Marcelo Ríos Information & Marcelo Ríos Links at HealthHaven.com

Medal record
Pan American Games

Marcelo Ríos
Nickname(s)	El Chino, El zurdo de Vitacura
Country	Chile
Residence	Santiago, Chile
Date of birth	December 26, 1975 (age 33)
Place of birth	Santiago, Chile
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	73 kg (160 lb; 11.5 st)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2004
Plays	Left-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$9,713,771
Singles
Career record	391 - 192
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 1 (March 30, 1998)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F (1998)
French Open	QF (1998, 1999)
Wimbledon	4R (1997)
US Open	QF (1997)
Doubles
Career record	36 - 57
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	141 (May 7, 2001)
	Last updated on: April 17, 2007.

This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Ríos and the second is Mayorga.

Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (born December 26, 1975) is a retired and former World No. 1 tennis player from Chile. Nicknamed El Chino ("The Chinese") and El zurdo de Vitacura ("The lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings in 1998. He held the World No. 1 ranking for six weeks. He also has held the top ranking in juniors and seniors. He was the first player in tennis history to win the three clay-court Masters Series tournaments (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg). He is the only male player in the open era to have held the World No. 1 ranking despite never winning a Grand Slam singles tournament.

He retired prematurely in 2004, after being overtaken by a back injury. He played his last ATP level tournament while only 27 years old at the 2003 French Open.

[edit] Tennis career

[edit] Early years

Ríos began playing tennis at the age of 11 at the Sport Française country club in Vitacura (Greater Santiago), adjacent to his house. He was soon recognized for his talented left-hand and reserved personality.

[edit] Juniors

In 1993, Ríos became the first male player from Latin America to be ranked world number one in juniors. That year, he won the boys' singles title at the US Open and his first satellite tournament in Chile.

[edit] ATP Tour

[edit] 1994

Ríos turned professional in 1994 and quickly began to acquire international fame after his participation at Roland Garros, where in the second round, at just 18 years of age, he confronted Pete Sampras, fighting a hard battle to lose 6-7, 6-7, 4-6. His great left-handed ability, plus his novel long hair and backwards visor, drew the attention of the media, marking his first step towards international stardom. That same year he won his first challenger in Dresden, Germany.

[edit] 1995

In May 1995, aged 19, Ríos won his first tournament title in Bologna defeating Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay 6-2, 6-4, and breaking into the world's top fifty for the first time. Then in June he won at Amsterdam in both singles (against Jan Siemerink, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4) and doubles (with Sjeng Schalken) and won the tournament in Kuala Lumpur against Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2. He also reached the final of his home country's ATP tournament in Santiago de Chile. Ríos ended the year ranked No. 25 in the world.

[edit] 1996

Ríos's achievements this year included stellar performances in the Masters Series (then called Super 9) tournaments. He reached the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and the Masters Series of Rome, and the semifinals in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Canada. In Sankt Polten, Austria, he won his fourth career title by defeating the Spaniard Felix Mantilla 6-1, 6-4. Ríos again reached the final in Santiago de Chile (where a sort of curse seemed to deny him victory in front of his home crowd), and also reached the finals in Barcelona and Scottsdale. For much of the year Ríos would be ranked in the top ten, becoming the first Chilean in history to do so. He finished the year ranked number 11.

[edit] 1997

In 1997 Ríos for the first time reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australia Open and again at the US Open. He also won the Super 9 tournament at Monte Carlo; after a first round bye, he beat Andrea Gaudenzi, Albert Costa, Carlos Moya, Magnus Larsson, and, in the final, Alex Corretja, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Two weeks later he lost in the final of the Rome Masters against the same Spaniard. Other successes for the year included the quarterfinals (again) in the Madrid Masters and the finals in Marseille, Boston, and (for the third time) in Santiago. Ríos went as high as No. 6 during the year, and ended the year in the top ten for the first time, being No. 10.

