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| Birth Name(s) : Nicolas Massu |
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Full Nicolas Massu Biography
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (born October 10, 1979, in Viña del Mar, Chile), nicknamed Vampiro (Spanish: "vampire"), is a Chilean tennis player.
Massú was introduced to tennis at age five by his Hungarian grandfather, Ladislao Fried. From age 12, he was trained by Leonardo Zuleta, with whom he perfected his forehand and double-handed backhand.
Massú became a professional tennis player in 1997. That year he won the prestigious juniors year-end Orange Bowl tournament. He also claimed the boys doubles competitions at Wimbledon (with Peru's Luis Horna) and the US Open (with countryman Fernando González) and was junior doubles world champion.
In August 1998, Massú won his first future tournaments in Spain. The following month he claimed his first challenger event in Ecuador. He won his second challenger tournament in June 1999, in Italy. In September, 1999, he succesfully defended his title in Ecuador. In November 1999, he won the Santiago challenger event and cracked the top 100 in singles for the first time.
In May 2000, Massú reached his first ATP tournament final, at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Orlando, Florida, where he lost to Fernando González. Later in August, he would lose again to another Chilean —Marcelo Ríos— on his US Open debut. In January 2001, Massú reached his second ATP event final, in Adelaide, Australia.
Massú's first ATP title came in February 2002 in Buenos Aires, where he defeated Argentine Agustín Calleri in a three-set final, after being down match point. At the 2003 event, Calleri took revenge and defeated him in the first round, a lost that pushed Massú out of the top 100 in singles and forced him to play challengers once again. In April 2003, he reached the Bermuda challenger final.
Massú claimed his second ATP title in July 2003 in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. The following week he reached the final of the Kitzbuhel, Austria tournament, cracking the top 50 in singles for the first time. In September he made three consecutive tournament finals, including a win at a challenger event and his third ATP title at Palermo, Italy. In October, he reached the final at the Madrid Tennis Masters Series tournament, losing to Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.
In mid-2004, Massú parted ways with Argentinian coach Gabriel Markus, whom he replaced with Chilean Patricio Rodríguez. In July 2004 Massú won his fourth ATP title in Kitzbuhel, and then went on to win two gold medals at the Athens Olympics in August (see below). Thanks to his outstanding performance at the Olympics, he reached his best ATP Singles Ranking to date, at number nine. In November he underwent groin surgery, and therefore entered the 2005 season off top form. He ended an unremarkable 2005 with a six match losing streak.
In January 2006, Massú lost his hometown event at Viña del Mar to José Acasuso. In February he won his sixth ATP event at Costa do Sauipe, Brazil. In April he reached the final of the Casablanca event in Morocco. In July he lost to Novak Đoković in the final of the Amersfoort tournament.
In January 2007, Massú repeated his Viña del Mar final of 2006, losing to Luis Horna in straight sets. In July he began an eight match losing streak, ended in October in Saint Petersburg.
Massú represented Chile at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Australia, and was the country's standard bearer at the Games' opening ceremony, after Marcelo Ríos failed to show up.
In August, at the Olympic Games in Athens, Massú and doubles partner Fernando González gave their country its first-ever Olympic gold medal, when they defeated Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler of Germany to win the men's doubles tournament. The next day, he captured his second gold medal by defeating American Mardy Fish in five sets in the men's singles final. Massú was overwhelmed that he had won two gold medals: "I was so happy because this is my best memory in my sport career. If I look back in 10 more years, I look back on this, I'm gonna be so happy. Now I can die happy."
Massú was chosen as Athlete of the Day on August 23 by the 2004 Athens Olympics' organization, following his victory in singles.
Massú began playing for Chile in Davis Cup matches in 1996. He currently is 26-14, including 14-3 on clay.
Massú has a style characteristic of a clay court specialist, with strong baseline play characterized by a solid forehand and backhand. However, his play at the net is weaker, and he relies on long rallies from the baseline to win points. His serve is average.
Massú is known for his fighting spirit, especially when playing for Chile, as he has demonstrated at the 2004 Olympics and at numerous Davis Cup matches. He has also turned around difficult matches.
Massú was born in Viña del Mar, Chile. His mother, Sonia Fried, is Jewish, and his father, Manuel Massú, is of Lebanese ancestry. |
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