- Fernando Verdasco
Infobox Tennis player
playername = Fernando Verdasco
country = ESP
residence =Madrid ,Spain
datebirth = birth date and age|1983|11|15
placebirth =Madrid ,Spain
height = height|m=1.87
weight = convert|81|kg|lk=on|abbr=on
turnedpro = 2001
plays = Left-handed; two-handed backhand
careerprizemoney =US$ 3,092,814
singlesrecord = 177–142
singlestitles = 2
highestsinglesranking = No. 11 (July 21 ,2008 )
AustralianOpenresult = 2R (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
FrenchOpenresult = 4R (2007, 2008)
Wimbledonresult = 4R (2006, 2008)
USOpenresult = 4R (2005)
doublesrecord = 50–62
doublestitles = 1
highestdoublesranking = No. 67 (April 25 ,2005 )
updated =August 25 ,2008 Fernando Verdasco Pahima Carmona (born
November 15 ,1983 inMadrid ) is a professionaltennis player fromSpain . He is currently one of the top Spanish tennis players, he performs well on all surfaces. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and got a full-time coach when he was eight. Verdasco considers his forehand his best shot, plays left-handed and has a double-handed backhand.Andy Roddick has said he considers Verdasco's forehand the biggest in the game today.Career
Early years
He turned professional in 2001, finishing as world number 464. 2002 was a good year for him, as he won his first Futures category title in Spain F1 and was runner-up in Spain F3. He played his second career challenger in
Segovia , where he reached the final after beatingBelarus ianVladimir Voltchkov in the semifinals. He then reached two additionalChallenger semifinals inKiev and inEckental , finishing the year in the top 200, at 173.2003
In 2003, Verdasco played his first Masters Series tournament (
Miami Masters . He joined the main draw as a qualifier, and after defeatingKarol Kucera andMax Mirnyi , Verdasco lost to countrymanCarlos Moyà in the third round. After this good performance, he had a poor season on clay, and then he lost in the first round of Wimbledon against FinnishJarkko Nieminen in five sets. Then, Verdasco played in Cincinnati, where he lost toAndy Roddick in straight sets. He reached the third round at the U.S. Open, where he lost to ThaiParadorn Srichaphan after defeating countrymanTommy Robredo in the first round and ItalianDavide Sanguinetti in the second round.2004
After finishing in 2003 as 109th in the world (with a 15-8 record in challengers), he had a breakthrough in 2004, when he won his first ATP title in Valencia. He defeated defending champion
Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semifinal andAlbert Montañés in the final. He also reached the final in Acapulco, losing toCarlos Moya and the quarterfinals in Halle and in 's-Hertogenbosch on grass. He reached the third round in twoMasters Series : theHamburg Masters and theMadrid Masters . He reached the quarterfinals inStockholm , the semifinals in Kitzbühel and won a doubles title in Stockholm (with countrymanFeliciano López ), ending the year 36th in the world.2005
In 2005 he defeated
Andy Roddick twice, in Miami and in Rome. In Rome, the match was famous for Roddick beingmatchpoint up on Verdasco's serve and having the match end with a double fault from Verdasco, but Roddick claimed that the serve wasn't out and the match went on, with Verdasco winning. He also reached the quarters of Valencia (where he was defending the title), Rome and New Haven; the semis ofSankt Petersburg ; and was finalist in Kitzbühel, where he lost to ArgentineGastón Gaudio . But Verdasco reached his first Grand Slam fourth round at the U.S. Open, where he lost toJarkko Nieminen after defeating SerbNovak Đoković . His year-end ranking improved slightly to No. 32 in the world.2006
Fernando reached the fourth round of Wimbledon after beating
Vince Spadea and GermanBenjamin Becker and also upsetting 3rd seed and former runner-upDavid Nalbandián in straight sets in the third round. Verdasco then lost to CzechRadek Štěpánek in five sets. At the U.S. Open, Fernando reached the third round, but lost to eventual runner-upAndy Roddick in five sets. In previous rounds, Fernando defeatedFabrice Santoro in four sets andThiago Alves in three. Fernando then lost in the quarters of Palermo where he lost toRubén Ramírez Hidalgo and then he lost to Ramírez Hidalgo again the following week in the first round of Metz. Verdasco didn't win any match in the rest of year, he lost to Italian Daniele Bracciali in Moscow, and then in the last two Masters Series tournaments of the year, he lost toTim Henman inMadrid Masters and toMichael Llodra inParis Masters . Verdasco finished the year ranked 35th on the ATP rankings.2007
In 2007, he lost to Serb