[edit] 1998: World No.1

The year 1998 brought the peak of the career of Ríos, who reached the number 1 spot in the world. The year began with success. He won the open tournament (the first of the year) in Auckland, New Zealand, against Richard Fromberg, then reached the final of the Australia Open, falling to Petr Korda (who months later would be sanctioned by the ATP for testing positive for nandrolone in a doping test). The following months brought successes such as the title of the Super 9 (the current Masters Series) at Indian Wells, where he defeated hard-serving Greg Rusedski in the final.

The consummation came in the final Super 9 at Key Biscayne, Florida, under the guidance of his coach Larry Stefanki. After victories over Hendrik Dreekman, Tommy Haas, and Goran Ivanišević, Ríos beat Thomas Enqvist in the quarterfinals and Tim Henman in the semis. In the final on March 29, Ríos defeated Andre Agassi 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. In Chile, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the triumph of the first Chilean to reach the sport's number one ranking, grabbing the position from Pete Sampras (who had maintained 102 consecutive weeks at number one, and 5 years ending the season as the leader). In the days ahead, there was a crowded reception leading Ríos to former president Eduardo Frei on the balcony of La Moneda, with ten thousand people cheering outside the palace. Ríos's number one ranking lasted four weeks; he lost it after being unable to defend the title at Monte Carlo because of an injury suffered in the Davis Cup while defeating Hernán Gumy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On August 10, however, Ríos recovered the number one spot for another two weeks. During this extraordinary season Marcelo also won the Rome Masters against Albert Costa in the final, Saint Poelten beating Vincent Spadea, the Grand Slam Cup against Andre Agassi, and Singapore against Mark Woodforde. Furthermore, he reached the quarterfinals in the Madrid and Paris Masters. The year 1998 was a milestone in the career of Marcelo and the sports history of Chile. Ríos won 7 titles, including 3 Masters Series, and reached the (controversial) final of the Australian Open. On July 27 of that year, he reached the maximum number of points achieved throughout his career: 3719 (by the scoring system used prior to the year 2000). He ended the year ranked No. 2 behind Pete Sampras, who topped the world rankings for a sixth consecutive year.

[edit] 1999

Ríos maintained a high level throughout 1999, although his game was interrupted by repeated injuries and surgeries. This prevented him from defending the points achieved by reaching the final of the Australian Open the previous year, so he fell several positions in the rankings. He reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters, but, after winning the first two sets, had to retire due to a new injury, awarding the tournament to Gustavo Kuerten. Ríos subsequently won the Hamburg Masters in a match that lasted more than four hours against Mariano Zabaleta; 2 weeks later he became champion in Sankt Pölten for the third consecutive time. In October, he won at Singapore and reached the final in Beijing, losing to the Swede Magnus Norman. He also reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the Madrid Masters. Despite the many injuries and surgeries he suffered, Ríos would complete his third consecutive year as a Top Ten player, at the No. 9 world ranking.

[edit] 2000

This year was marked by repeated and disabling injuries that would prevent Ríos from staying among the top players in the world. He won the tournament of Umag, Croatia beating the Argentine Mariano Puerta in the final. Ríos also reached the semifinals at the Hamburg Masters losing to Marat Safin, one of the new stars of the circuit. Ríos finished the year No. 37 in the world.

[edit] 2001

In 2001 Ríos won the first tournament of the year in Doha. However, his performance in the following tournaments was weaker, weakened by an ankle operation, which resulted him to drop out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since he was a teenager. In September Ríos won another title, this time in Hong Kong, defeating German Rainer Schüttler in the final. Ríos decided to return in October to play a Challenger tournament, winning the final of Santiago ebating the Argentine Edgardo Massa in the final. Also reached a doubles final in Scottsdale. Ríos ended the year as No.39 in the world.

[edit] 2002

In early 2002 he had some good results, but a back injury prevented him from continuing the season successfully. It was the same injury that he had had two operations with already, and finally prevented him from returning to a competitive level. His best results were the quarterfinals at the Australia Open, the semifinal at the Miami Masters, and the final in Stockholm tournament playing the Thai Paradorn Srichaphan. Ríos would again finish among the 25 best players in the world in position No. 24, but without managing to recover from injuries that beset him since late 1999.

