Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters earlier in the year. Robredo reached the quarterfinals at seven singles major tournaments. He was also a three-time semifinalist at the US Open men's doubles tournament, and a semifinalist at the Australian Open in mixed doubles.
Robredo turned professional in 1998 and was coached by José Manuel "Pepo" Clavet and then by Karim Perona. Robredo considered his forehand to be his best shot, and red clay his favorite surface. He remains the only player in Open Era history to mount three consecutive comebacks from two sets down, a feat achieved en route to the quarterfinals of the 2013 French Open. He has one of the highest percentages of five-set matches won with 77.3 per cent.
Tennis career
Early years
Robredo began playing tennis regularly when he was five and his family moved to Olot, where his father Ángel became the director of the local tennis club, Club Natació Olot. He was coached by his father until 1996 when he joined the Spanish Tennis Federation at the Centre d'Alt Rendiment, a famous center for professional sports training in Sant Cugat del Vallès. He turned professional in 1998.As a junior player, Robredo won the Junior Orange Bowl 16-Under in both singles and doubles in 1998. As a professional he made the singles and doubles finals of a Futures-level event, winning the doubles title with Pedro Cánovas. In 1999, he made the semifinals of the boys' event at the French Open and won a Futures tournament in singles as well as another in doubles. Earlier that year in Robredo's hometown tournament of Barcelona – his first event at the ATP Tour level – he recorded a win over Marat Safin, who was then ranked in the world's top thirty, before going on to lose to top ten player Todd Martin.
2000–2001: First ATP title
In 2000, Robredo reached the singles and doubles finals of the boys' event at Roland Garros, losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu in the singles but winning the doubles with López. He also won the boys' doubles title at the Australian Open. Robredo began the year with a final at a Challenger event in Bartella, Italy losing to Germán Puentes. He then eventually won two Challenger events in Espinho, Portugal defeating Jimy Szymanski and in Seville, Spain defeating Óscar Serrano. He played two ATP main draw events in the year, losing in the first round of both at the Torneo Godó and Davidoff Swiss Indoors.Robredo began his 2001 season by reaching his first ATP semifinals at the Gold Flake Open losing to Russian Andrei Stoliarov 6–4, 3–6, 4–6. He made his slam debut at the Australian Open but lost to eventual runner-up and 18th ranked Arnaud Clément in straight sets. He then fell early at the Chevrolet Cup and the Copa AT&T.
He then reached his first ATP final at the Grand Prix Hassan II losing to Guillermo Cañas 5–7, 2–6 in the final, the result pushed him inside the top 100 for the first time. He backed it up with a third round appearance at the Open SEAT Godó after defeating his first top 20 player in then world no. 13 Sébastien Grosjean before losing to Michel Kratochvil. He played in Spain again at the Majorca Open reaching the second round.
He then won his first slam match at the French Open defeating Raemon Sluiter 7–5, 7–5, 7–6 and surprisingly reached the fourth round losing the former French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov 3–6, 4–6, 6–1, 4–6.
He then backed it up with a semifinal showing at the Heineken Trophy losing to Guillermo Cañas. At the slam of Wimbledon, he reached the second round but lost to Sargis Sargsian. He then went back to clay, reaching the quarterfinals of the Telenordia Swedish Open and third round of the Mercedes Cup.
At the Idea Prokom Open, he was able to win his first title of the year defeating compatriot Albert Portas 1–6, 7–5, 7–6. He then fell early at the RCA Championships and Legg Mason Tennis Classic.
At the US Open, he earn his first top ten win defeating world number five Juan Carlos Ferrero in a tight five setter 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6 before losing in the 4th Round to Andy Roddick in straight sets. He followed it up with a semifinal at the Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia. He ended the year with a four match losing streak, in the second round of the CA-TennisTrophy, and the first rounds of Stuttgart Masters, Davidoff Swiss Indoors, and Paris Masters. He was the second youngest player to end the season inside the world's top thirty, behind Roddick.
