50 Facts About Guillermo Coria

1.

Guillermo Coria reached a career-high ATP world No 3 singles ranking in May 2004.

2.

Guillermo Coria turned professional in 2000, finishing 2003,2004, and 2005 as a top-ten player.

3.

Guillermo Coria was one of the fastest players on the ATP Tour, consistently showing exceptional performances in clay-court tournaments.

4.

Guillermo Coria was considered the "King of Clay" between 2003 and 2005 by reaching 6 out of 8 possible Masters finals on clay during that period.

5.

Guillermo Coria won the Orange Bowl 16s in 1997 and reached the finals of Orange Bowl 18s in 1998, where he was defeated by future world No 1 Roger Federer.

6.

Guillermo Coria won the boys' singles title at the 1999 French Open without dropping a single set, beating his friend and fellow Argentine, David Nalbandian in straight sets in the final.

7.

One month later, at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships, in singles as the third seed, Guillermo Coria reached semifinals without dropping a set, where he was defeated by top seed Kristian Pless in straight sets.

8.

Guillermo Coria tested positive for nandrolone in April 2001 after a match in Barcelona against Michel Kratochvil.

9.

Guillermo Coria was initially banned from tennis for two years, starting in August 2001, and was fined $98,565.

10.

Guillermo Coria claimed that the only supplement that he was taking was a multivitamin made by a New Jersey supplements company.

11.

Guillermo Coria's family employed a private lab to test the multivitamin, which was found to be contaminated with steroids.

12.

In December 2001, the ATP refused to acquit Guillermo Coria but reduced his ban from two years to seven months, which meant that he would be free to continue with his tennis career in March 2002.

13.

Guillermo Coria sued the New Jersey supplements company for more than $10 million in lost prize money and endorsements and settled after the third day of the trial for an undisclosed amount.

14.

Guillermo Coria signaled his arrival as a world-class clay-court player in 2003 by reaching the finals in Buenos Aires, where he lost a tight best-of-three-sets match to Carlos Moya, and at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost in two straight sets to Juan Carlos Ferrero.

15.

Guillermo Coria went on to win his first Masters Series title at Hamburg by defeating Agustin Calleri in the final in three straight sets.

16.

At the French Open, Guillermo Coria defeated Andre Agassi in four sets in the quarterfinals, before suffering an upset loss to Martin Verkerk and his booming serves in the semifinals.

17.

Guillermo Coria won these three tournaments without dropping a set, dishing out five bagels and eight breadsticks in the process.

18.

Guillermo Coria finished the year ranked No 5 in the world.

19.

In 2004, Guillermo Coria won the clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires and reached his first Masters final on hard court at the NASDAQ-100 Open, where he faced Andy Roddick.

20.

Three weeks later, Guillermo Coria defeated Rainer Schuttler in three straight sets in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters to win his second Masters Series title.

21.

Guillermo Coria had now won five consecutive clay-court tournaments which include two consecutive Masters Series titles and had gone 26 consecutive matches unbeaten on clay.

22.

On 3 May 2004, Guillermo Coria reached a career-high ranking of world No 3.

23.

Guillermo Coria then succumbed to leg cramps for the rest of the match and was barely able to move at times, with many of his serves in the fourth set not even reaching the net.

24.

Many fans and pundits agree that Guillermo Coria was never the same player after the loss.

25.

Guillermo Coria reached finals on three different surfaces in 2004.

26.

Guillermo Coria then went on to defeat Wesley Moodie in a five-set match in the first round of Wimbledon, which took nearly three days to complete after the start of the match, as a result of rain and poor scheduling.

27.

Guillermo Coria appeared in five finals after the 2004 French Open defeat and lost four of them, with three of them against the rising king of clay, Rafael Nadal.

28.

The only final Guillermo Coria won in 2005 was on 31 July, when he won in Umag, Croatia, defeating Carlos Moya in the final.

29.

Guillermo Coria had a surprisingly consistent 2005 season, where he was one of only three players to reach the fourth round or better at every Grand Slam, the others being Roger Federer and David Nalbandian.

30.

Against Ginepri, having already saved five match points, Guillermo Coria was serving to take the match into a fifth-set tiebreaker, when two consecutive double faults from deuce gave Ginepri the win.

31.

Guillermo Coria lost nine of his last eleven matches of 2005.

32.

Guillermo Coria then defeated Nicolas Kiefer, despite serving 22 double faults, but he was then easily beaten by Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.

33.

Guillermo Coria withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon as he attempted to sort out marital problems, problems with his game, and an elbow injury.

34.

At the US Open, Guillermo Coria retired in his first-round match against Ryan Sweeting after just five games.

35.

Guillermo Coria made his return to a Challenger in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on 22 October 2007.

36.

Guillermo Coria finally returned to the main tour in the Movistar Open in Chile on 28 January 2008.

37.

Guillermo Coria faced Tommy Robredo, the three-time quarterfinalist and 12th seed, in the first round.

38.

Guillermo Coria never recovered from the service yips that damaged his game and kept his ranking hundreds of places below his once consistent top-ten position.

39.

Guillermo Coria was a very well-rounded player who had an excellent technique.

40.

Guillermo Coria was known as a very solid baseliner and an excellent clay-courter.

41.

Guillermo Coria had excellent speed, making him one of the best defenders on the tour, and he was able to hit good shots on the run.

42.

Guillermo Coria had penetrating and balanced groundstroke capabilities and frequently utilised drop shots.

43.

Whilst his small size and relative lack of power meant he did not have any big, stand-out weapons, Guillermo Coria had excellent consistency and court craft which enabled him to become a top player, especially on clay courts.

44.

The only leaderboard about return that Guillermo Coria did not rank No 1 at is the second serve return points won, where he is currently ranked 13th.

45.

Guillermo Coria began to play tennis at the age of three, not long after learning how to walk, when his father Oscar, a tennis coach, introduced the game to him.

46.

Guillermo Coria was the oldest of three brothers in his family.

47.

Guillermo Coria attended preschool with David Nalbandian in Argentina.

48.

Guillermo Coria admired Andre Agassi and Marcelo Rios while growing up.

49.

Guillermo Coria enjoys playing soccer and he is a well-known River Plate fan.

50.

Guillermo Coria's racquet was strung with Luxilon Big Banger Original 16 String.