[edit] 2003

In Viña del Mar tournament (formerly Santiago tournament) Ríos reached the final, losing to Spaniard David Sánchez, losing the fourth of four finals he participated in his home country. However, representing Chile together with Fernando González and Nicolás Massú, he won the World Team Cup in Düsseldorf. The same year he also won silver medals in singles and doubles alongside Adrián García in the 2003 Pan American Games. In May Ríos played his last ATP-level match, losing in the first round at Roland Garros to Mario Ančić after withdrawing at 1-6 0-1. In 2003 Ríos played very few tournaments, in most of which he had to withdraw. This resulted in ending the year only as No. 105 in the world.

[edit] Tour retirement

In 2004, six years after claiming the World No. 1 ranking, and after a long absence from the tour, Ríos returned to competition with a 6–0, 6–0 victory at a Challenger Series tournament in Ecuador. He played his last competitive match in early April 2004 at a challenger in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where he retired in the round of 16.

Finally, on July 16, 2004, after years of constant injuries and back discomfort—and at just 28 years old—Rios announced his retirement from tennis during a press conference in Santiago. He organized a farewell tour across his home country, travelling through several cities, meeting with fans, offering tennis clinics, and playing friendly matches with international and local tennis players such as Petr Korda, Goran Ivanišević. The tour ended on December 22, 2004, at a soccer stadium in Santiago, where he played his final tennis match against Guillermo Coria of Argentina.

Ríos intended to return to ATP competition in February 2007 at the Viña del Mar tournament (Movistar Open); however, he retired because of the same back injury that made him retire from the tour.

On March 30, 2007, Ríos played an exhibition match in the Movistar Arena against Andre Agassi, both as a way to commemorate the match where Ríos rose to World No. 1 and as a way of having the American play in Chile. On June 24, 2008, Ríos defeated Pete Sampras in an exhibition match that commemorated the ten years anniversary of having reached the Number 1 ranking in the world.

[edit] Seniors

On March 29, 2006, Ríos, aged 30, debuted on the ATP Champions Tour, a tour for senior's players. At his first tournament on the tour in Doha, Qatar, he defeated Thomas Muster, Henri Leconte, Pat Cash, and Cédric Pioline to claim the title. The following week he repeated, this time winning the crown in Hong Kong, where he won the final before an also former world No. 1 Thomas Muster. Rios won six tournaments in a row, adding Algarve Graz, Paris and Eindhoven to the above. His inclusion on the senior circuit caused mild controversy, as he was significantly younger than many of his fellow competitors.^[1] He ended the year as number one, winning a total of six tournaments and holding a winning streak of 25 matches, achieving the record of being the only player in history to be No. 1 in the world as a junior, professional and veteran.

In 2008 Ríos came back to veteran's tour where he won the tournaments in Barcelona and Algarve. On June 22, 2008, he was defeated by Pete Sampras in the final of a seniors tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ríos ended the year as No.3 in the veteran's world rankings.

[edit] Personal life

Ríos was born in Santiago, Chile to Jorge Ríos Jarvis, a businessman, and Alicia Mayorga, a teacher. He has an older sister, Paula.

Ríos married Costa Rican Giuliana Sotela in December 2000 in Santiago. He met her while training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Their only child, Constanza, was born in June 2001. Soon after returning to competition in 2004, Ríos and his wife separated, and their marriage was annulled. During this period, Ríos worked as a sports commentator for a radio station in Chile.

In April 2005 Ríos married to model María Eugenia "Kenita" Larraín, a former fiancée of football player Iván Zamorano. The couple subsequently experienced a very public break-up in September of the same year after an incident in Costa Rica in which Larraín was allegedly injured in an accident. Ríos claimed that marrying her was "the biggest mistake of my life."

[edit] Controversies

Ríos' career has been marked by a number of controversies.

