Marcelo Ríos facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Marcelo Ríos

Ríos in 1998
Country (sports)	Chile
Residence	Santiago, Chile
Born	(1975-12-26) 26 December 1975 (age 49) Santiago, Chile
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2004
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$9,713,771
Singles
Career record	391–192 (67.07%)
Career titles	18
Highest ranking	No. 1 (30 March 1998)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1998)
French Open	QF (1998, 1999)
Wimbledon	4R (1997)
US Open	QF (1997)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1998)
Grand Slam Cup	W (1998)
Olympic Games	1R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	36–57
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 141 (7 May 2001)
Grand Slam doubles results
US Open	Q2 (1995)
Medal record Pan American Games Silver 2003 Santo Domingo Men's Singles Silver 2003 Santo Domingo Men's Doubles

Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (Latin American Spanish: [maɾˈselo ˈri.os]; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. He became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings in March 1998, holding the spot for six weeks. He also held the top ranking in juniors. At 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in), Ríos is the shortest man to hold the number 1 ranking in men's tennis.

Ríos was the first player to win all three clay-court Masters Series tournaments (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg) since the format began in 1990. He was also the third man in history (after Michael Chang and Pete Sampras) to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami Masters in one year), which he achieved in 1998. Despite winning those five Masters titles, Ríos is also the only man in the Open Era to have been world No. 1 without ever winning a Grand Slam singles tournament. His best major result was as runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open, losing to Petr Korda in straight sets.

Ríos retired early from professional tennis in July 2004, after being overtaken by a back injury. He played his last ATP Tour level tournament while only 27 years old at the 2003 French Open.

Tennis career

Ríos turned professional in 1994 and finished 1997, 1998, and 1999 as a top-ten player. Ríos won a total of 18 top-level singles titles and one top-level doubles title during his career.

Early years

Ríos began playing tennis at the age of 11 at the Sport Francés golf club in Vitacura (Greater Santiago), adjacent to his house.

Junior career

As a junior, Ríos reached as high as No. 1 in singles and No. 141 in doubles.

Ríos reached the semifinals of the junior French Open in 1993 without dropping a set, where he was defeated by Roberto Carretero-Diaz in straight sets, and won the junior US Open in 1993 while only dropping one set during the entire tournament. He also won his first Satellite tournament in Chile.

1994: Turned Professional

This was Ríos' first year as a professional player, and he quickly began to acquire international fame after his participation at Roland Garros, where, at just 18 years of age, he faced Pete Sampras in the second round, fighting a hard battle before eventually losing 6–7, 6–7, 4–6. His left-handed ability, plus his novel long hair and backwards visor, drew the attention of the media. The same year he won his first Challenger in Dresden, Germany.

1995: Breakthrough

In May 1995, aged 19, Ríos won his first tournament title in Bologna defeating Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay 6–2, 6–4, and breaking into the world's top 50 for the first time. Then in June, he won at Amsterdam in both singles (against Jan Siemerink, 6–4, 7–5, 6–4) and doubles (with Sjeng Schalken) and won the tournament in Kuala Lumpur against Mark Philippoussis 7–6, 6–2. He also reached the final of his home country's ATP tournament in Santiago. Ríos ended the year ranked No. 25 in the world.

1996: Top 10 debut

His achievements this year included excellent performances in the Masters Series (then called Super 9) tournaments. He reached the quarterfinals in Masters Series of Stuttgart and Rome, and the semifinals in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Canada. In Sankt Pölten, Austria, he won his fourth career title by defeating the Spaniard Félix Mantilla 6–1, 6–4. Ríos again reached the final in Santiago, and also reached the finals in Barcelona and Scottsdale. For much of the year Ríos would be ranked in the top 10, becoming the first Chilean in history to do so. He finished the year ranked number 11.

1997: Impending dominance

In 1997 for the first time in Ríos' career he reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open and again at the US Open. He also won his first Masters title at Monte Carlo; after a first round bye, he beat Andrea Gaudenzi, Albert Costa, Carlos Moyá, Magnus Larsson, and, in the final, Àlex Corretja, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. Two weeks later, he lost in the final of the Rome Masters against the same Spaniard. Other successes for the year included the quarterfinals (again) in the Stuttgart Masters and the finals in Marseille, Boston, and (for the third time) in Santiago. Ríos had a very consistent 1997 season, being the only player to reach the fourth round or better on all Grand Slams. Ríos went as high as No. 6 during the year, and ended the year in the top ten for the first time, being No. 10.