2002–2003: first Grand Slam quarterfinal
Robredo began 2002 by partnering with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario to win the Hopman Cup for Spain. In the Final against the United States, Sánchez Vicario lost 1–6, 6–7 to Monica Seles before Robredo levelled the tie with a 6–3, 2–6, 7–6 victory over Jan-Michael Gambill. The Spanish pair then won the mixed doubles, 6–4, 6–2. However, in the first four months of the season, he was only able to win 4 matches to 10 loses, and was unable to win back-to-back matches. He reached the second rounds of Australian Open, Open 13, ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, and NASDAQ-100 Open. He claimed his first back-to-back win at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where he reached the quarterfinals losing to Andy Roddick in two tight sets, this was his first Masters quarterfinals. He followed it up with a solid performance at the Hamburg Masters, where he upset then world no. 2 Tommy Haas in the third round en route to his Masters semifinal debut, where he retired against Marat Safin down 4–6, 2–4 with a right ankle injury. At the French Open, he fell in the third round to Andre Agassi. For the second year in a row, he reached the semifinals of the Ordina Open losing to Sjeng Schalken. However, he fell in the first round of Wimbledon to Raemon Sluiter. He then reached the semifinals of Swedish Open and the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup. At his US Open preparation, He made it to the second round of the Canada Masters and third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. At the US Open, he reached the third rounds losing to Wayne Ferreira in straight sets. Robredo suffered first round loses at the Brasil Open and Kremlin Cup, and second round loses at CA-TennisTrophy and Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid. He reached his fourth semifinal of the If Stockholm Open losing to Paradorn Srichaphan. He ended the year with a second round loss at the BNP Paribas Masters losing to Thomas Johansson in straight sets. He ended the year at number 30 for the second year in a row and broke pass the million-dollar mark in career earnings.In 2003, Robredo began with four first round loses, including in the Australian Open. He won his first matches at the Dubai Tennis Championships, where he upset world no. 7 Marat Safin in the second round 7–3 in the third set tie-break. He lost in the quarterfinals to Jiří Novák. He then lost in the third round of the Pacific Life Open and first match at the NASDAQ-100 Open. He reached another semifinal at the Estoril Open losing to Agustín Calleri in straight sets. In the rest of the European clay season, he reached the third rounds of Monte Carlo Masters and Telecom Italia Masters. He once again lost to Agustín Calleri at the quarterfinals of the Open Seat Godo. He was upset by Mariano Zabaleta in the second round of the Hamburg Masters.
He got his best result of the year at the French Open, where he reached his first slam quarterfinals, where he took out world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in five sets 4–6, 1–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3 in the third round and three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round, before eventually falling in a second five-set match to defending champion Albert Costa 6–2, 6–3, 4–6, 5–7, 2–6. Robredo remarked before his match against Costa: "I've beaten the ace, I've beaten the king", in reference to his wins over Hewitt and Kuerten. "Now I need to beat the jack, don't I? If I beat Costa, I'll have beaten the entire pack of cards."
After a quarterfinal at the Ordina Open losing to Sjeng Schalken and third round at Wimbledon losing to Andy Roddick, Robredo broke into the top 20. At the Swedish Open, he reached his third semifinal losing to Nicolás Lapentti. He reached his lone final of the year at the Mercedes Cup but lost to Guillermo Coria in straight sets 6–2, 6–2, 6–1. At the North American Swing, Robredo didn't have good results, only a third round at the Canada Masters, a second round at the TD Waterhouse Cup, and the first rounds of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and US Open. He was able to reach the quarterfinals of the Open de Moselle, but fell in his first matches at the CA-TennisTrophy and Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid. He then lost in the round of 16 in his final two events at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors and BNP Paribas Masters. Robredo ended the year just outside the top 20 at 21.
2004: First Davis Cup title
Robredo had a great start to his 2004 season with a semifinal at the Chennai Open losing to Paradorn Srichaphan 6–1, 6–7, 5–7 and a quarterfinal at the Adidas International losing to Carlos Moyà 1–6, 2–6. He also claimed his first doubles title at the Chennai Open with Rafael Nadal defeating Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the final. However, this results didn't reflect to his Australian Open, where he fell to 34th ranked Gastón Gaudio, who just missed the seedings in straight sets. Representing Spain in the Davis Cup, he won his first ever Davis Cup match over Czech Republic's Radek Štěpánek in four sets 7–5, 3–6, 7–6, 7–6. Despite reaching the quarterfinals of the Milan Indoor, he fell early in his next three events, first rounds of ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament and Indian Wells Masters, and the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. At the Miami Masters, he was able to reach the fourth round, once again losing to Carlos Moyà. During the European clay season, he was only able to reach the quarterfinals of the Estoril Open and fell in the first round of Monte Carlo Masters. However, he made his breakthrough at the Torneo Godó, where he won his second ATP title, defeating Gastón Gaudio in a five-set 4-hour marathon 6–3, 4–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. At the next two Masters events, the Telecom Italia Masters and Hamburg Masters, he lost in the second and third rounds, respectively. Despite his mixed results, he was able to reach the fourth round of the French Open after defeating world no. 11 Nicolás Massú dropping only four games in three sets. He fell to Carlos Moyà in straight sets.In the grass season, he was able to reach the semifinals of the Ordina Open, but once again fell early in Wimbledon, losing in the second round. He then fell in the second round of his next three events, Swedish Open, Mercedes Cup, and Canada Masters. Robredo bounced back by reaching his first Masters hardcourt semifinal at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, where he upset world no. 7 Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–6, 4–6, 6–4 in the second round, before losing to Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets. Competing for Spain at the Olympics, he fell in the third round to Tomáš Berdych. At the final slam of the year, the US Open, he was able to reach the fourth round losing to world no. 2 Andy Roddick in straight sets. He then competed for Spain against France in the semifinal of Davis Cup and defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu in a dead rubber. He followed it up with a quarterfinal showing at the Madrid Masters losing to Andre Agassi. He then withdrew prior to his second round match against eventual champion Jiří Novák at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors. He then was upset by Jürgen Melzer in his first match at the Paris Masters. Robredo ended the year with a loss at the Davis Cup final, however the loss didn't affect the result as Spain already won the tie and his match was a dead rubber. Robredo ended the year inside the top 20 for the first time at 13.