He was fined US$10,000 for speeding during the 1998 Stuttgart tournament.^[2]
In a confusing incident, he ran over his physical trainer, Manuel Astorga, with his jeep, leaving him gravely injured at the foot. Astorga was later fired as trainer.^[2]
After a magazine published some photos of him dancing seductively with a woman at a Paris disco, his girlfriend Giuliana Sotela broke up with him. Later, during a Davis Cup press conference, he read a letter, asking Sotela for forgiveness. He ended the press conference in tears.^[3]
He was accused by his second wife, María Eugenia Larraín, of throwing her off of his car while visiting his daughter in Costa Rica. Larraín arrived to Santiago's airport in dramatic fashion, in a wheelchair and showing multiple bruises on her legs. He claimed those bruises were caused by falling while skiing.^[2]
He was arrested in Rome in 2001 after he punched a taxi driver in the nose and then had a fight with the policemen arresting him.^[3]
In 2003, while training for a Davis Cup tie with Ecuador, he allegedly urinated on some men in a La Serena bar's bathroom and was later expelled from his hotel after being accused of swimming nude. As a consequence, the Chilean team missed a flight to Ecuador the following day. He later apologized for the incidents.^[2]^[4]
In 2003 he and a friend were expelled from a Santiago bar after insulting other clients and being involved in a brawl with some waiters. Both were arrested and later released.^[2]
He reportedly told Monica Seles to move her "fat ass" while on a lunch queue, but he has denied this.^[3]
During the 1997 Wimbledon tournament he commented that grass was for "cows and soccer" and not suitable for tennis play.^[3]
He was disqualified from the 2000 Mercedes-Benz Cup tennis tournament in Los Angeles, California during a first round match with Gouichi Motomura of Japan and fined US$5,000 for saying "fuck you" to the chair umpire.^[3]
During a post-match interview at the Basel tournament, he insulted a journalist under his breath after she asked him whether he had Native American ancestry.^[5]
He tried to moon some reporters who were recording him while partying outside his apartment in Reñaca.^[3]
He fired his trainer Larry Stefanki shortly after he became World No. 1, claiming that he wanted to go in a different direction.
He won the Prix Citron 'award' several different years (many in a row) for being the most disagreeable player on tour.

[edit] All finals (33)

[edit] Singles: 31 (18-13)

Wins (18)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
Grand Slam Cup (1)
ATP Masters Series (5)
ATP Championship Series (2)
ATP Tour (10)

Titles by Surface
Hard (7)
Clay (9)
Grass (0)
Carpet (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	May 28, 1995	Bologna, Italy	Clay	Marcelo Filippini	6–2, 6–4
2.	July 30, 1995	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Clay	Jan Siemerink	6–4, 7–5, 6–4
3.	October 8, 1995	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Carpet (i)	Mark Philippoussis	7–6(6), 6–2
4.	May 26, 1996	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Félix Mantilla	6–2, 6–4
5.	April 27, 1997	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
6.	January 18, 1998	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Richard Fromberg	4–6, 6–4, 7–6(3)
7.	March 15, 1998	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Greg Rusedski	6–3, 6–7(15), 7–6(4), 6–4
8.	March 29, 1998	Miami, USA	Hard	Andre Agassi	7–5, 6–3, 6–4
9.	May 17, 1998	Rome, Italy	Clay	Álbert Costa	walkover
10.	May 24, 1998	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Vincent Spadea	6–2, 6–0
11.	October 5, 1998	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Hard (i)	Andre Agassi	6–4, 2–6, 7–6(1), 5–7, 6–3
12.	October 18, 1998	Singapore	Carpet (i)	Mark Woodforde	6–4, 6–2
13.	May 9, 1999	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	6–7(5), 7–5, 5–7, 7–6(5), 6–2
14.	May 23, 1999	Sankt Pölten, Austria	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	4–4, retired
15.	October 17, 1999	Singapore	Hard (i)	Mikael Tillström	6–2, 7–6(5)
16.	July 23, 2000	Umag, Croatia	Clay	Mariano Puerta	7–6(1), 4–6, 6–3
17.	January 7, 2001	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Bohdan Ulihrach	6–3, 2–6, 6–3
18.	September 30, 2001	Hong Kong, China	Hard	Rainer Schüttler	7–6(3), 6–2

