Alex Corretja - New World Champion!

Articles in this Topic Discussions in this Topic

Dec 1, 1998

It's been an unbelievable finish to the year for Alex Corretja of Spain. We all knew he had ability away from his favoured clay-court surface. But who would have thought he could win the ATP Tour World Championships in Hannover, knocking off Pete Sampras in the semi-finals along the way! In the final against Carlos Moya, Corretja recovered from a 2 sets to 1 deficit, and then from 1-3 down in the 5th and final set to win 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. This avenged a loss to Moya in the French Open final of this year. The victory has propelled the Spaniard all the way up to number 3 in the world rankings, behind Marcelo Rios and Pete Sampras.

Meanwhile, Pete Sampras has clinched a world record of 6 consecutive years as the year-end number 1, beating Jimmy Connors' 5 consecutive years. After securing this record when Rios defaulted from the tournament, Sampras had a let-down and lost in the semis. But he can be forgiven for that after an exhausting schedule over the past 2 months. Next year he should be fresh for the Australian Open, and there we will see whether he can still be a threat for Grand Slams other than Wimbledon. His last victory at a slam away from grass was the Australian Open in January of 1997.

Corretja and Moya represent a new generation of Spaniards who clearly are excellent players even away from their preferred clay-court surface. Corretja has won 2 titles on hardcourt and now 2 indoors this year, and only 1 on clay. Moya meanwhile made the semi-finals of the US Open, and in 1997 reached the Australian Open final on hard-courts. The class of these 2 players is apparent from their all-court ability. Although neither have very good results on grass, they have shown that they are far from one-dimensional players. Because of their versatility, it should come as no surprise if one of them is able to knock Sampras from his lofty perch at the top of men's tennis.

For more information on the ATP Tour World Championships in Hannover, try the ATP Tour Homepage at this address: http://www.atptour.com/

This is the end for the ATP Tour of 1998, but there is still the Davis Cup final to be played before all of the players can rest. It will be between current holders Sweden, and the Italian underdogs. Next fortnight we'll be looking at all the action from that final. That will be on December 15 of this year. Bye for now!

Go To Page: 1 2

The copyright of the article Alex Corretja - New World Champion! in Men's Tennis is owned by Joel Hunt. Permission to republish Alex Corretja - New World Champion! in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.