1998: World No. 1 in singles, first Grand Slam final

The year 1998 brought the peak of his career, when he reached the No. 1 spot in the world. He won the tournament (the first of the year) in Auckland, New Zealand, against Richard Fromberg, then reached the final of the Australian Open, beating Grant Stafford, Thomas Enqvist, Andrew Ilie, Lionel Roux, Alberto Berasategui and Nicolas Escudé before losing to Petr Korda in a lopsided 2–6, 2–6, 2–6 that lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. The following months brought successes such as the title of the Super 9 (the current Masters Series) at Indian Wells, where he defeated British Greg Rusedski in the final.

The consummation came in the final at Key Biscayne, Florida, under the guidance of his coach Larry Stefanki. After victories over Hendrik Dreekmann, Tommy Haas, and Goran Ivanišević, Ríos beat Thomas Enqvist in the quarterfinals and Tim Henman in the semifinals. In the final on 29 March, Ríos defeated Andre Agassi 7–5, 6–3, 6–4. In Chile, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the triumph of the first Chilean, Latin and indeed Spanish speaking player to reach the sport's No. 1 ranking, grabbing the position from Pete Sampras (who had maintained 102 consecutive weeks at No. 1, and five years ending the season as the leader). In the days ahead, there was a crowded reception leading Ríos to then president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle on La Moneda Palace, with around 10,000 people cheering at the palace's surroundings. Ríos' No. 1 ranking lasted four weeks; he lost it after being unable to defend the title at Monte Carlo because of an injury suffered in the Davis Cup while defeating Hernán Gumy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In May, he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open losing to eventual champion Carlos Moyá.

In June, at Wimbledon, Ríos was upset in the first round by Francisco Clavet. However, on 10 August, Ríos regained the No. 1 spot for another two weeks. In September, he lost at third round of the US Open to Magnus Larsson. During this season, Ríos also won the Rome Masters against Albert Costa, who withdrew from the final, Sankt Pölten by defeating Vincent Spadea, the Grand Slam Cup against Andre Agassi, and Singapore by defeating Mark Woodforde. Furthermore, he reached the quarterfinals of the Stuttgart Masters and Paris Masters. In 1998, Ríos won seven titles, including three Masters Series titles, and reached the final of the Australian Open. On 27 July of that year, he reached the maximum number of points achieved throughout his career: 3719 (according to the scoring system used prior to the year 2000). He ended the year ranked No. 2 behind Pete Sampras, who topped the world rankings for a sixth consecutive year.

1999: Continued success and beginning of injuries

Ríos maintained a high level throughout 1999, although his game was interrupted by repeated injuries and surgeries. This prevented him from defending the points achieved by reaching the final of the Australian Open the previous year, so he fell several places in the rankings. He reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters, but after trailing 4–6, 1–2, he had to retire due to a new injury, handing the tournament to Gustavo Kuerten. Ríos subsequently won the Hamburg Masters in a match that lasted more than four hours against Mariano Zabaleta; two weeks later he became champion in Sankt Pölten for the second consecutive time against the same Argentine, who, this time, had to retire during the first set at 4–4. In October, he won at Singapore and reached the final in Beijing, losing to Magnus Norman. He also reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the Stuttgart Masters. Despite many injuries he suffered and surgeries he underwent, Ríos would complete his third consecutive year as a top-ten player, at world No. 9.

2000: Persistent injuries

Rios serving at 2000 French Open

Since 2000 until the end of Ríos' career on the main tour, he was not able to keep up his level of play to the standards he set in the previous decade, as it was marked by repeated and disabling injuries. He still won the tournament of Umag, Croatia beating the Argentine Mariano Puerta in the final. He also reached the semifinals at the Hamburg Masters losing to Marat Safin. Ríos finished the year No. 37 in the world.

