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Nicolás Massú
Nicolas Massu 2007 Australian Open R1.jpg
Massú at the Australian Open in 2007
Country (sports)  Chile
Residence Viña del Mar
Born (1979-10-10) 10 October 1979 (age 45)
Viña del Mar
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro 1997
Retired 27 September 2013
(one match in 2019)
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money $4,344,833
Singles
Career record 257–238 (51.92%)(ATP Tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 6
Highest ranking No. 9 (13 September 2004)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 2R (2005)
French Open 3R (2004, 2006)
Wimbledon 3R (2001)
US Open 4R (2005)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games W (2004)
Doubles
Career record 82–103 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 1
Highest ranking No. 31 (25 July 2005)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 2R (2008)
French Open SF (2005)
Wimbledon 2R (2005)
US Open QF (2004)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games W (2004)
Team competitions
Davis Cup QF (2006, 2010)
Medal record
Men's tennis
Representing  Chile
Olympic Games
Gold 2004 Athens Singles
Gold 2004 Athens Doubles

Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (Spanish pronunciation: [nikoˈlas maˈsu]; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed El Vampiro (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player and a coach. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He is the only man to have won both gold medals at the same Games since the re-introduction of Olympic tennis in 1988, and they are Chile's only two Olympic gold medals. Massú also reached the final of the 2003 Madrid Masters and won six singles titles. He was the coach of 2020 US Open champion and former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem from 2019 to 2023.

Tennis career

Early years

Massú is Jewish, as is his mother, Sonia Fried. His father, Manuel Massú, is of Lebanese and Palestinian ancestry. His mother is of Israeli and Hungarian-Jewish descent. His maternal grandfather, Ladislao Fried Klein, was a Hungarian-born Jew who survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary by hiding, as his parents did not survive. His maternal grandmother, Veronika (née Vegvari), was a Holocaust survivor who was imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Massú was introduced to tennis by his grandfather at age five. From age 12, he was trained at the Valle Dorado tennis academy, near Villa Alemana, by Leonardo Zuleta, with whom he perfected his forehand and double-handed backhand. He later trained at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, in Florida, alongside Marcelo Ríos, and later at the High Performance Center in Barcelona, Spain.

Juniors

Massú became a professional tennis player in 1997. That year, he won the prestigious juniors year-end Orange Bowl tournament and was doubles world champion, as well as No. 5 in singles. He also claimed the boys' doubles competitions at both Wimbledon and the US Open, partnering Peru's Luis Horna at the former and countryman Fernando González at the latter.

ATP Tour

In August 1998, Massú won his first Futures tournament, in Spain. The following month, he claimed his first Challenger event, in Ecuador. He won his second Challenger tournament in June 1999, in Italy. In September 1999, he successfully defended his title in Ecuador. In November 1999, he won the Santiago Challenger event and cracked the top 100 in singles for the first time.

In May 2000, Massú reached his first ATP tournament final, at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Orlando, Florida, where he lost to Fernando González. Later in August, he lost again to another Chilean—Marcelo Ríos—in his US Open debut. In January 2001, Massú reached his second ATP event final, in Adelaide, Australia.

Massú's first ATP title came in February 2002 in Buenos Aires, where he defeated Argentine Agustín Calleri in a three-set final, after being down match point. At the 2003 event, Calleri took revenge and defeated him in the first round, a loss that pushed Massú out of the top 100 in singles and forced him to play Challengers once again. In April 2003, he reached the Bermuda Challenger final.

Massú claimed his second ATP title in July 2003 in Amersfoort, Netherlands. The following week, he reached the final of the Kitzbühel tournament, cracking the top 50 in singles for the first time. In September, he made three consecutive tournament finals, including a win at a Challenger event and his third ATP title in Palermo. In October, he reached the final at the Madrid Masters Series tournament, losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. He ended the year at world No. 12.

In mid-2004, Massú parted ways with Argentine coach Gabriel Markus, whom he replaced with Chilean Patricio Rodríguez. In July 2004, Massú won his fourth ATP title in Kitzbühel and then went on to win two gold medals at the 2004 Olympics (see below). Thanks to his outstanding performance at the Olympics, he reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 9. In November, he underwent groin surgery and therefore entered the 2005 season off top form. He ended an unremarkable 2005 with a six-match losing streak, although ironically 2005 also saw his best performance at a Grand Slam tournament as he reached the fourth round of the US Open, losing to Guillermo Coria.

Nicolas Massu
Massú at the 2005 Austrian Open in Kitzbühel
Nicolas Massu 2006 Australian Open
Massú at the 2006 Australian Open

He was the first player to be beaten by Stan Wawrinka in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2005 French Open.

