Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (born December 26 1975, in Santiago, Chile) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Chile. Nicknamed El Chino (The Chinese), he became the first Latin American to reach the No. 1 position on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings in 1998 and the first player to reach the No. 1 position without winning a Grand Slam title.
Tennis career
Ríos began playing tennis at the relatively-late age of 11 at the Sport Francés country club in Vitacura, Santiago. He was soon recognized for his talented left-hand and reserved personality.
Ríos was ranked the world's No. 1 junior tennis player in 1993 (he was the first male player from Latin America to achieve the top spot). He won the boys' singles title at the US Open that year, and also captured his first Satellite tournament in Chile at the age of 17.
Ríos turned professional in 1994. He won his first Challenger Series tournament at Dresden later that year. In 1995, he won his first top-level tour title at Bologna. He became the first Chilean to be ranked in the world's top 10 in 1996.
In January 1998, Ríos reached his first (and only) Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. Having been in strong form leading up to the final, he entered as a slight favourite against Petr Korda of the Czech Republic. But Korda was in inspired form and brushed a nervous Ríos aside in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Later, a doping test confirm that Korda was doped for that match.
In March 1998, Ríos became the first Latin American male to reach the World No. 1 singles ranking after defeating Andre Agassi in the final of the Miami Masters (then called the Miami Super 9). Ríos held the No. 1 ranking for six weeks, and ended the year ranked at No. 2 behind Pete Sampras. Ríos is currently the only player to have held the No. 1 ranking despite never winning a Grand Slam singles title; his accession to the top spot was one of the events that led to the restructuring of the points and rankings system on the men's tour.
A number of injuries and operations sidelined Ríos from competition during much of 2000 and 2001, with his ranking dropping below the 300s.
In 2004, six years after claiming the 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 Seriers tournament in Ecuador.
On July 16 2004, Ríos announced his retirement from the sport. 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. 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.
On March 29 2006 Ríos —aged 30— debuted on the Merryl Lynch's Tour of Champions, an exclusive senior's competition. Playing on his first senior tournamente in Doha, Qatar, he defeated former tennis stars such as Thomas Muster, Henri Leconte, Pat Cash and Cédric Pioline to claim the title.
In June 2006 it was reported that Ríos may return to ATP competition in February of 2007 at the Viña del Mar tournament, however even if he does compete in this event, he has ruled out a full-time return to the ATP tour
Personal life
Ríos met Giuliana Sotela of Costa Rica while training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. They married in December 2000 in Santiago. Their only daughter, Constanza, was born in June 2001. Soon after returning to competition in 2004, Ríos and his wife split, and their marriage was annulled. During this period, Ríos served as a sports commentator for a radio station in Chile.
Ríos was remarried in April 2005 to model María Eugenia "Kenita" Larraín, a former fiancée of soccer star 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.
Grand Slam singles finals
Runner-ups (1)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1998 | Australian Open |  Petr Korda |
2-6, 2-6, 2-6 |
Titles
| Legend |
| ATP Masters Series (5) |
| Grand Slam Cup (1) |
| ATP Tour (12) |
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 Tour Championships | - | - | - | - | 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).
Runner-ups
Singles
1995
1996
- Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A.
- Barcelona, Spain
- Santiago, Chile
1997
1998
- Australian Open (Grand Slam)
1999
- Monte Carlo, Monaco (Masters Series)
- Shanghai, China
2002
2003
- Viña del Mar, Chile
Doubles
2001
- Scottsdale, AZ, U.S.A. (with Sjeng Schalken)
ATP Tour career earnings
| Year | Majors | ATP wins | Total wins | Earnings ($) | Money list rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1,397,445 | 12 |
| 1998 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3,420,054 | 2 |
| 1999 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1,794,244 | 5 |
| 2000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 493,816 | 40 |
| 2001 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 466,025 | 43 |
| 2002 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 506,160 | 39 |
| 2003 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 308,140 | 73 |
| Career | 0 | 18 | 18 | 9,713,771 | 30 |