2001–2002: Decline

In 2001, Ríos won the first tournament of the year in Doha. However, his performance in the following tournaments was weaker, weakened by an ankle operation, which resulted in him dropping out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since he was a teenager. In September, Ríos won another title, this time in Hong Kong, defeating Rainer Schüttler in the final. Ríos decided to return in October to play a Challenger event in Santiago in an effort to end his curse of not winning an ATP tournament in his home country. He won the title, beating Edgardo Massa in the final. He also reached a doubles final in Scottsdale. Ríos ended the year as No. 39 in the world.

In early 2002, Ríos had some good results, but a back injury prevented him from continuing the season successfully. It was the same injury that he had already had two operations on, and finally prevented him from returning to a competitive level. His best results were the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, the semifinals at the Miami Masters, and the final in the Stockholm tournament playing the Paradorn Srichaphan. Ríos would finish in the top 25 in the world for the first time since 1999 at No. 24, but without managing to recover from the injuries that beset him since late 1999.

2003: Long absence from tour and out of top 100

Ríos reached the final of the Viña del Mar tournament (formerly the Santiago tournament) but lost to Spaniard David Sánchez. This was the fourth final he has reached and lost in his home country but failed to win. However, representing Chile alongside Fernando González and Nicolás Massú, he won the World Team Cup in Düsseldorf. In the same year, he also won silver medals in singles and doubles with Adrián García in the 2003 Pan American Games. In May, Ríos played his last ATP-level match, losing in the first round of Roland Garros to Mario Ančić and retiring at 1–6, 0–1. In 2003, Ríos played in very few tournaments, most of which he had to withdraw from due to injuries. As a result, he ended the year at No. 105 in the world, his worst year-end ranking on the main tour yet.

2004: Retirement from main tour

In 2004, six years after claiming the world No. 1 ranking, and after a long absence from the tour, Ríos returned to competition with a victory at a Challenger Series tournament in Ecuador. He played his last competitive match in early April 2004 at a Challenger in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where he retired in the round of 16.

Finally, on 16 July 2004, after years of constant injuries—and at just 28 years old—Ríos announced his retirement from tennis during a press conference in Santiago. He organized a farewell tour across his home country, travelling through several cities, meeting with fans, offering tennis clinics, and playing friendly matches with international and local tennis players such as Petr Korda and Goran Ivanišević. The tour ended on 22 December 2004, at a soccer stadium in Santiago, where he played his final tennis match of his career on the main tour against Guillermo Coria.

2015: ITF probe request

In 2015, it was announced that the Chile Tennis Federation and Ríos himself were to request a probe by the International Tennis Federation into his 1998 Australian Open final opponent Petr Korda's possible doping activity during the tournament.

2018: Desire for a comeback

Following successful elbow surgery in November 2018, Ríos announced a comeback as part of his desire to become the oldest ever winner of a Challenger tournament, though his plans ultimately did not come to fruition.

On 21 December 2018, Ríos defeated Nicolás Lapentti 6–4, 5–7, [11–9] in an exhibition in Chile.

ATP Champions Tour

2006

On 29 March 2006, Ríos, aged 30, debuted on the ATP Champions Tour, a tour for former tour players, having met the requirement of at least two years after retirement. At his first tournament on the tour in Doha, Qatar, he defeated Thomas Muster, Henri Leconte, Pat Cash, and Cédric Pioline to claim the title. The following week he repeated, this time winning the crown in Hong Kong, where he won the final against Muster. Ríos won six tournaments in a row, adding Algarve, Graz, Paris and Eindhoven to the above. His inclusion on the senior circuit caused mild controversy, as he was significantly younger than many of his fellow competitors. He ended the year as No. 1, winning a total of six tournaments and holding a winning streak of 25 matches, achieving the record of being the only player in history to be No. 1 in the world as a junior, professional and veteran.

2007

Ríos did not take part at the Champions Tour in 2007.

He actually intended to return to the ATP Tour in February at the Viña del Mar tournament (Movistar Open), but he defaulted because of the same back injury that made him retire from the tour.

On 30 March 2007, Ríos played an exhibition match in the Movistar Arena against Andre Agassi, both as a way to commemorate the match where Ríos rose to world No. 1 and as a way of having the American play in Chile.

2008

In 2008, Ríos came back to veteran's tour where he won the tournaments in Barcelona and Algarve. On 22 June 2008, he was defeated by Pete Sampras in the final of a seniors tournament in São Paulo, Brazil. Ríos ended the year as No. 3 in the veteran's world rankings.