In January 2006, Massú lost to José Acasuso in the final of his hometown event at Viña del Mar. In February, he won his sixth ATP title in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil. In April, he reached the final of the Casablanca event in Morocco. In July, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the Amersfoort tournament.

In January 2007, Massú repeated his Viña del Mar showing of 2006, losing to Luis Horna in straight sets. In July, he began an eight-match losing streak that ended in October in Saint Petersburg.

Massú had an early exit at the Viña del Mar tournament in January 2008, losing to Sergio Roitman in the first round. Because he was defending points from a final showing in 2007, the following week he fell to No. 97 in the world. In July, his singles ranking plummeted to No. 138, his worst since November 1999. Later in the year, he won the Florianópolis II Challenger event and was a finalist in two other tournaments at that level.

Massú began 2009 by not winning a match during his first five tournaments and losing his opening Davis Cup singles match against Croatia in March. He broke his losing streak at the Indian Wells Masters, beating Argentine Eduardo Schwank in three sets in the first round.

Olympics

Massú has represented Chile at three Summer Olympics: 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing. At the 2000 event's opening ceremony, he was his country's stand in flag bearer after Marcelo Ríos failed to show up. In his first-round match he beat Sláva Doseděl, but lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the next round.

The story was different in Athens, where Massú captured both singles and doubles titles. On August 21, he and Fernando González defeated Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schüttler of Germany to win the doubles competition, making history by giving Chile its first ever Olympic gold medal in any sport, after nearly a full century of Olympic participation. Massú and González came from four straight match points in the fourth set tie-break to claim the gold. The following day, he captured his second gold medal by defeating American Mardy Fish in five sets in the men's singles final. Following his victory in singles, he was declared as Athlete of the Day by the 2004 Athens Olympics' organization.

"I was so happy because this is my best memory in my sport career. If I look back in 10 more years, I look back on this, I'm gonna be so happy. Now I can die happy."

Because of his low ranking, Massú was granted a wild card to compete in both singles and doubles events in Beijing. He only managed to reach the second round in singles and was ousted on his first match in doubles, where he partnered again with Fernando González. To this day, Massú is the only male player in the Open Era to have won gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games.

Davis Cup

Massú began playing for Chile in Davis Cup matches in 1996. He played in the World Group, representing Chile in the years from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2009 to 2011. He ended his participation with a record of 29–17, including 17–4 on clay.

In 2014, Massú took the position of captain of the Chile Davis Cup team, with former No. 1 Marcelo Ríos as coach. After five years since the start of his tenure as captain, the team achieved a comeback to the elite group of the competition and qualified for the 2019 Davis Cup Finals, eight years after its last participation.

Maccabiah Games

Massú is a veteran of the 2001 Maccabiah Games in Israel, the international Jewish Olympics.

Coaching

Massú was the coach of Dominic Thiem, 2020 US Open Men's Singles Champion and winner of the 2019 Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament. Massú played one doubles tournament in 2019, partnering Dominic's brother, Moritz Thiem.

Playing style

Massú was known for his fighting spirit, especially when playing for Chile, which he demonstrated at the 2004 Olympics and in numerous Davis Cup matches. He has also turned around difficult matches and had a style characteristic of a clay-court specialist, with strong baseline play characterized by a solid forehand and backhand.

Significant finals

Olympic finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Gold 2004 Athens Olympics Hard United States Mardy Fish 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Gold 2004 Athens Olympics Hard Chile Fernando González Germany Nicolas Kiefer
Germany Rainer Schüttler
6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–4

Masters Series finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 2003 Madrid Hard (i) Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 3–6, 4–6, 3–6

ATP career finals

Singles: 15 (6 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Olympic Gold (1–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–1)
ATP International Series Gold (1–1)
ATP Tour (4–7)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (5–7)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 May 2000 Orlando, United States Clay Chile Fernando González 2–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Jan 2001 Adelaide, Australia Hard Germany Tommy Haas 3–6, 1–6
Win 1–2 Feb 2002 Buenos Aires, Argentina Clay Argentina Agustín Calleri 2–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–2
Win 2–2 Jul 2003 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay Netherlands Raemon Sluiter 6–4, 7–6(7–3), 6–2
Loss 2–3 Jul 2003 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Argentina Guillermo Coria 1–6, 4–6, 2–6
Loss 2–4 Sep 2003 Bucharest, Romania Clay Spain David Sánchez 2–6, 2–6
Win 3–4 Sep 2003 Palermo, Italy Clay France Paul-Henri Mathieu 1–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–0)
Loss 3–5 Oct 2003 Madrid, Spain Hard (i) Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 3–6, 4–6, 3–6
Win 4–5 Jul 2004 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Argentina Gastón Gaudio 7–6(7–3), 6–4
Win 5–5 Aug 2004 Athens Olympics Hard United States Mardy Fish 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss 5–6 Feb 2006 Viña del Mar, Chile Clay Argentina José Acasuso 4–6, 3–6
Win 6–6 Feb 2006 Costa do Sauípe, Brazil Clay Spain Alberto Martín 6–3, 6–4
Loss 6–7 Apr 2006 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Italy Daniele Bracciali 1–6, 4–6
Loss 6–8 Jul 2006 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay Serbia Novak Djokovic 6–7(5–7), 4–6
Loss 6–9 Feb 2007 Viña del Mar, Chile Clay Peru Luis Horna 5–7, 3–6

