Wednesday, August 08, 2001
Spain's Ferrero rising star
By Lyndsay Sutton
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — He stumbles over the two words like a child just learning to read. He forms the words with his mouth, but their meanings are lost on him in translation.
For an up-and-comer like Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, “rising star” has not found its way into his mind's English dictionary.
“Rising star? What is that?” he asks after his 6-4, 6-4 first-round win Monday over Wayne Arthurs at Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati. He faces Hicham Arazi today in the second round.
Other tennis players, including countryman Carlos Moya, think Ferrero is one of the sport's rising stars.
“He's gonna be a tough player for the next five years for sure,” Moya said Monday afternoon.
Ferrero, 21, turned pro in 1998 and was named the ATP Newcomer of Year in 1999, when he won his first ATP Tour event in Mallorca. He was one of three teens, including Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, to win an ATP title that year.
He reached the semifinals of the French Open last year, the closest he has come to winning a Grand Slam title. “I working hard when I was younger to be No. 1,” Ferrero said. “But you know, right now is when I'm very close.”
He won Tennis Masters Series Rome in May this year, defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the final. Entering the tournament here, he was in third place in the ATP Champions Race 2001, behind only Kuerten and Andre Agassi.
He replaced Spain's then-No.1 player Alex Corretja in the opening-round singles of the 2000 Davis Cup finals against Australia and earned wins over Patrick Rafter and Hewitt, pacing Spain to its first-ever Davis Cup.
“He was the main actor there,” Moya said of Ferrero. “He had a lot of pressure on him. He proved to people he meant to be up there and in just a few months he won many tournaments.”
And impressed many people.
“(Boris) Becker, (Ivan) Lendl and all these players retire and everybody wonder who's gonna be the next big star,” Moya said. “A lot of young players coming up ... like Guga (Kuerten), Ferrero, (Andy) Roddick. They're gonna be the next big names.”
But Ferrero said he won't be satisfied with any success until he is the top-ranked player in the world.
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Spain's Ferrero rising star
