- Félix Mantilla Botella
Infobox Tennis player
playername= Félix Mantilla
country= ESP
residence=Monte Carlo, Monaco
datebirth=September 23 ,1974
placebirth=Barcelona ,Spain
height= height|m=1.80
weight= convert|78|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro= 1993
retired= 2008
plays= Right-handed; one-handed backhand
careerprizemoney= $5,311,964
singlesrecord= 312–215
singlestitles= 10
highestsinglesranking= 10 (June 8 ,1998 )
AustralianOpenresult= QF (1997)
FrenchOpenresult= SF (1998)
Wimbledonresult= 3rd (1998)
USOpenresult= 4th (1997)
doublesrecord= 10–22
doublestitles= 0
highestdoublesranking= 208 (August 2 ,2004 )Félix Mantilla Botella (
September 23 1974 ) is a former Spanish professional tennis player, born inBarcelona . In common with many of his fellow countrymen Mantilla's best surface isclay . While not as successful away from the clay, Mantilla managed to produce some goodhardcourt results. Mantilla's best stroke was his single-handed backhand and was known for his baseline consistency from both sides, high endurance levels and courage.He announced his retirement on
7 April ,2008 .Tennis career
Mantilla began playing tennis at the age of ten and was a member of the winning Spanish Sunshine Cup team along with
Albert Costa in 1992.Mantilla turned professional in 1993 playing Futures and Challenger events. In 1994 Mantilla won the Uruguay/Paraguay Satellite classification and was second in the Spanish satellite 2 and 4 events. He also played his first match on the ATP Tour in
Prague losing to compatriotAlex Corretja in 3 sets.Starting 1994 Mantilla was ranked 301st in the
Entry Ranking , but at the end of 1995 he had progressed to 84th and had a 10–5 record for the season. Mantilla made his first two finals that year losing in theBudapest Challenger toJiří Novák in 3 sets and following his first semi final appearance at the ATP level losing toSjeng Schalken , it was followed up with his first final on theATP Buenos Aires losing to Carlos Moyá in straight sets.Mantilla's ranking had jumped up 66 places at the end of 1996 where he finished the year ranked 18th. He compiled a 48–27 record for the year mostly on the clay, in the process he won three Challenger titles each of them without losing a set. This feat was achieved in
Punta del Este defeatingKris Goosens in the final. Mantilla followed that with victories inNaples overKarim Alami and later in the year inTashkent overLars Rehmann .On the ATP main tour Mantilla qualified for his first TMS event in Monte Carlo and defeated the two time Roland Garros champion
Sergi Bruguera before losing in the quarter finals toAlbert Costa . In the week before the French Open Mantilla reached his second final inSt Pölten losing toMarcelo Rios .In his grand slam debut at the
1996 French Open Mantilla defeatedDirk Dier and Alex Corretja eventually falling to the eventual championYevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets. After this he went onto win his first ATP title inOporto overHernan Gumy 6–7(5) 6–4 6–3. Mantilla proceeded to make two more finals in Gstaad and Umag where he lost to Albert Costa on both occasions. In total for 1996 Mantilla won three Challenger titles and his first title in Oporto and made three finals.In 1997 Mantilla went a career best of 53–22 for the season. He achieved his best result at the
1997 Australian Open before falling to finalistCarlos Moyà in the quarter finals. Mantilla made his first TMS final in Hamburg losing easily toAndrei Medvedev . He then won all his four singles matches as Spain won theWorld Team Cup .After a disappointing second round exit toMagnus Larsson at Roland Garros, Mantilla went on a hot streak and won four titles in his next five tournaments at ATP level and in between made the final of theBraunschweig Challenger losing toFrancisco Roig . Mantilla's run began atBologna where defeated reigning French Open championGustavo Kuerten , then followed up with titles in Gstaad overJuan Albert Viloca , in Umag overSergi Bruguera and inSan Marino overMagnus Gustafsson . Mantilla won another title inBournemouth over Carlos Moyà and finished the year ranked 16th.In 1998 Mantilla after losing a bet with
