Juan Balcells
Juan Balcells
  • Personal
  • 2002 IN REVIEW

    The Spaniard dropped outside Top 100 for first time since his breakthrough year in 2000…Struggled through early portion of season before advancing to final in Scottsdale…Compiled 22-16 record at Challenger level including one final, two SF and five QF…After beginning season with five straight 1st RD defeats, broke losing streak by advancing to final in Scottsdale (d. Blanco, Kratochvil, Okun, Schuettler) before falling to Agassi in championship match…Won only one more match on ATP circuit (1st RD in Mallorca) in next four months before reaching QF in Amersfoort…Defeated F. Gonzalez, Saretta, but lost in straight sets to Chela…Advanced to final in Ljubljana Challenger (l. to Di Pasquale) and reached SF in Lugano Challenger…Reached SF in Seville Challenger and QF in Challengers at Barcelona and San Antonio in September and October.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    1996-Advanced to QF at Merano in first Challenger of career...1997-Reached first Challenger final at Bratislava (w/Bowen)...1998-Made singles ATP debut in Bogota and reached QF... Advanced to SF at Biella and QF at Barletta Challengers...In doubles, won two Challenger titles...His best ATP result was SF in Gstaad (w/Berasategui)...1999-Defeated No. 15 Moya in 1st RD of Mallorca for biggest career victory...His best singles result was SF at Barcelona Challenger...In doubles, won Challenger titles in Espinho (w/Etlis) and Freudenstadt (w/Strengberger)...His best ATP finish was SF in Mallorca (w/Alonso)...Made his Davis Cup debut in World Group playoff tie in New Zealand and won doubles match in straight sets (w/Alonso)... 2000-Finished in Top 100 in singles and doubles for first time...Also helped country to win first Davis Cup title by wining three of four doubles matches during year including final over Australia's Stolle-Woodforde (w/Corretja)...Qualified in Auckland and advanced to first ATP SF (l. to Chang)...Reached first Challenger final in Ljubljana (l. to Gross)...Qualified for first Grand Slam at Roland Garros and defeated former two-time champion Bruguera in 1st RD (l. to Portas in 2nd RD)...Advanced to first ATP final in Bucharest and saved two match points in final set against Hantschk before winning tie-break...In doubles, reached first ATP final in Bogota and followed with title at Salinas Challenger (both w/Hadad)...In July, clinched Spain's SF Davis Cup tie with dramatic five-set doubles victory over Martin-Woodruff of U.S...2001- Finished in Top 100 for second consecutive year and won most career ATP matches (19) during season…Played in all four Grand Slams for first time…Reached SF in Auckland for second straight year…Made TMS debut in Miami and reached 3rd RD (d. B. Black, d. No. 2 seed Safin, l. to Bjorkman)…Advanced to SF in Mallorca (l. to Coria)…In Davis Cup, went 1-1 in doubles…Earned career-high $333,782.

    PERSONAL

    Full name is Juan Manuel Balcells Fornaguera...Began playing tennis at age nine and his ambition as a child was to play professional tennis...Parents Juan and Carmen...Considers serve and volley as strengths and enjoys playing on all surfaces...Nicknamed "Oso," which means bear in Spanish...Has had surgery performed on his knees, shoulders, wrist and ankle in past six years...Has an 8-4 career record in Davis Cup play (6-3 in doubles) in nine ties since 1999...Coached by Pato Alvarez (since 1997).

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