Nicolás Massú

Nicolás Massú

Massú at 2007 Australian Open
Country (sports)	Chile
Residence	Viña del Mar
Born	October 10, 1979 Viña del Mar
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro	1997
Retired	27 September 2013[1]
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,286,614
Singles
Career record	257–233 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 9 (September 13, 2004)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2005)
French Open	3R (2004, 2006)
Wimbledon	3R (2001)
US Open	4R (2005)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	Gold Medal (2004)
Doubles
Career record	81–98 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 31 (July 25, 2005)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2008)
French Open	SF (2005)
Wimbledon	2R (2005)
US Open	QF (2004)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	Gold Medal (2004)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	QF (2006, 2010)

Medal record
Men's tennis
Representing  Chile
Olympic Games
	2004 Athens	Singles
	2004 Athens	Men's Doubles

Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (born October 10, 1979), nicknamed Vampiro (Spanish: "vampire"), is a Chilean former tennis player, a former World No. 9 in singles, and a winner of two Olympic gold medals. He is the only male player to have won both the singles and doubles gold medals during the same games in modern Olympic tennis (since 1988).^[2] Massú also reached the final of the 2003 Madrid Masters and won six singles titles.

Tennis career

Early years

Massú was born in a family of Palestinian and Hungarian-Jewish descent and introduced to tennis at age five by his grandfather, Ladislao Fried. From age 12, he was trained at the Valle Dorado tennis academy, near Villa Alemana, by Leonardo Zuleta, with whom he perfected his forehand and double-handed backhand. He later trained at the Nick Bollettieri academy, in Florida, United States, alongside Marcelo Ríos, and later at the High Performance Center in Barcelona, Spain.

Juniors

Massú became a professional tennis player in 1997. That year, he won the prestigious juniors year-end Orange Bowl tournament. He also claimed the boys doubles competitions at Wimbledon (with Peru's Luis Horna) and the US Open (with countryman Fernando González), and was junior doubles world champion in 1997 (and No. 5 in singles).

Junior Slam results – Singles:

Australian Open: –
French Open: 3R (1997)
Wimbledon: QF (1996)
US Open: QF (1997)

ATP Tour

In August 1998, Massú won his first Futures tournament, in Spain. The following month, he claimed his first Challenger event, in Ecuador. He won his second Challenger tournament in June 1999, in Italy. In September 1999, he successfully defended his title in Ecuador. In November 1999, he won the Santiago Challenger event, and cracked the top 100 in singles for the first time.

In May 2000, Massú reached his first ATP tournament final, at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Orlando, Florida, where he lost to Fernando González. Later in August, he lost again to another Chilean—Marcelo Ríos—in his US Open debut. In January 2001, Massú reached his second ATP event final, in Adelaide, Australia.

Massú's first ATP title came in February 2002 in Buenos Aires, where he defeated Argentine Agustín Calleri in a three-set final, after being down match point. At the 2003 event, Calleri took revenge and defeated him in the first round, a loss that pushed Massú out of the top 100 in singles and forced him to play Challengers once again. In April 2003, he reached the Bermuda Challenger final.

Massú claimed his second ATP title in July 2003 in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. The following week, he reached the final of the Kitzbühel, Austria tournament, cracking the top 50 in singles for the first time. In September he made three consecutive tournament finals, including a win at a Challenger event and his third ATP title at Palermo, Italy. In October, he reached the final at the Madrid Tennis Masters Series tournament, losing to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. He ended the year at World No. 12.

In mid-2004, Massú parted ways with Argentine coach Gabriel Markus, whom he replaced with Chilean Patricio Rodríguez. In July 2004, Massú won his fourth ATP title in Kitzbühel, and then went on to win two gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August (see below). Thanks to his outstanding performance at the Olympics, he reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 9. In November, he underwent groin surgery, and therefore entered the 2005 season off top form. He ended an unremarkable 2005 with a six-match losing streak, although ironically 2005 also saw his best performance at a Grand Slam tournament as he reached the fourth round of the US Open, losing to Guillermo Coria.

