Vince Spadea

Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.

Vincent Spadea
Spadea, 2009 at Delray Beach International Championships
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceBoca Raton, Florida
Born (1974-07-19) July 19, 1974
Chicago, Illinois
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro1993
Retired2011
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$5,004,860
Singles
Career record311–359
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 18 (February 28, 2005)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenQF (1999)
French Open3R (1999, 2002, 2003)
Wimbledon4R (2004)
US Open4R (1995, 1999)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games2R (2004)
Doubles
Career record65–114
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 90 (June 12, 2006)

He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He has career prize money earnings of over $5,000,000. Spadea has ATP career singles wins over Roger Federer (1–2 record), Pete Sampras (1–4), Andre Agassi (2–4), Rafael Nadal (1–1), Andy Roddick (1–2), Patrick Rafter, Richard Krajicek, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Marat Safin, and Gustavo Kuerten. He is one of four players to defeat Federer 6–0 in a set at a main tour tournament, which he did at 1999 Monte Carlo. Spadea represented the United States at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Vince was also named twice to the US Davis Cup Team in 2000 (captain John McEnroe) and 2004 (captain Patrick McEnroe).

Spadea has one career ATP singles title and three ATP doubles titles. He also has eleven USTA Challenger Pro singles titles.

Personal life

Spadea was born in Chicago in 1974. His mother is originally from Colombia.[1]

Spadea was Steve Carell's body double as Bobby Riggs in the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes.[2]

Tennis career

At the 1999 Australian Open, Spadea achieved his best performance in a major by reaching the quarterfinals. In the fourth round at that tournament, he defeated the 1995 Australian Open champion, Andre Agassi. Spadea then lost to Tommy Haas in the quarterfinals.

On September 13, 1999, Spadea achieved a top 20 ranking for the first time. However, from October 1999 to June 2000, Spadea suffered a record losing run of 21 losses in a row.[3] His losing streak led the Associated Press to dub him "the Charlie Brown of tennis" .[4] He ended the streak in the first round of 2000 Wimbledon with an opening round 6–3, 6–7, 6–3, 6–7, 9–7 win over 14th seed Greg Rusedski, in a five-set marathon, which lasted for nearly four hours. Spadea's world ranking fell as low as 237 on October 23, 2000.

Working hard on the Challenger Tour after his fall down the rankings, he successfully recovered and eventually won his only career ATP Tour singles title in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he defeated James Blake and Andy Roddick along the way in 2004. He continued his journey back up the world rankings and was back in the top 20 by late 2004, although US Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe, declined to pick Spadea as his second singles player for the 2004 Davis Cup final against Spain, opting instead for the lower ranked Mardy Fish. Spadea achieved his career-high world ranking of 18 in February 2005.

In 2003, Spadea reached the semi-finals of a Masters event for the first time in his career, losing to world No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt. He went on to the Monte Carlo Masters a month later and reached his 2nd semi-finals in a Masters series. This helped him reach a career high position of No. 10 in the ATP Champions Race in April.

In 2006, Spadea published his autobiographical book, Break Point: The Secret Diary of a Pro Tennis Player.[5] Spadea criticized a number of tennis players including James Blake and Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe. He called out McEnroe for picking Mardy Fish ahead of him for the 2004 Davis Cup final where the Americans lost to Spain. Spadea criticized Blake for questionable character during a match where Blake allegedly "trash-talked" him. The book reached the top of the ranks in sports and tennis books during its debut month.

Spadea reached the third round at the 2008 Australian Open. In the first round, he came back from two sets down to defeat former world No. 8, Radek Štěpánek. He closed the season by winning two Challenger titles, in Waco and Calabasas.

Vince had an injury-stricken season in 2009, plagued by an overuse tendonitis arm issue, as well as a lower extremity staph infection. He won only a handful of ATP-level singles matches before the start of the clay-court season, but reached the semifinals of the Carson Challenger.

The New York Times summarized his career by calling him "the epitome of a tennis journeyman" and then noted that "he has played in 15 US Opens and has never reached the quarterfinals."[6]

Career finals

Singles (1–4)
Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Tour (1–4)
Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. May 1998 St. Pölten, Austria Clay Marcelo Ríos 2–6, 0–6
Loss 2. Aug 1999 Indianapolis, United States Hard Nicolás Lapentti 6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Win 3. Mar 2004 Scottsdale, United States Hard Nicolas Kiefer 7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Loss 4. Sep 2004 Delray Beach, United States Hard Ricardo Mello 6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss 5. Jul 2005 Newport, United States Grass Greg Rusedski 6–7(3–7), 6–2, 4–6