Luis Lobo inRome , in which he had to dye his hair blonde. [http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:xcGWxaQ6fT4J:www.rctb1899.es/cast/club/jugadores/fichas/F%C3%89LIX%2520MANTILLA.doc+%22Felix+Mantilla+Botella%22&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=1] . Mantilla reached his highest ever ranking of number 10 onJune 8 after reaching the semi finals at Roland Garros losing to Carlos Moyà and defeatingThomas Muster in the quarter final gaining revenge for his loss in Rome against the same opponent who when Mantilla was eating a banana at the change of ends, had taken the banana out of his hands and started to eat it himself, at the end of the match Mantilla did not shake hands with Muster. He defended his title in Bournemouth defeating Albert Costa and made two finals on hardcourt in Dubai losing to Alex Corretja andLong Island toPatrick Rafter .Mantilla won his only title for 1999 in Barcelona over
Karim Alami . He defeated world number 1Pete Sampras at Indian Wells on hardcourt and managed to repeat the feat defeating the then number 1Lleyton Hewitt in 2002 on hardcourt as well. Apart from his title he reached the semis of the TMS events in Monte Carlo and Rome losing to Gustavo Kuerten and to Pat Rafter respectively. Mantilla said that “Rafter’s backhand was so slow it was like his mother hitting the ball” [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/1999/05/15/rafter_mantilla/] .Mantilla played his only
Davis Cup match for Spain in a promotion and relegation tie againstNew Zealand in New Zealand for the 2000 Davis Cup. The big stars at the time Alex Corretja, Albert Costa did not want to travel to Hamilton for the tie. Mantilla defeatedMark Nielsen in 5 sets on a fast hardcourt to help Spain gain promotion to theWorld Group along withJulián Alonso ,Francisco Clavet andJoan Balcells of whom only Balcells competed in any of the winning ties in the winning campaign for the Spanish Davis Cup team in 2000.Mantilla experienced the first of his shoulder problems and underwent surgery in 2000 and was sidelined for six months and did not return to tennis until January 2001. He won two consecutive Challengers in
Espinho overTommy Robredo and Barletta defeatingMarkus Hipfl , this was followed up with a final inEstoril losing to nemesisJuan Carlos Ferrero as he did in all 8 of their matches. [http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/headtohead/head2head.asp?player1=Ferrero%2C+Juan+Carlos&player2=Mantilla%2C+f]Later in the year he won
Palermo defeatingDavid Nalbandian after saving nine match points for the second time in his career and winning in his semi final victory overAlbert Portas , the first time was againstAlberto Berasategui in the 1998 TMS Hamburg.Mantilla made two finals in 2002 in Doha and
Indianapolis on hardcourt losing toYounes El Aynaoui andGreg Rusedski respectively.At the
2003 Australian Open Mantilla played 4 consecutive 5 set matches, winning the first three and then after leading two sets to love he lost the fourth one toSebastien Grosjean . In May Mantilla won his last and his biggest career title to date, the TMS Rome defeating the favouriteRoger Federer 7–5 6–2 7–6(8) and in the process became the first unseeded player to win the event. Mantilla said about his game “I don't have the serve of Sampras or the volley of Rafter or the talent of Agassi, you know. I must be very focus every point. I must be strong mentally.” [http://www.tennis-x.com/quotes.php?&disp=all]After 2003 Mantilla’s career went into decline, with the onset of injuries to his
Achilles tendon and to his shoulder and the game moving at a speed that Mantilla’s game could not keep up with. In 2004 he was involved in two more memorable matches in his defense of his TMS Rome title, Mantilla was down 7–5 5–0 againstRobby Ginepri and came back to win the next 13 games to win the match 5–7 7–5 6–0 and in the process he saved 5 match points. The other was a 5 set thriller at theFrench Open againstMarat Safin which he lost 6–4 2–6 6–2 6–7(4) 11–9, which he served for the match 3 times and was unsuccessful.Mantilla’s last match of 2005 was against
Guillermo Coria at the2005 US Open and he did not play tennis due to shoulder problems until 2007. In 2006 it was discovered that Mantilla hadskin cancer from which he has recovered [http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20061129/NOTICIA240826704.html] . Mantilla returned to tennis in the 2007Monza Challenger and successfully qualified for the main draw winning his 3 qualification matches. In April 2007, Mantilla played his first ATP match since 2005 in Barcelona at the age of 32.Personal and quotes
Both of Mantilla’s parents are schoolteachers.
