Since Marcelo Rios he retired from professional activity, he is often linked to his legal conflicts, but his image within the ATP circuit grows even more, since he achieved achievements that seem impossible to achieve and every time a tennis player is close to achieving it, they stays at the door. Such were the cases of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz, who still could not achieve one of the most characteristic and most difficult conquests in tennis.
After the completion of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami, the day that Chino won both titles in the same season (1998) and won the famous Sunshine Double, a situation that only seven tennis players have achieved, is remembered. throughout the history of men’s tennis. This way, Marcelo Rios It remains within one of the lists that are unique and does not have the presence of ‘Rafa’, who was close several times, and Charly, who could not achieve it this year after losing in the semis in Miami.
25 years ago, the native of Vitacura not only did he defeat local Andre Agassi in the M1000 final in Miami, but he also climbed to the top of the world rankings for the first time and won one of the most demanding tests on the circuit: the Sunshine Double, since in Californian lands he came from surpassing Greg Rusedski in the definition. Therefore, together with Jim Courier, Michel Chang, Pete Sampras and Agassi himself, they are the only ones who have achieved it on one occasion.
It should be noted that the first two places are occupied by Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, being the tennis players who were able to win the Indian Wells and Miami trophies the most times in the same season. ‘His Majesty of him’ did it three times in 2005, 2006 and 2017, where he became the last to achieve it, while ‘Nole’ achieved it four times: in 2011 and between 2014 and 2016.
Source: (Tennis TV)
Other Chinese achievements that seem unattainable
As well as Marcelo Rios integrates a unique list within the history of men’s tennis, it is not the only conquest that he has and today it seems impossible to achieve. The strangest of all is that he became number one in the world without having achieved a Grand Slam title, where the closest he came was the final reached at the 1998 Australian Open when he lost to the Czech Petr Korda.
In addition, he is the only tennis player to lead the world rankings in three different circuits: juniors, veterans and professional, although in the latter he did not finish the season at the top of the ranking, as he did in the previous two. It should be noted that the Chilean is also the shortest number one, with 1.75 meters, when the average among the best 100 tennis players in the world exceeds 1.80 meters.
