Albert Costa

Albert Costa i Casals (Catalan pronunciation: [aɫˈβɛr ˈkɔsta i kaˈzaɫs]; born 25 June 1975) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for winning the Men's Singles title at the French Open in 2002.

Tennis career

Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. He first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player. In 1993, he reached the French Open junior final and won the Orange Bowl. He turned professional later that year and quickly established a reputation as a strong clay court player. Spanish former player and commentator for Spanish television: Andrés Gimeno used to call him "the man with two forehands", because he could hit with the same accuracy and strength both forehand and backhand. In 1994, he won two challenger series events and was named the ATP's Newcomer of the Year.

Costa won his first top-level singles title in 1995 at Kitzbühel, beating the "king of clay", Thomas Muster, in a five set final. Costa won three further titles in 1996. In 1997, he won another two singles titles and was part of the Spanish team that won the World Team Cup. He won another two singles titles in 1998, including the Tennis Masters Series event in Hamburg and played at magnificent level at the French Open, only a brilliant Marcelo Rios could stop him at fourth round, but he established the bases for his future winning in 2002. Three further titles followed in 1999.

In 2000, Costa helped Spain win its first Davis Cup. He also captured a bronze medal in the men's doubles at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, partnering Álex Corretja.

Going into the French Open in 2002, Costa had not won a tour title since 1999 and was not considered to be among the favorites. He defeated Richard Gasquet, Nikolay Davydenko and Andrea Gaudenzi to reach the fourth round, where he defeated defending-champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets. He followed up with a five-set victory over Argentina's Guillermo Cañas in a quarterfinal. He then defeated fellow-Spaniard and long-time friend Corretja in a four-set semifinal. In the final, Costa came up against another Spaniard, Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrero had been in fine form in the run-up to the event and most observers considered him to be the heavy favourite going into the final. But Costa won in four sets – 6–1, 6–0, 4–6, 6–3 – to claim his only Grand Slam title. Costa destroyed Ferrero, who only could win nine points during the first two sets while Costa's service. The win propelled him to his career-high singles ranking of World No. 6 in July 2002.

Coming into the French Open as defending-champion in 2003, Costa spent a total of 21 hours and 15 minutes on court, winning four five-setters before eventually being knocked-out in a semifinal by Ferrero (who won the title).

During his career, Costa won 12 top-level singles titles. In 2005, he captured his first tour doubles title (in Doha, partnering Rafael Nadal).

Citing recurring injuries and lack of desire, he officially announced his retirement from competitive professional tennis on 21 April 2006, at the completion of the Open Seat 2006 in his hometown in Barcelona. In his last tournament, Costa defeated American Vincent Spadea and Slovakian Dominik Hrbatý before losing 6–1, 5–7, 7–5 to Ferrero in the third round.

In December 2008, Costa was named Spain's Davis Cup captain, replacing Emilio Sánchez Vicario.^[1] Costa captained Spain to two Davis Cup triumphs in 2009 and 2011, before handing the captaincy over to Àlex Corretja. Costa was coaching ATP pro Feliciano López.

Personal

Less than a week after his 2002 French Open triumph, Costa married his long-time girlfriend Cristina Ventura. Àlex Corretja was the best man at the wedding. The couple have twin daughters, Claudia and Alma, who were born in April 2001.^[2]

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1-0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2002	French Open	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6–1, 6–0, 4–6, 6–3

Masters Series finals

Singles: 3 (1-2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1996	Monte Carlo	Clay	Thomas Muster	3–6, 7–5, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	1998	Rome	Clay	Marcelo Ríos	walkover
Winner	1998	Hamburg	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–2, 6–0, 1–0, retired

Career finals

Singles

Wins (12)

Legend (Singles)
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (1)
ATP Championship Series (2)
ATP Tour (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	6 August 1995	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Thomas Muster	4–6, 6–4, 7–6^(7-3), 2–6, 6–4
2.	14 July 1996	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Félix Mantilla	4–6, 7–6^(7-2), 6–1, 6–0
3.	11 August 1996	San Marino, San Marino	Clay	Félix Mantilla	7–6^(9-7), 6–3
4.	15 September 1996	Bournemouth, UK	Clay	Marc-Kevin Goellner	6–7^(4-7), 6–2, 6–2
5.	20 April 1997	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Albert Portas	7–5, 6–4, 6–4
6.	14 September 1997	Marbella, Spain	Clay	Alberto Berasategui	6–3, 6–2
7.	10 May 1998	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–2, 6–0, 1–0 retired
8.	1 August 1998	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Andrea Gaudenzi	6–2, 1–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1
9.	11 April 1999	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Todd Martin	7–6^(7-4), 2–6, 6–3
10.	11 July 1999	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	7–6^(7-4), 6–3, 6–4
11.	2 August 1999	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Fernando Vicente	7–5, 6–2, 6–7^(5-7), 7–6^(7-4)
12.	11 June 2002	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6–1, 6–0, 4–6, 6–3

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	2R	1R	1R	A	4R	3R	3R	1R	A	0 / 9	13–9
French Open	A	A	1R	QF	2R	3R	4R	3R	QF	1R	W	SF	3R	1R	A	1 / 12	30–11
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	A	2R	A	2R	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	0 / 5	2–5
US Open	A	A	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	2R	4R	2R	2R	1R	1R	A	0 / 11	6–11
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 2	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 0	1 / 37	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	0–3	4–1	3–4	6–3	5–4	2–4	5–3	3–2	11–2	8–3	4–4	0–3	0–0	N/A	51–36
Summer Olympics
Summer Olympics	A	Not Held			2R	Not Held			1R	Not Held			A	Not Held		0 / 2	1–2
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	2R	1R	3R	1R	2R	2R	3R	A	A	0 / 10	8–10
Key Biscayne	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	3R	4R	2R	2R	2R	SF	2R	A	A	0 / 9	11–9
Monte Carlo	A	A	2R	1R	F	3R	3R	QF	QF	3R	QF	2R	1R	2R	A	0 / 12	22–12
Rome	A	A	2R	1R	SF	3R	F	1R	QF	1R	QF	3R	SF	2R	A	0 / 12	25–11
Hamburg	A	A	A	2R	2R	QF	W	2R	1R	SF	2R	2R	3R	2R	A	1 / 11	19–10
Toronto / Montreal	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	3R	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 3	4–3
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	SF	2R	2R	1R	1R	2R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 7	7–7
Stuttgart / Madrid	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	2R	2R	1R	A	0 / 8	5–8
Paris	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	3R	QF	3R	2R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 7	8–7
Masters Series SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 7	0 / 6	1 / 9	0 / 8	0 / 8	0 / 9	0 / 8	0 / 8	0 / 6	0 / 4	0 / 0	1 / 79	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	0–0	0–0	2–2	1–4	13–7	11–6	19–7	9–8	12–8	11–9	9–8	11–8	8–6	3–4	0–0	N/A	109–77
Year End Ranking	747	221	52	24	13	19	14	18	26	40	9	25	56	116	623	N/A

A = did not play in tournament

Sources

↑ Albert Costa Named Spain's Davis Cup Captain SI.com, 19 December 2008
↑ ATP Player Profile of Albert Costa ATP website, visited 17 April 2009

External links

Albert Costa at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Albert Costa at the International Tennis Federation
Albert Costa at the Davis Cup

French Open men's singles champions

ATP Masters Series: Singles champions

Indian Wells Masters

Miami Masters

Monte-Carlo Masters

Hamburg/Madrid Masters

Rome Masters

Canada Masters

Cincinnati Masters

Stockholm/Essen/Stuttgart/Madrid/Shanghai Masters

Paris Masters

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