He is a fan of
FC Barcelona and also the Spanish actorsGabino Diego ,Coque Malla andJuanjo Puigcorbé He has a large collection of Spanish movies and enjoys reading.Paris is one of this favourite cities."When I come to Rome I always feel like a gladiator in the Colosseum," Mantilla said repeatedly through his championship run. "The people enjoy watching me. I'm just running and fighting all the time."
Mantilla after he won TMS Rome. "I couldn't speak. The third (thank you) was to my other coach, that he was with me almost 11 years. His name is Jordi Vilaro. He was with me during my career. At one stage I said, 'I must change something because, you know, we know each other a lot.' I said, 'I need another motivation.' It was really hard to stop with him because he's my second father for me because he shows the way to me to humility and to humble, to be humble, and just to have respect for everybody. And that is very important for me just to remember the people who was with you always, no?" [http://www.tennis-x.com/quotes.php?&disp=all]
About his style of game. “"I think, first of all, that I am hungry again, you know. The last two years my mentality was not as good as now. And for me, when you play like me that you must be running all the day, I don't have the serve of Sampras or the volley of Rafter or the talent of Agassi, you know. I must be very focus every point. I must be strong mentally. I did a very good preparation in the last couple of months, and that's the key. If I am strong physically, I am strong mentally. And when I am like that, I'm dangerous." [http://www.tennis-x.com/quotes.php?&disp=all]
Career titles (10)
{| class="wikitable"
- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
No.
Date
Tournament
Surface
Opponent
Score
-
1.
10-06-1996
Oporto,Portugal
ClayHernan Gumy (Argentina)
6–7(5) 6–4 6–3
-
2.
09-06-1997
Bologna,Italy
ClayGustavo Kuerten (Brazil)
4–6 6–2 6–1
-
3.
07-07-1997
Gstaad,Switzerland
ClayJuan Albert Viloca (Spain)
6–1 6–4 6–4
-
4.
21-07-1997
Umag,Croatia
ClaySergi Bruguera (Spain)
6–3 7–5
-
5.
04-08-1997San Marino ,San Marino
ClayMagnus Gustafsson (Sweden)
6–4 6–1
-
6.
08-09-1997
Bournemouth,England
ClayCarlos Moyà (Spain)
6–2 6–2
-
7.
14-09-1998
Bournemouth, England
ClayAlbert Costa (Spain)
6–3 7–5
-
8.
12-04-1999
Barcelona,Spain
ClayKarim Alami (Morocco)
7–6(2) 6–3 6–3
-
9.
24-09-2001
Palermo, Italy
ClayDavid Nalbandian (Argentina)
7–6(2) 6–4
-
bgcolor=silver | 10.
bgcolor=silver | 05-05-2003
style="background:silver; color:black" |Rome, Italy
bgcolor=silver | Clay
bgcolor=silver |Roger Federer (Switzerland)
bgcolor=silver | 7-5 6–2 7–6(10)Finalist (11)
*1995: Buenos Aires (
Carlos Moyá )
*1996: St. Poelten (Marcelo Ríos )
*1996: Gstaad (Albert Costa )
*1996: San Marino (Albert Costa )
*1996: Umag (Carlos Moyá )
*1997: TMS Hamburg (Andrei Medvedev )
*1998: Dubai (Alex Corretja )
*1998: Long Island (Patrick Rafter )
*2001: Estoril (Juan Carlos Ferrero )
*2001: Doha (Younes El Aynaoui )
*2002: Indianápolis (Greg Rusedski )External links
*ATP|id=M535
*ITF male profile|number=10005776
*DavisCupplayerlink|id=10005776
* [http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/atptour/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=tennis/01/09/29/TENNIS_Palermo.html&YEAR=2001 Mantilla wins Palermo]
* [http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/atptour/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=international_feed/03/05/11/TENNIS_Ita-Rome.html&YEAR=2003 Mantilla takes Rome]
* [http://sify.com/sports/tennis/interview.php?id=13353940&cid=13049206 Interview in Chennai]
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