On 24 June 2008, Ríos defeated Sampras in an exhibition match that commemorated the 10-year anniversary of having reached the No. 1 ranking in the world.

Personal life

Ríos was born in Santiago, Chile to Jorge Ríos Jarvis, an engineer and businessman, and Alicia Mayorga, a teacher. He has an older sister, Paula.

Ríos met the 14-year-old Costa Rican Giuliana Sotela in September 1998 while he was training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Ríos and Sotela got married in December 2000 in Santiago. They have a daughter, Constanza, who was born in June 2001. In March 2004, the marriage ended in divorce, which legally took place in Costa Rica, as Chile did not allow married couples the right of divorce until November 2004. During 2004, Ríos worked as a sports commentator for a radio station in Chile.

In April 2005, Ríos married model María Eugenia "Kenita" Larraín, a former fiancée of football player Iván Zamorano. The couple subsequently experienced a very public break-up in September of the same year after an incident in Costa Rica in which Larraín was injured when Ríos allegedly threw her out of his car while he was driving to visit his daughter. Ríos claimed that marrying Larraín was "the biggest mistake of my life." Ríos had previously been in a relationship with Larraín's cousin, Patricia Larraín, from 1995 to 1998.

In May 2008, Ríos married Paula Pavic. They have five children together, daughter Isidora (born December 2008), daughter Colomba (born June 2010), and also triplets, which are a son named Marcelo jr. and two daughters named Antonella and Agustina (all born December 2011). Ríos and Pavic divorced in 2023.

In March 2008, on the tenth anniversary of Ríos reaching the No. 1 ranking, journalist Nelson Flores published a book in Spanish titled El extraño del pelo largo (The strange man with long hair), recounting his experiences following the player from his junior days up to his ascent to the top of the ATP singles ranking.

In May 2014, Ríos said in an interview with El Mercurio that he could have Asperger's syndrome. On 17 November 2016, he confirmed in an interview with Chilevisión that he was diagnosed with Asperger's twice in his life, as a child and during a Davis Cup tie, but he did not care that much until the 2014 interview.

He relocated his family to Sarasota, Florida, in late 2018, according to the website tennis-prose.com.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1998	Australian Open	Hard	Petr Korda	2–6, 2–6, 2–6

Grand Slam Cup finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1998	Munich	Hard (i)	Andre Agassi	6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–1), 5–7, 6–3

Masters Series finals

Singles: 7 (5–2)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1997	Monte Carlo Masters	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	1997	Italian Open	Clay	Àlex Corretja	5–7, 5–7, 3–6
Win	1998	Indian Wells Masters	Hard	Greg Rusedski	6–3, 6–7(15–17), 7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win	1998	Miami Open	Hard	Andre Agassi	7–5, 6–3, 6–4
Win	1998	Italian Open	Clay	Albert Costa	w/o
Loss	1999	Monte-Carlo Masters	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	4–6, 1–2 ret.
Win	1999	German Open	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 6–2