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Olympic Gold (1–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold (0–1)
ATP Tour (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result No. Date Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. Mar 2004 Acapulco, Mexico Clay Argentina Juan Ignacio Chela United States Bob Bryan
United States Mike Bryan
2–6, 3–6
Win 1. Aug 2004 Athens Olympics Hard Chile Fernando González Germany Nicolas Kiefer
Germany Rainer Schüttler
6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 7–6(9–7), 6–4
Loss 2. Jul 2005 Amersfoort, Netherlands Clay Chile Fernando González Argentina Martín García
Peru Luis Horna
4–6, 4–6

ATP Challengers & ITF Futures finals

Singles: 18 (10–8)

Legend
ATP Challengers (8–5)
ITF Futures (2–3)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1. May 24, 1998 Vero Beach, Florida, USA Clay Haiti Ronald Agénor 3–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up 2. May 31, 1998 Boca Raton, USA Clay Haiti Ronald Agénor 1–6, 2–6
Runner-up 3. June 21, 1998 Lafayette, USA Hard United States Cecil Mamiit 6–0, 3–6, 0–6
Winner 1. August 23, 1998 Vigo, Spain Clay Spain Tommy Robredo 6–4, 6–2
Winner 2. August 30, 1998 Irun, Spain Clay France Maxime Boyé 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
Winner 3. September 7, 1998 Quito, Ecuador Clay Mexico Mariano Sánchez 3–6, 6–3, 6–0
Winner 4. June 21, 1999 Biella, Italy Clay Uzbekistan Oleg Ogorodov 7–6(7–5), 5–7, 6–3
Winner 5. September 6, 1999 Quito, Ecuador Clay Ecuador Luis Morejón 6–2, 3–6, 6–3
Winner 6. November 1, 1999 Santiago, Chile Clay Morocco Karim Alami 6–7(4–7), 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up 4. November 28, 1999 Guadalajara, Mexico Clay Brazil Francisco Costa 6–4, 5–7, 3–6
Winner 7. September 15, 2003 Szczecin, Poland Clay Spain Albert Portas 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up 5. April 14, 2003 Paget, Bermuda Clay Brazil Flávio Saretta 1–6, 4–6
Winner 8. May 5, 2008 Rijeka, Croatia Clay Belgium Christophe Rochus 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up 6. August 3, 2008 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Hard Mexico Santiago González 4–6, 3–6
Winner 9. October 6, 2008 Florianópolis, Brazil Clay France Olivier Patience 6–7(4–7), 6–2, 6–1
Runner-up 8. October 13, 2008 Montevideo, Uruguay Clay Australia Peter Luczak w/o
Runner-up 8. October 23, 2009 Santiago, Chile Clay Argentina Eduardo Schwank 2–6, 2–6
Winner 10. November 22, 2009 Cancún, Mexico Clay Slovenia Grega Zemlja 6–3, 7–5

Team titles

Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Partners Opponents Score
Winner 1. 24 May 2003 World Team Cup,
Düsseldorf
Clay Chile Fernando González
Chile Marcelo Ríos
Czech Republic Jiří Novák
Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek
2–1
Winner 2. 22 May 2004 World Team Cup,
Düsseldorf
Clay Chile Adrián García
Chile Fernando González
Australia Wayne Arthurs
Australia Paul Hanley
Australia Lleyton Hewitt
Australia Mark Philippoussis
2–1

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH
(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