Runners-ups (13)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	October 29, 1995	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Sláva Doseděl	7–6(3), 6–3
2.	March 10, 1996	Scottsdale, USA	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	2–6, 6–3, 6–3
3.	April 21, 1996	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Thomas Muster	6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–1
4.	November 10, 1996	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Hernán Gumy	6–4, 7–5
5.	February 16, 1997	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Thomas Enqvist	6–4, 1–0, retired
6.	May 18, 1997	Rome, Italy	Clay	Àlex Corretja	7–5, 7–5, 6–3
7.	August 24, 1997	Boston, USA	Hard	Sjeng Schalken	7–5, 6–3
8.	November 9, 1997	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Julián Alonso	6–2, 6–1
9.	February 1, 1998	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Petr Korda	6–2, 6–2, 6–2
10.	April 25, 1999	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	6–4, 2–1, retired
11.	October 10, 1999	Shanghai, China	Hard	Magnus Norman	2–6, 6–3, 7–5
12.	October 27, 2002	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Paradorn Srichaphan	6–7(2), 6–0, 6–3, 6–2
13.	February 16, 2003	Viña del Mar, Chile	Clay	David Sánchez	1–6, 6–3, 6–3

[edit] Doubles: 2 (1-1)

Win (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	July 30, 1995	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Clay	Sjeng Schalken	Wayne Arthurs Neil Broad	7–6, 6–2

Runner-up (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	March 11, 2001	Scottsdale, USA	Hard	Sjeng Schalken	Donald Johnson Jared Palmer	7–6(3), 6–2

[edit] Team competition wins

May 25, 2003: World Team Championship, Düsseldorf, Germany (Clay)

[edit] Other wins

August 2003: Men's Singles, Silver medal, Pan American Games, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
August 2003: Men's Doubles, Silver medal, Pan American Games, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

[edit] Performance timeline

Tournament	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	Career
Australian Open	-	-	1R	QF	F	-	-	1R	QF	-	0
French Open	2R	2R	4R	4R	QF	QF	1R	2R	-	1R	0
Wimbledon	-	1R	-	4R	1R	-	-	-	-	-	0
US Open	2R	1R	2R	QF	3R	4R	3R	3R	3R	-	0
Grand Slam Win-Loss	2–2	1–3	4–3	14-4	12-4	7–2	2–2	3–3	6–2	0–1	51-26
ATP World Tour Finals	-	-	-	-	RR	-	-	-	-	-	0
Indian Wells Masters	-	3R	SF	2R	W	3R	2R	1R	3R	2R	1
Miami Masters	-	3R	3R	3R	W	4R	4R	2R	SF	4R	1
Monte Carlo Masters	-	-	SF	W	-	F	1R	2R	3R	-	1
Rome Masters	-	2R	QF	F	W	1R	1R	2R	-	-	1
Hamburg Masters	-	-	-	3R	2R	W	SF	2R	-	-	1
Canada Masters	-	-	SF	-	-	-	3R	-	3R		0
Cincinnati Masters	-	1R	-	3R	2R	-	2R	-	2R	-	0
Madrid Masters	-	-	QF	QF	QF	QF	-	3R	2R	-	0
Paris Masters	-	-	2R	2R	QF	2R	-	-	1R	-	0

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).

[edit] ATP Tour career earnings

Year	ATP wins	Total wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
1997	1	1	1,397,445	12
1998	7	7	3,420,054	2
1999	3	3	1,794,244	5
2000	1	1	493,816	40
2001	2	2	466,025	43
2002	0	0	506,160	39
2003	0	0	308,140	73
Career	18	18	9,713,771	30

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

Marcelo Ríos at the Association of Tennis Professionals

[edit] External links

Official website
Marcelo Ríos at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Marcelo Ríos at the International Tennis Federation
Marcelo Ríos at Davis Cup
Marcelo Rios Videos

Preceded by Pete Sampras Pete Sampras	World Number One March 30, 1998 - April 26, 1998 August 10, 1998 - August 23, 1998	Succeeded by Pete Sampras Pete Sampras

[0] McEnroe angry over young seniors. BBC News

[valpo-1] El escándalo tras regreso de Kenita

[lanacion-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ¿Cuánto sabe del lado B del Chino?

[3] Marcelo Ríos pidió disculpas al equipo y a su familia

[4] D.N.I. / MARCELO RIOS

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