Before these ATP Finals 2023 end, we could not stop remembering Àlex Corretja’s triumph in Hannover 1998 with that legendary comeback against Carlos Moyá. To this day, he is still the last Spanish tennis player to proclaim himself a master.
The history of Spanish tennis is full of great memories, although it is true that not all of them stick in the mind with the same intensity. In 1998, when Alex Corretja rose in Hannover the biggest title of his career, we never thought that so much time would pass without seeing a Spaniard crowned in some ATP Finals. At the moment there are 25 seasons, although Carlos Alcaraz may put a stop to it in a few days. Since we do not have a crystal ball, it is only fair to celebrate this anniversary that forever catapulted the name of the Barcelona tennis player.
If we go back to that cold month of November, the truth is that very few could bet on seeing Corretja leaving with the Hannover vault champion trophy. In a table shared with profiles like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marcelo Ríos, there was only one person who was completely convinced of what could happen on the Sunday of the final. That was Javier Duarte, the Spaniard’s coach, who the day before the start of the tournament made it clear in a conversation revealed a few days ago in an exclusive interview in Eurosport.
“Dudu came into the room and said to me: ‘Are you convinced of what you are going to do this week?‘. I told him yes, that he was playing well and I was comfortable. ‘No no, I ask you if you are convinced of what you are going to do‘. He didn’t understand what he meant, so he clarified it for me: ‘I mean you’re going to win the Masters’.
That boost of confidence was the definitive step for Corretja to enter the court with a different mentality. That’s how she got through the group stage, she surprised for the first time Pete Sampras in a semifinal where he saved several match points and, to put the cherry on top, came back from two sets down against Carlos Moya in the title match. Yes, a Moyá who had always beaten him that season, in fact, had won the last ten sets they had played. However, Àlex was willing to give his all until the last meter of the path, to not throw in the towel until mathematics said that it was impossible. This is how he signed one of those heroic results (3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5) that are impossible to forget. After the euphoria of the celebration and a vibrant trophy presentation, these were his words when he arrived at the press room.
“I had a lot of confidence in myself, even losing two sets to zero, I still thought I could win this match,” responded the former world No. 2 about how he had managed to turn around such an adverse situation. “It sounds strange, but I was thinking about the Lendl-McEnroe final at Roland Garros 1984. At that time Lendl was my idol, he managed to come back from two sets to zero and become champion. I was thinking about that, about doing the same thing my idol did, about not losing to such a talented rival. I tried to find the energy somewhere and think only about tennis, to prevent Carlos from winning in straight sets. Even with 3-1 down in the fifth set I still thought he could win. If I had subtracted to avoid losing the game, I would think the same. That’s why I think I won, because otherwise I would have lost easily.”
LOSE TO LEARN
That victory was the reward for a season of consolidation in the elite, although the highest jump had been made in 1997. Now the Spaniard had to confirm that he had the virtues to fight against the best for an entire calendar, something he accomplished but without reach in no time that jackpot that every child dreams of when they start. He stayed close Roland Garros, his first Grand Slam final, but that day he did not enter the court with the correct attitude to face Carlos Moyá who took advantage of the situation to win the cup. Five months later, the same protagonists met on another great stage, this time to take the baton from Manolo Orantes, the only Spaniard in history to win the Masters Cup.
“I learned a lot from that defeat, especially because I also played it with Carlos,” Corretja compared after taking revenge on his teammate. “Roland Garros was the first important final of my entire career, I didn’t know how to approach it, I was facing a friend, so the day I played another final like that I knew it would be different. The truth is that I wasn’t playing tennis very well, but mentally I was still on the court. At that moment, when I was down two sets, I was just waiting to finish, lose and hug him. This time history changed. I took the energy from the depths of my heart, from my daily work and from my family. I wanted to be the champion, not to be considered a loser. I don’t know if I’m a great champion now, but I feel like a winner“, summarized a man who made a splash on his favorable minor surface.
THE TOLL OF SUCCESS
Needless to say, that triumph changed Álex’s life forever. Not only did it improve his ranking and his self-esteem, but it also made him surpass the popularity barrier to the point of occupying all the covers in the country. “I noticed that people looked at me more as a winner, because in sports winning is not the same as losing, they are not worth the same. Whether we like it or not, this is how it is,” confesses the Eurosport commentator in the aforementioned interview. However, the Catalan’s dedication to satisfying all the requests around him was such that he did not give him the strength to maintain the level the following season. In addition to chasing with his tongue out that dark object of desire that means becoming the best tennis player on the planet. He stayed at No. 2, he was never able to catch Sampras, although at that press conference he could never foresee the consequences.
“I didn’t know that with the victory I would put myself at No. 3, it is a great feeling to think that it is my best ranking ever, it is great to end the year like this,” Corretja stressed to those present in that press room in Hannover. “I will try to keep working hard to see if I can get to No. 1, I know it will be very difficult but, if I can be No. 3, I think I can be No. 1. Maybe I have to improve certain things about my tennis, like being more consistent with my serve or having a bigger weapon, like my forehand. But I’m happy with what I’m doing, it won’t be an obsession for me to reach No. 1, I think I’ve already done a lot. I will try to stay as I am, I don’t want to change anything just to be No. 1,” she certified.
No, Corretja was never able to embrace that dream. Nor that of winning a Grand Slam, falling short again at Roland Garros 2001 in that fateful final against Kuerten. But no one can take away a title that over the years has gathered both dust and prestige. A success that makes him an atypical Spaniard, different from the others. Possibly one of a kind. “The Masters endorses me, it’s like a letter of introduction. If I said that I was No. 1 in the world, I would need to say that I was champion of something big, something like the Masters. I feel like that supports everything else, so it makes me very happy to think that I was a Masters champion. I would not change it for anything”, he concludes.
2023-11-17 07:32:31
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