He was the first player to be beaten by Stan Wawrinka in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2005 French Open.^[3][4]

In January 2006, Massú lost his hometown event at Viña del Mar to José Acasuso in the final. In February, he won his sixth ATP event at Costa do Sauipe, Brazil. In April, he reached the final of the Casablanca event in Morocco. In July, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Amersfoort tournament.

In January 2007, Massú repeated his Viña del Mar showing of 2006, losing to Luis Horna in straight sets. In July, he began an eight-match losing streak, ended in October in Saint Petersburg.

Massú had an early exit at the Viña del Mar tournament in January 2008, losing to Sergio Roitman in the first round. Because he was defending points from a final showing in 2007, the following week he fell to no. 97 in the world. In July, his singles ranking plummeted to no. 138, his worst since November 1999. Later in the year, he won the Florianópolis II Challenger event and was finalist in two other tournaments at that level.

Massú began 2009 by not winning a match during his first five tournaments and losing his opening Davis Cup singles match against Croatia in March. He broke his losing streak at the Indian Wells Masters, beating Argentine Eduardo Schwank in three sets in the first round.

Nicolás Massú in Kitzbühel 2005

At the 2006 Australian Open

Olympics

Massú has represented Chile in three Summer Olympics: 2000 Sydney, Athens 2004, and 2008 Beijing. At the 2000 event's opening ceremony, he was his country's standard bearer, after Marcelo Ríos failed to show up. In his first-round match, he beat Slava Doseděl, but lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the next round.

The story was different in Athens, where Massú captured both singles and doubles titles. On August 21, he and partner Fernando González, defeated Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler of Germany to win the doubles competition, making history by giving Chile its first-ever Olympic gold medal. Massú and Gonzalez came from 4 straight match points at the fourth set tie-break to claim the gold. The following day, he captured his second gold medal by defeating American Mardy Fish in five sets in the men's singles final. Following his victory in singles he was declared as Athlete of the Day by the 2004 Athens Olympics' organization.

"I was so happy because this is my best memory in my sport career. If I look back in 10 more years, I look back on this, I'm gonna be so happy. Now I can die happy."^[5]

Because of his low ranking, Massú was granted a wild card to compete in both singles and doubles events in Beijing.^[6] He only managed to reach the second round in singles and was ousted on his first match in doubles, where he partnered with Fernando González.

Davis Cup

Massú began playing for Chile in Davis Cup matches in 1996. He currently is 29–17, including 17–4 on clay.^[7] Actually, Massú is the current captain of the Chile Davis Cup team, with former no. 1 Marcelo Ríos as coach.

Maccabiah Games

Massú is a veteran of the 2001 Maccabiah Games, the international Jewish Olympics.^[8]

Playing style

Massú has a style characteristic of a clay-court specialist, with strong baseline play characterized by a solid forehand and backhand.

Massú is known for his fighting spirit, especially when playing for Chile, as he has demonstrated at the 2004 Olympics and at numerous Davis Cup matches. He has also turned around difficult matches.

Personal life

Massú is Jewish,^[5][9] as is his mother, Sonia Fried.^[5][10] His father, Manuel Massú, is of Palestinian^[11][12] ancestry. He has four brothers, Stefano, Jorge, Geza, and Yuri.

Significant finals

Olympic finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Gold	2004	Athens Olympics	Hard	Mardy Fish	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Gold	2004	Athens Olympics	Hard	Fernando González	Nicolas Kiefer Rainer Schüttler	6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 7–6^(9–7), 6–4

Masters Series finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2003	Madrid	Hard (i)	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3–6, 4–6, 3–6

ATP career finals

Singles: 15 (6–9)

Legend Grand Slam (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) Olympic Gold (1–0) ATP Masters Series (0–1) ATP International Series Gold (1–1) ATP Tour (4–7)

