Mariano Zabaleta

At 46 years old, Mariano Zabaleta has this physical status:

Mariano Zabaleta (born 28 February 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina.

He had an unusual but effective service motion.

His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay.

Zabaleta's career highlights include reaching the quarter-finals of the 2001 US Open and the final of the 1999 Hamburg Masters.

He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No.21.

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Tennis career

In 1995, Zabaleta made an outstanding junior debut and ended the year as No. 1 in the country. 1 with a career singles record of 84–7 (also ranking as high as No. 1). In the quarter-finals of the US Open, he was tenth in doubles, his only loss in 1995 was to Peter Wessels.

In 1995, Zabaleta championed three major junior events. The Italian Open juniors were without losing a set against Martin Lee in the final 6–4, 6–2, 6–3 and then lifted to face French Open juniors, who then gained a set, 6–3 as he had done four times in 1995 and not losing a set in the process. Zabaleta finished his junior career with a victory over Tommy Haas 6–2, 3–6, 6–1, and this was the only set in the tournament that fell.

With the change from juniors to seniors, Zabaleta was struggling first. He won his first Challenger event in Birmingham, Alabama, over Bill Behrens 6–4, 6–4, and his quarter final appearance in Bournemouth was his best on the main tour.

In 1997, he reached the final of the Guayaquil Challenger, losing to Tomas Nydahl. Zabaleta defeated the world's number 2 player and reigning Australian Open champion Petr Korda 6–0, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3. Zabaleta reached his first semifinal appearance in Amsterdam earlier this year, losing to Magnus Norman and then winning his first ATP title as a senior at Bogotá, defeating Ramón Delgado 6–4 for the final.

Zabaleta was a finalist on three occasions without winning a title, and his best result was against Marcelo Rós in the Hamburg Masters in 1999. Zabaleta had a matchpoint in the fourth set but lost the tiebreaker, losing the match 7–6(5), 7–5, 2–6. In St Pölten and Amsterdam, Zabaleta lost to Rios again, as well as Younes El Aynaoui.

Zabaleta's best ever showing at the 2000 Australian Open before losing to Andre Agassi, but he was involved in an Americas Zone Group Davis Cup tie against Nicolás Massa, which culminated in missiles, fruits, coins, bottles, and plastic chairs, among other things. The father of Zabaleta was injured in the riots and needed ten stitches, and the Argentines did not complete the tie after being arrested by police. In Sydney, Zabaleta defeated Marcelo Ros and Jeff Tarango before losing to Max Mirnyi in the third round of the Olympics.

Although Zabaleta's 2001 and 2002 records were unveiled, he made his best ever Grand Slam appearance, winning the US Open in a fast hardcourt, where the bulk of his triumph has come on the clay. In the first round, he defeated Sébastien Grosjean, who was in the top ten at the time, but Taylor Dent, Greg Rusedski, and Xavier Malisse were all defeated before Marat Safin's run came to a halt. He also reached the fourth round of the 2002 French Open, defeating top ten player Yevgeny Kafelnikov and falling to Cork's Lex Corretja.

Zabaleta's 2003 was her best year in general, with a 33-25 record and the first time a positive record on both hardcourt 12-11 and on clay 20–11. He reached the semis in Auckland and Scottsdale, losing to Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis respectively, but he lost to Agustn Calleri in the process.

In a match that lasted over 4 hours and 41 minutes but ended in 5 sets, Zabaleta matched his fourth round showing from last year at the French Open, losing to Guillermo Coria. In Bstad, then Zabaleta claimed his second title, defeating Nicolás Lapentti 6–3, 6–4. The organisers of a match match screened a recording of Zabaleta's "Money, Money, Money" which the audience loved and had a good laugh about. In Kitzbühel, Zabaleta defeated reigning French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in a semi final.

In 2004, Zabaleta had defended his B'stad against childhood friend and French Open champion Gastón Gaudio 6–6, 7–6(4). He reached the semi-finals of the Italian Open defeating Tim Henman and Nicolás Mass, who were both in the top 15 at the time, before losing to Carlos Moyà. He appeared in Via del Mar, Buenos Aires, and Kitzbühel in quarter-finals.

With quarter-final appearances in Via del Mar, losing to Fernando González, Zabaleta began 2005. Roger Federer, the world number one, has risen to third place in the Miami Masters after defeating him to three sets. Zabaleta led David Ferrer by a set in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters by a set and had to be carried out of the court by a foot injury that kept him out for two months and prevented him from participating in the French Open. He returned to play in Bstad and lost in the quarter finals to Tomá Berdych and went on to progress in Kitzbühel after a string of poor results, followed by knee surgery.

For the first time since 1997, Zabaleta began to suffer knee pains in 2006 and ended outside the top 100 for the first time since 1997. He started his 2007 by winning the La Serena Challenger, defeating Juan-Pablo Brzezicki and losing in Florianópolis to scar Hernández. Zabaleta qualified for the United States Men's Clay Court Championships after losing by a set and losing to Croat Ivo Karlovia. Zabaleta won the Bermuda Challenger, putting him back in the top 100 in the ATP rankings, with this victory bringing him right back to the top of the top 100.

Zabaleta had such poor results in 2008, which culminated in his falling out of the top ten most coveted positions. He lost the 2009 Challenger de Providencia final in Santiago, Chile, to countryman Máximo González.

Zabaleta retired from tennis in 2010 and is now appearing on ESPN[1] after being on the Challenger circuit in 2009.

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