Singles performance timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)
Tournament199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 3R 2R A 3R QF 1R A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 1R A 12–12
French Open A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 1R A 3R 3R 2R 2R 1R 1R 1R A A 9–13
Wimbledon A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R A 2R 1R 4R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R A 7–14
US Open 1R 2R 4R 3R 1R 1R 4R 1R A 2R 1R 2R 2R 3R 1R 1R Q1 A 14–15
Win–Loss 0–1 1–1 5–4 3–4 0–3 4–4 9–4 1–4 0–0 4–3 2–4 5–4 2–4 2–4 1–4 2–4 1–2 0–0 42–54
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A 1R A 1R 2R 1R 1R A A SF 3R 2R 2R 2R 1R 1R Q1 8–12
Miami 2R 2R 3R QF 3R 3R 4R 2R A A 2R SF 3R 2R 2R 1R Q2 A 24–14
Monte Carlo A A A A A A QF 1R A A SF 1R 1R A A A A A 7–5
Hamburg A A 1R A A A A 1R A A 1R 1R 1R A A A NM1 0–5
Rome A A 2R A A A 2R 1R A 1R 1R QF A A Q1 A A A 5–6
Canada A A A A 2R 3R 3R A A 2R 3R 2R 1R A Q1 A A A 9–7
Cincinnati A A 2R 2R 3R QF 1R 1R A A 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R A A A 8–11
Madrid1 A A A A A 1R 1R A A A 3R 3R 1R A Q1 A A A 3–5
Paris A A A A A 3R 1R A A A 1R 3R 1R 1R 1R A A A 3–7
Win–Loss 1–1 1–1 4–5 5–2 5–4 10–6 9–8 0–6 0–0 1–2 13–9 12–9 1–8 3–4 2–4 0–2 0–1 0–0 67–72
Year-end ranking 303 75 81 54 88 42 20 213 125 67 29 20 75 73 77 76 295 1517

1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.

Top 10 wins
Season199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010Total
Wins00111480010400100021
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score SR
1995
1. Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7 US Open, New York Hard 3R 6–2, 6–4, 6–4 80
1996
2. Thomas Enqvist 9 Miami, United States Hard 2R 6–3, 7–5 90
1997
3. Thomas Enqvist 7 Cincinnati, United States Hard 2R 6–7(1–7), 6–3, 6–3 95
1998
4. Pat Rafter 4 Miami, United States Hard 2R 6–3, 7–5 64
5. Petr Korda 3 Toronto, Canada Hard 2R 5–7, 6–1, 6–4 44
6. Andre Agassi 9 Cincinnati, United States Hard 2R 6–2, 0–6, 7–6(7–2) 44
7. Richard Krajicek 8 Cincinnati, United States Hard 3R 6–2, 6–3 44
1999
8. Andre Agassi 6 Australian Open, Melbourne Hard 4R 6–1, 7–5, 6–7(3–7), 6–3 44
9. Yevgeny Kafelnikov 3 Miami, United States Hard 2R 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–4), 6–2 41
10. Karol Kučera 9 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 6–4, 6–3 33
11. Mark Philippoussis 9 Rome, Italy Clay 1R 7–6(7–2), 4–6, 6–1 27
12. Richard Krajicek 5 French Open, Paris Clay 2R 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 35
13. Gustavo Kuerten 5 Gstaad, Switzerland Clay 2R 6–2, 2–6, 7–6(8–6) 29
14. Pete Sampras 1 Indianapolis, United States Hard QF 6–4, 3–6, ret. 34
15. Yevgeny Kafelnikov 2 Lyon, France Carpet (i) QF 6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–5) 22
2002
16. Albert Costa 7 Toronto, Canada Hard 1R 6–3, 6–1 74
2004
17. Andy Roddick 3 Scottsdale, United States Hard SF 6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–4 29
18. Paradorn Srichaphan 10 Miami, United States Hard 4R 5–7, 6–3, 6–2 36
19. Rainer Schüttler 5 Rome, Italy Clay 1R 6–2, 2–6, 7–5 34
20. Rainer Schüttler 8 Wimbledon, London Grass 3R 6–4, 6–2, 6–3 30
2007
21. Tommy Haas 9 Delray Beach, United States Hard QF 6–3, 2–6, 6–4 63

References
  1. "Vincent Spadea - News and More". Tennis X. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
  2. Pantic, Nina (September 26, 2017). "How Battle of the Sexes Made the Tennis Look Real". Baseline. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  3. Trollope, Matt (February 12, 2018). "Anatomy of a losing streak". Tennis Smash. Retrieved January 8, 2020. On the men’s side Donald Young also lost 17 times in a row while Vincent Spadea holds the record with 21 consecutive defeats, which occurred almost 20 years ago.
  4. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=20000627&id=uu8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nAgGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1776,7396932
  5. Dan Markowitz; Vince Spadea (2008). Break Point: The Secret Diary of a Pro Tennis Player. Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-59670-324-5.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Litsky, Frank (August 26, 2008). "Vincent Spadea, Journeyman". The New York Times.
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