Titles by Surface Hard (1–2) Clay (5–7) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 7, 2000	Orlando, US	Clay	Fernando González	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	January 7, 2001	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Tommy Haas	3–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	February 24, 2002	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Agustín Calleri	2–6, 7–6^(7–5), 6–2
Winner	2.	July 20, 2003	Amersfoort, Netherlands	Clay	Raemon Sluiter	6–4, 7–6^(7–3), 6–2
Runner-up	3.	July 27, 2003	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Guillermo Coria	1–6, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	September 14, 2003	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	David Sánchez	2–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	September 28, 2003	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Paul-Henri Mathieu	1–6, 6–2, 7–6^(7–0)
Runner-up	5.	October 19, 2003	Madrid, Spain	Hard (i)	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3–6, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	4.	July 25, 2004	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Gastón Gaudio	7–6^(7–3), 6–4
Winner	5.	August 22, 2004	Athens 2004 Summer Olympics	Hard	Mardy Fish	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	February 5, 2006	Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	José Acasuso	4–6, 3–6
Winner	6.	February 26, 2006	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Alberto Martín	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	7.	April 30, 2006	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Daniele Bracciali	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	July 23, 2006	Amersfoort, Netherlands	Clay	Novak Djokovic	6–7^(5–7), 4–6
Runner-up	9.	February 4, 2007	Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	Luis Horna	5–7, 3–6

Doubles: 3 (1–2)

Legend Grand Slam (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) Olympic Gold (1–0) ATP Masters Series (0–0) ATP International Series Gold (0–1) ATP Tour (0–1)

Titles by Surface Hard (1–0) Clay (0–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	March 7, 2004	Acapulco, Mexico	Clay	Juan Ignacio Chela	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	August 21, 2004	Athens 2004 Summer Olympics	Hard	Fernando González	Nicolas Kiefer Rainer Schüttler	6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 7–6^(9–7), 6–4
Runner-up	2.	July 24, 2005	Amersfoort, Netherlands	Clay	Fernando González	Martín García Luis Horna	4–6, 4–6

ATP Challengers & ITF Futures finals: 18 (10–8)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (8–5)
ITF Futures (2–3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	May 24, 1998	Vero Beach, Florida, US	Clay	Ronald Agénor	3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	May 31, 1998	Boca Raton, Florida, US	Clay	Ronald Agénor	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	June 21, 1998	Lafayette, California, US	Hard	Cecil Mamiit	6–0, 3–6, 0–6
Winner	1.	August 23, 1998	Vigo, Spain	Clay	Tommy Robredo	6–4, 6–2
Winner	2.	August 30, 1998	Irun, Spain	Clay	Maxime Boyé	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	3.	September 7, 1998	Quito, Ecuador	Clay	Mariano Sánchez	3–6, 6–3, 6–0
Winner	4.	June 21, 1999	Biella, Italy	Clay	Oleg Ogorodov	7–6^(7–5), 5–7, 6–3
Winner	5.	September 6, 1999	Quito, Ecuador	Clay	Luis Adrián Morejón	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	6.	November 1, 1999	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Karim Alami	6–7^(4–7), 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	November 28, 1999	Guadalajara, Mexico	Clay	Francisco Costa	6–4, 5–7, 3–6
Winner	7.	September 15, 2003	Szczecin, Poland	Clay	Albert Portas	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	April 14, 2003	Paget, Bermuda	Clay	Flávio Saretta	1–6, 4–6
Winner	8.	May 5, 2008	Rijeka, Croatia	Clay	Christophe Rochus	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	August 3, 2008	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Hard	Santiago González	4–6, 3–6
Winner	9.	October 6, 2008	Florianópolis, Brazil	Clay	Olivier Patience	6–7^(4–7), 6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	8.	October 13, 2008	Montevideo, Uruguay	Clay	Peter Luczak	W/O
Runner-up	8.	October 23, 2009	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Eduardo Schwank	2–6, 2–6
Winner	10.	November 22, 2009	Cancún, Mexico	Clay	Grega Zemlja	6–3, 7–5

Team titles

• 2003 – World Team Championship, Düsseldorf, Germany (Clay)
• 2004 – World Team Championship, Düsseldorf, Germany (Clay)

Performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent from tournament; played in a (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; won a (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	Q3	A	A	1–8
French Open	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	2R	3R	1R	3R	2R	Q2	2R	1R	A	A	A	8–9
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	1R	A	A	1R	A	A	A	4–9
US Open	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	3R	2R	4R	2R	1R	Q2	1R	A	A	A	A	9–9
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–3	3–4	2–3	4–3	3–4	4–4	3–4	1–4	0–1	1–3	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	22–35
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	A	Not Held			2R	Not Held			G	Not Held			2R	Not Held			A	NH	8–2
Davis Cup
Davis Cup	Z1		Z1	PO	PO	PO	Z1		PO	1R	QF	1R	PO	1R	QF	1R			22–12
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	2R	A	2R	1R	2R	2R	A	A	A	A	4–6
Miami	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	3R	2R	A	3R	1R	Q1	3R	1R	Q2	A	A	7–8
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	3R	A	1R	2R	A	Q1	A	A	A	A	4–4
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	QF	2R	1R	3R	A	Q2	A	A	A	A	6–5
Hamburg^1	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	A	Q1	A	A	A	A	1–4
Canada	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–4
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–3
Madrid^2	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	F	2R	1R	2R	Q2	A	A	A	A	A	A	6–5
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	3R	1R	1R	Q2	A	A	A	A	A	A	2–4
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–3	1–1	8–5	6–9	2–6	4–9	3–5	1–1	3–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	30–43
Career Statistics
Overall Win–Loss	0–1	0–1	2–2	4–2	26–25	23–28	29–19	36–20	42–28	18–22	38–27	17–26	9–12	9–12	4–8	0–3	0–1	0–1	257–238
Year End Ranking	882	583	188	97	87	80	56	12	19	66	44	79	76	112	186	450	618	876	$4,343,298

Doubles performance timeline

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open									1R				2R						1–2
French Open										SF		1R							4–2
Wimbledon									1R	2R									1–2
US Open								1R	QF	3R	2R	2R							7–5
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	3–3	7–3	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	13–11
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics		Not Held			1R	Not Held			G	Not Held			1R	Not Held				NH	5–2
Davis Cup
Davis Cup		PO	Z1	PO	PO	PO	Z1		PO	1R	QF	1R	PO	1R	QF	1R			10–12
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells											1R								0–1
Miami									1R		1R								0–2
Monte Carlo									QF		1R								2–2
Rome									1R	1R	SF								3–3
Hamburg^1									1R	2R	1R								2–2
Canada									2R	1R									1–2
Cincinnati									QF	1R									2–2
Madrid^2									1R										0–1
Paris								1R	QF										1–1
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	7–6	1–4	3–5	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	11–16
Career Statistics
Overall Win–Loss	0–0	1–2	3–2	2–0	5–8	0–3	1–5	5–6	30–21	13–15	8–12	6–11	5–6	0–3	2–4	1–2	0–1	0–1	82–102
Year End Ranking	–	470	319	356	243	1263T	389	291	36	58	139	257	221	490	342	376	–	935	$362,632

¹Held as Hamburg Masters till 2008. Held as Madrid Masters 2009–2013.
²Held as Stuttgart Masters till 2001, Madrid Masters from 2002–2008, and Shanghai Masters 2009–2013.

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

References

1. "Chile's Nicolas Massu retires from tennis". USA Today. August 27, 2013.
2. "United States Tennis Association – USTA Yearbook – Olympic Games". Retrieved February 23, 2010.
3. Bollettieri, Nick (26 May 2009). "2009 French Open – Nick's picks – Men's Singles Round 2". Nick's picks. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
4. "2004 – 2005, Roland Garros". The History of Men's Tennis. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
5. "Nicolás Massú (1979– )". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
6. Wine, Steven (June 30, 2008). "Massu granted special place in Olympic tennis". Seattle Times. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
7. "Davis Cup – Players; Nicolas MASSU". Official website of the Davis Cup. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
8. "Massu Records Double Gold!". JewishSports.com. August 22, 2004. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
9. Also ,
10. Also ,
11. Miranda Valderrama, Luis (April 12, 2008). "nicolás Massú en la intimidad; Volveré a estar arriba". El Mercurio. Retrieved February 14, 2009.
12. "Crónica: Palestino vs Colo Colo – Primera División de Chile". ESPNdeportes.com. December 14, 2008. Retrieved February 14, 2009.

External links

• Nicolás Massú at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Nicolás Massú at the International Tennis Federation
• Nicolás Massú at the Davis Cup
• "Nicolas MASSU". Athens2004.com. ATHENS 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. Archived from the original on 2004-08-23.
• "Nicolas MASSU". Beijing2008.cn. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-03.