Career finals

Singles: 31 (18 titles, 13 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	May 1995	Bologna Outdoor, Italy	Clay	Marcelo Filippini	6–2, 6–4
Win	2.	Jul 1995	Dutch Open, Netherlands	Clay	Jan Siemerink	6–4, 7–5, 6–4
Win	3.	Oct 1995	Kuala Lumpur Open, Malaysia	Carpet (i)	Mark Philippoussis	7–6(8–6), 6–2
Loss	1.	Oct 1995	Chile Open, Santiago	Clay	Sláva Doseděl	6–7(3–7), 3–6
Loss	2.	Mar 1996	Tennis Channel Open, United States	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	6–2, 3–6, 3–6
Loss	3.	Apr 1996	Barcelona Open, Spain	Clay	Thomas Muster	3–6, 6–4, 4–6, 1–6
Win	4.	May 1996	Sankt Pölten Open, Austria	Clay	Fèlix Mantilla	6–2, 6–4
Loss	4.	Nov 1996	Chile Open, Santiago	Clay	Hernán Gumy	4–6, 5–7
Loss	5.	Feb 1997	Marseille Open, France	Hard (i)	Thomas Enqvist	4–6, 0–1 ret.
Win	5.	Apr 1997	Monte Carlo Masters, Monaco	Clay	Àlex Corretja	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	6.	May 1997	Italian Open, Rome	Clay	Àlex Corretja	5–7, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	7.	Aug 1997	Boston, United States	Hard	Sjeng Schalken	5–7, 3–6
Loss	8.	Nov 1997	Chile Open, Santiago	Clay	Julián Alonso	2–6, 1–6
Win	6.	Jan 1998	Auckland Open, New Zealand	Hard	Richard Fromberg	4–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Loss	9.	Feb 1998	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Petr Korda	2–6, 2–6, 2–6
Win	7.	Mar 1998	Indian Wells Masters, United States	Hard	Greg Rusedski	6–3, 6–7(15–17), 7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win	8.	Mar 1998	Miami Open, United States	Hard	Andre Agassi	7–5, 6–3, 6–4
Win	9.	May 1998	Italian Open, Rome	Clay	Albert Costa	w/o
Win	10.	May 1998	Sankt Pölten Open, Austria (2)	Clay	Vincent Spadea	6–2, 6–0
Win	11.	Oct 1998	Grand Slam Cup, Munich	Hard (i)	Andre Agassi	6–4, 2–6, 7–6(7–1), 5–7, 6–3
Win	12.	Oct 1998	Singapore Open	Hard	Mark Woodforde	6–4, 6–2
Loss	10.	Apr 1999	Monte-Carlo Masters, Monaco	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	4–6, 1–2 ret.
Win	13.	May 1999	Hamburg Masters, Germany	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 6–2
Win	14.	May 1999	Sankt Pölten Open, Austria (3)	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	4–4 ret.
Loss	11.	Oct 1999	Shanghai Open, China	Hard	Magnus Norman	6–2, 3–6, 5–7
Win	15.	Oct 1999	Singapore Open (2)	Hard	Mikael Tillström	6–2, 7–6(7–5)
Win	16.	Jul 2000	Croatia Open, Umag	Clay	Mariano Puerta	7–6(7–1), 4–6, 6–3
Win	17.	Jan 2001	Qatar Open, Doha	Hard	Bohdan Ulihrach	6–3, 2–6, 6–3
Win	18.	Sep 2001	Hong Kong Open, China	Hard	Rainer Schüttler	7–6(7–3), 6–2
Loss	12.	Oct 2002	Stockholm Open, Sweden	Hard (i)	Paradorn Srichaphan	7–6(7–2), 0–6, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	13.	Feb 2003	Chile Open, Viña del Mar	Clay	David Sánchez	6–1, 3–6, 3–6

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	Jul 1995	Dutch Open, Netherlands	Clay	Sjeng Schalken	Wayne Arthurs Neil Broad	7–6, 6–2
Loss	Mar 2001	Tennis Channel Open, United States	Hard	Sjeng Schalken	Donald Johnson Jared Palmer	6–7(3–7), 2–6

Team competitions (1 title)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partners	Opponents	Score
Win	May 2003	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf	Clay	Fernando González Nicolás Massú	Jiří Novák Radek Štěpánek	2–1

Result	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	Aug 2003	Pan American Games, Santo Domingo	Hard	Fernando Meligeni	7–5, 6–7(6–8), 6–7(5–7)

Result	Date	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	Aug 2003	Pan American Games, Santo Domingo	Hard	Adrián García	Santiago González Alejandro Hernández	7–6(7–5), 2–6, 3–6

Singles performance timeline

Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics. Walkovers are neither official wins nor official losses.

¹At the 1998 ATP Tour World Championships (Tennis Masters Cup), Ríos withdrew at round robin stage after playing the first match. He was replaced by then world No. 11 Greg Rusedski.

²At the 1998 Eurocard Open (Stuttgart Masters), Ríos withdrew prior to quarterfinals.

³At the 2001 Monte Carlo Masters, Ríos withdrew prior to second round.

Top 10 wins

ATP Tour career earnings

Records

• Ríos has the record for being the only player in history to have been world No. 1 as a junior, as a professional and as a senior
• He was the first Latin American to reach the world No. 1 ranking, first achieved on 30 March 1998
• He was the first player to win all three clay-court ATP Masters Series since the format started in 1990
• He is the only ATP-ranked No. 1 player not to win a Grand Slam title

See also

In Spanish: Marcelo Ríos para niños