 | Born: 19/7/74 Nationality: American Seeded: 27 World ranking: 28 French Open best:
3rd round (2003, 2002) Recent record:
2003: 3rd round
2002: 3rd round
2001: N/A |
Spadea will always be best known as the player who lost 21 straight matches. That horror run came in 2000, and saw him drop from 20th at the beginning of the year to 229th.
The following year, he dropped down to Challenger tournament level to rediscover his form and boost his battered confidence but it was a long road back for the American, who was once touted as a potential top-10 player.
Last year, he finally regained his place in the top 50 with semi-final appearances at the Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Monte Carlo.
And in March this year, over 10 years since turning professional, he lifted his first ATP trophy in Scottsdale after beating compatriot and world number two Andy Roddick in the semi-finals.
Spadea, unlike many of his fellow Americans, is happy trading groundstrokes on clay and reached the quarter-finals at the Rome Masters in the lead-up to this year's French Open.
But his Grand Slam record is not impressive, a 1999 run to the Australian Open last eight his best ever display.
MMIX
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