Novak Đoković in the 4th round of theFrench Open . In the previous rounds of Roland Garros he beatJérôme Haehnel in the 1st round,Dmitry Tursunov in the 2nd round andDavid Ferrer in the 3rd round. Before reaching the 4th round in the French Open, he lost in the first round in the 3 Masters Series tournaments on clay. He lost to FrenchmanRichard Gasquet in bothMonte Carlo Masters andRome Masters , and to CzechTomáš Berdych inHamburg Masters . In the grass season, he lost in the 1st round in Queen's and he reached the 3rd round in Wimbledon, where he lost to 3rd seedAndy Roddick after beating AmericanBobby Reynolds in the 1st round and ItalianAndreas Seppi in the 2nd round. At theMadrid Masters Verdasco cruised through to the second round with a win overAlbert Montañés , beating him in straight sets but in second round he faced third seedNovak Đoković and after winning the first set, the Serb player won the second and the third sets by the same score: 6–3. At the St. Petersburg Open, Verdasco played some brilliant tennis to reach the final without losing a single set. En route to this final, he defeatedMarin Čilić , who defeatedNikolay Davydenko early on, in the semifinal. However, his quest to win the title ended with a 6–2, 6–3 defeat by ScotAndy Murray . Still, this soild performance raised Verdasco's position in the ATP rankings to 27 the next week.2008
Fernando entered the
Australian Open as the 25th seed. He won his opening match with a strong performance againstThierry Ascione 6–4,6–0,6–3. He lost his second round match in a close battle withSerbia nJanko Tipsarević , who later went on to takeRoger Federer to 5 sets. Fernando entered theDubai Tennis Championships with a possible second round opponent of eitherRoger Federer orAndy Murray , his opponent would be Murray after he beat Federer in three sets. Fernando managed to take Murray to three sets but after a good performance he lost the match 3–6, 6–3, 6–7 (5–7). In Berlin, Fernando and doubles partnerFeliciano Lopez clinched Spain's spot in theDavis Cup semifinals after defeating Germany'sPhilipp Kohlschreiber andPhilipp Petzschner in a four hour and 45 minute marathon match, 6-7(3), 7-6(1), 6-4, 2-6, 12-10. At theMonte Carlo Masters inMonaco Fernando lost toGael Monfils in straight sets in the first round. In Barcelona the following week he also lost his first round match in straight sets toNicolás Lapentti . His form improved dramatically for theRome Masters where he reached the third round, en-route he got the better ofCarlos Moya and Nicolás Lapentti (who had beaten him the week earlier) before losing in a thriller toJames Blake . Fernando continued his run of excellent form into theHamburg Masters where he beatMikhail Youzhny in the first round 6-2,6-3. In the second round he beatMichael Llodra 6-2,6-0. Fernando then went on to record a remarkable win against compatriotDavid Ferrer in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. His run ended when he met the world number 1Roger Federer losing 6-3,6-3. At theFrench Open Fernando was seeded No.22 and enjoyed a good run, ending when he lost toRafael Nadal in the last 16, winning just 3 games. On June 9th Fernando achieved his career high ranking of No.20, as a result of his run at the French Open. He reached the final of theNottingham Open raising his ranking to a career high of No.18. At Wimbledon, he lost toMario Ancic in a five set thriller in which the last set lasted over 90 minutes and ended 13-11, in the fourth round. His performance at The Wimbledon Championships brought his world ranking to a career high of No. 13. His most recent ATP victory was inUmag (Studena Croatian Open Umag),Croatia when he battled with Igor Andreev in what was called the best final the tournament had seen. Afterwards, he again improved in the rankings to 11th place. Verdasco was the 13th seed at the US Open in 2008. He lost to the 23rd seedIgor Andreev in the 3rd round.Playing Style
Fernando is a very aggressive baseliner who is widely considered consistent on all surfaces. Many players including
Andy Roddick consider Verdasco to have one of the hardest forehands on tour. His serve is characteristic of a left-handed player predominantly using slice to create a lot of swing. He is known for rivaling compatriotRafael Nadal with the amount of top spin he can put on a ball. Fernando is sometimes known for his brief inconsistency during play, especially when closing out sets and matches.Titles (4)
ingles (5)
Valencia 2004
ingles finalist (5)
ingles (5)
Kitzbühel 2005
Doubles (1)
Trivia
*Verdasco supports
Real Madrid football club.
*Verdasco's ex-girlfriends are Argentine professional tennis playerGisela Dulko and Spanish model and actressDafne Fernández .External links
*ATP|id=V306
*DavisCupplayerlink|id=10021778
* [http://www.verdasco-online.com Fernando Verdasco's unofficial site]
* [http://steveghelper.com/MatchResults.php?players=Verdasco&weeks=12 Verdasco Recent Match Results]
* [http://steveghelper.com/RankingHistory.php?player=Verdasco Verdasco World Ranking History]
* [http://www.resultsfromtennis.com/tennis-player-fernandoverdasco.html Fernando Verdasco statistics]
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