Singles

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A 1R 1R A 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R A Q3 A A 0 / 8 1–8
French Open A A A Q1 2R 1R A 2R 3R 1R 3R 2R Q2 2R 1R A A A 0 / 9 8–9
Wimbledon A A A A 1R 3R 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R A A 1R A A A 0 / 9 4–9
US Open A A A Q1 1R 2R 3R 3R 2R 4R 2R 1R Q2 1R A A A A 0 / 9 9–9
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–3 3–4 2–3 4–3 3–4 4–4 3–4 1–4 0–1 1–3 0–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 35 22–35
National representation
Summer Olympics A Not Held 2R Not Held G Not Held 2R Not Held A NH 1 / 3 8–2
Davis Cup Z1 1R Z1 1R PO 1R Z1 A PO 1R QF 1R PO 1R QF 1R A A 0 / 9 22–12
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A Q1 A Q1 2R A Q2 2R A 2R 1R 2R 2R A A A A 0 / 6 4–6
Miami A A A A 2R 1R A 3R 2R A 3R 1R Q1 3R 1R Q2 A A 0 / 8 7–8
Monte Carlo A A A A A Q1 2R A 3R A 1R 2R A Q1 A A A A 0 / 4 4–4
Rome A A A A A A A 1R QF 2R 1R 3R A Q2 A A A A 0 / 5 6–5
Hamburg1 A A A A A A A Q1 1R 2R 1R 1R A Q1 A A A A 0 / 4 1–4
Canada A A A A A A A 1R 1R 1R 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 4 0–4
Cincinnati A A A A A A A Q2 1R 1R 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 3 0–3
Madrid2 A A A A A 1R A F 2R 1R 2R Q2 A A A A A A 0 / 5 6–5
Paris A A A A Q1 Q1 A 3R 3R 1R 1R Q2 A A A A A A 0 / 4 2–4
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–3 1–1 8–5 6–9 2–6 4–9 3–5 1–1 3–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 43 30–43
Career statistics
Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
Finals 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 5 2 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
Overall win–loss 0–1 0–1 2–2 4–2 26–25 23–28 29–19 36–20 42–28 18–22 38–27 17–26 9–12 9–12 4–8 0–3 0–1 0–1 257–238
Year-end ranking 882 583 188 97 87 80 56 12 19 66 44 79 76 112 186 450 618 876 51.92%

Doubles

Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2019 SR W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A A A 1R A A A 2R A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
French Open A A A A A A A A A SF A 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 2 4–2
Wimbledon A A A A A A A A 1R 2R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
US Open A A A A A A A 1R QF 3R 2R 2R A A A A A A A 0 / 5 7–5
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 3–3 7–3 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 11 13–11
National representation
Summer Olympics Not Held 1R Not Held G Not Held 1R Not Held A NH NH 1 / 3 5–2
Davis Cup Z1 1R Z1 1R PO 1R Z1 A PO 1R QF 1R PO 1R QF 1R A A A 0 / 9 10–12
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A A A A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Miami A A A A A A A A 1R A 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2
Monte Carlo A A A A A A A A QF A 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Rome A A A A A A A A 1R 1R SF A A A A A A A A 0 / 3 3–3
Hamburg1 A A A A A A A A 1R 2R 1R A A A A A A A A 0 / 3 2–2
Canada A A A A A A A A 2R 1R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
Cincinnati A A A A A A A A QF 1R A A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 2–2
Madrid2 A A A A A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1
Paris A A A A A A A 1R QF A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–1
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 7–6 1–4 3–5 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 18 11–16
Career statistics
Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Finals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Overall win–loss 0–0 1–2 3–2 2–0 5–8 0–3 1–5 5–6 30–21 13–15 8–12 6–11 5–6 0–3 2–4 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–1 82–103
Year-end ranking 470 319 356 243 1263 389 291 36 58 139 257 221 490 342 376 937 44.32%

1Held as Hamburg Masters until 2008 and Madrid Masters from 2009 to 2013.
2Held as Stuttgart Masters until 2001, Madrid Masters from 2002 to 2008 and Shanghai Masters from 2009 to 2013.

Top 10 wins

Season 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total
Wins 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score Massú
Rank
2001
1. United Kingdom Tim Henman 10 Adelaide, Australia Hard SF 3–6, 7–5, 6–2 87
2003
2. United States Andy Roddick 2 Madrid, Spain Hard (i) 3R 7–6(7–3), 6–2 21
2004
3. Germany Rainer Schüttler 7 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay RR 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 11
4. Germany Rainer Schüttler 8 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay SF 6–3, 6–3 13
5. Spain Carlos Moyá 4 Summer Olympics, Athens Hard QF 6–2, 7–5 14
2005
6. United States Andy Roddick 3 Hamburg, Germany Clay 1R 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 7–5 25
2006
7. United States Andy Roddick 5 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf Clay RR 4–2 ret. 35
2007
8. United States James Blake 9 Rome, Italy Clay 2R 7–6(7–3), 7–5 59

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Nicolás Massú para niños

  • List of select Jewish tennis players
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