The Day Corretja Raised His Arms To The Sky
To Alex Corretja it is as if it happened yesterday. In fact, 25 years have passed since his victory at the Nitto ATP Finals. In that magical week in 1998 he took down Andre Agassi, Albert Costa, Pete Sampras, and Carlos Moya en route to a title that took his career into a new dimension.
“I'm surprised it’s been 25 years,” Corretja told ATPTour.com. “It's a title that caps off a dedicated career, replete with hard work and, above all, passion. It's the culmination of what you've been chasing your whole life. At 10 I was already practising four hours to be a tennis player and at 16 I was playing Futures all over the world trying to get ATP points. At 24, when I won the ATP Finals… it's like the culmination of 14 years of chasing a dream. That's the thing that makes me happiest about that memory.”
Corretja's win came in Hannover, on indoor fast court against some specialists on the surface. The enormity of his achievement is also reflected in a revealing statistic: only two Spaniards have lifted the trophy in the tournament's history.
“The fact that it was on indoor and at a difficult tournament for Spaniards, makes it even more special,” remembered the Catalonian. “Except for Orantes in 1976, nobody had ever won it and nobody has won it since. That shows how difficult this tournament is, with only the year’s eight best players competing. It shows that it is very difficult. For us, in general, we're not very well suited because we Spaniards were players who needed to find our rhythm and play into tournaments.
“However, I was at my physical and mental peak, despite it being November 29th when I won the final. I was feeling very strong and very well prepared.”
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That season, Corretja had won five ATP Tour titles, as well as reaching his first Grand Slam final at the Roland Garros. In Hannover, though, he reached the pinnacle of his career, claiming a trophy and sealing a legacy that lives on to this day.
“Being the last Spaniard to win it, I can't deny that it makes me feel that it's something unique and difficult for all of us,” said Corretja, who came back from two sets down to beat Moya in the final. “It's something that sets me apart. For example, other Spaniards have won at Roland Garros. At no point has it gone to my head that I won the ATP Finals and other Spaniards haven't.
“I don't have a Grand Slam many of them do, but I admit it makes me feel good about my career, I feel like it's the icing on the cake after many titles, at Masters 1000s and other big tournaments… but the ATP Finals were the culmination of a very important stage of my career.
“It makes me feel that I achieved what I had really dreamed of since I was little, that at some point I would raise my arms to the sky to celebrate a very significant professional win. That's the kind of memory I have of the ATP Finals and particularly of a very intense week of concentration, belief, confidence, and above all, hard work. Fourteen years of travelling, training, being away from home and family. Winning there was compensation for that.”
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Despite being the last Spaniard to be crowned champion at the tournament, Corretja is in no doubt that Carlos Alcaraz could take the baton from him sooner or later.
“Carlos is a good fit for the ATP Finals,” Corretja said. “He's a player who handles the big moments perfectly, the big matches, clashes with Top 10 players, all the drama. Perhaps the most difficult part is the surface, which maybe isn't the best for him. To me, that's where opponents at the ATP Finals can hurt him most. I think he has more chance of hurting them on fast and on clay.”
“I have the feeling he is destined to win it at some point, or more than once. I think he's a very aggressive player who adapts very well to all surfaces. When he finds the freshness he needs to play this tournament, he'll end up winning it. He'll have a lot of opportunities to triumph at the ATP Finals in the coming years”.