was in the top
10 at the time, in the first round, then Taylor Dent, Greg
Rusedski and Xavier Malisse were beaten before Marat
Safin ended his run. He also reached the fourth round of the 2002 French
Open defeating top 10 player Yevgeny Kafelnikov and falling to
Alex Corretja.
2003 was Zabaleta’s best year overall with a 33-25 record and for the first time a positive record on both hardcourt 12-11 and
on clay 20-11. He made the semis in Auckland and Scottsdale
losing to Gustavo Kuerten and Mark
Philippoussis respectively, he made first his final since 1999 at Acapulco in the
process avenging the defeat in Auckland by Gustavo
Kuerten in the semi finals before losing to Agustin Calleri.
Zabaleta matched his fourth round showing from the previous year at the French
Open losing to Guillermo Coria in a match that lasted over 4 hours and 40 minutes
and went to 5 sets. Then Zabaleta won his second title in Båstad defeating Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-4. At the after match presentation the organisers played a recording of the
ABBA song "Money, Money, Money" that Zabaleta made
with Younes El Aynaoui which the crowd enjoyed and had a good laugh about. [4]. Zabaleta followed up with a semi final in Kitzbühel losing to reigning French Open champion
Juan Carlos Ferrero.
In 2004 Zabaleta had defended his title in Båstad against childhood friend and
French Open champion Gastón Gaudio 6-1 4-6
7-6(4). He made the semi finals of the Italian Open defeating Tim Henman and Nicolás Massú who were both in the top 15 at the time,
before losing to Carlos Moyà. He also had quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Kitzbühel.
Zabaleta started 2005 with quarter final appearances in Viña del Mar losing to
Fernando González. After pushing the world number 1 Roger Federer to 3 sets in TMS Miami. In the quarter finals of the
Monte Carlo Masters, Zabaleta was leading David
Ferrer by a set and had to be carried off the court with a foot injury which kept him out for two months and he missed the
French Open in the process. He came back to play in Båstad and lost in the quarter finals to Tomáš Berdych and made the semi
finals in Kitzbühel and after a series of poor results, then he had surgery on his
knee.
Zabaleta continued to suffer knee problems in 2006 and finished outside the top 100 for the first time since 1997. He started 2007 by winning the La Serena Challenger defeating
Juan-Pablo Brzezicki and was a finalist in Florianopolis losing to Óscar Hernández. After qualifying for the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Zabaleta reached the final
without losing a set and in the process defeated both finalists from 2006 Mardy Fish and
Jürgen Melzer before losing to Croat Ivo Karlović.
Zabaleta won the Bermuda Challenger and with this victory is back inside the top 100 in the
ATP rankings.
Personal and miscellaneous
In 2004 he started his own show called Tenis Pro in which he takes the video camera
with him to all the tournaments and highlights life on tour in a light hearted manner and along with Juan Ignacio Chela conduct various interviews with other players, along with other various skits.
Singles titles (6)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (0) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (3) |
| ITF Titles (3) |
Singles Finalist (5)
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Ramon Delgado
Båstad
Nicolas Lapentti
La
Serena
Bermuda
Frank Dancevic
