Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He has career prize money earnings of over $5,000,000. Spadea has ATP career singles wins over Roger Federer (1–2 record), Pete Sampras (1–4), Andre Agassi (2–4), Rafael Nadal (1–1), Andy Roddick (1–2), Pat Rafter, Richard Krajicek, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Marat Safin, and Gustavo Kuerten. He is one of five players to defeat Federer 6–0 in a set at a main tour tournament, which he did at 1999 Monte Carlo. Spadea represented the United States at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Vince was also named twice to the US Davis Cup Team in 2000 (captain John McEnroe) and 2004 (captain Patrick McEnroe).
Spadea has one career ATP singles title and three ATP doubles titles. He also has eleven USTA Challenger Pro singles titles.
Personal life Spadea was born in Chicago in 1974. His mother is originally from Colombia.
Spadea was Steve Carell's body double as Bobby Riggs in the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes.
Tennis career At the 1999 Australian Open, Spadea achieved his best performance in a major by reaching the quarterfinals. In the fourth round at that tournament, he defeated the 1995 Australian Open champion, Andre Agassi. Spadea then lost to Tommy Haas in the quarterfinals.
On September 13, 1999, Spadea achieved a top 20 ranking for the first time. However, from October 1999 to June 2000, Spadea suffered a record losing run of 21 losses in a row. His losing streak led the Associated Press to dub him "the Charlie Brown of tennis" . He ended the streak in the first round of 2000 Wimbledon with an opening round 6–3, 6–7, 6–3, 6–7, 9–7 win over 14th seed Greg Rusedski, in a five-set marathon, which lasted for nearly four hours. Spadea's world ranking fell as low as 237 on October 23, 2000.
Working hard on the Challenger Tour after his fall down the rankings, he successfully recovered and eventually won his only career ATP Tour singles title in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he defeated James Blake and Andy Roddick along the way in 2004. He continued his journey back up the world rankings and was back in the top 20 by late 2004, although US Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe, declined to pick Spadea as his second singles player for the 2004 Davis Cup final against Spain, opting instead for the lower ranked Mardy Fish. Spadea achieved his career-high world ranking of 18 in February 2005.
In 2003, Spadea reached the semifinals of a Masters event in Indian Wells for the first time in his career, losing to world No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt. He went on to the Monte Carlo Masters a month later and reached his second semifinals in a Masters series. This helped him reach a career high position of No. 10 in the ATP Champions Race in April.
In 2006, Spadea published his autobiographical book, Break Point: The Secret Diary of a Pro Tennis Player. Spadea criticized a number of tennis players including James Blake and Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe. He called out McEnroe for picking Mardy Fish ahead of him for the 2004 Davis Cup final where the Americans lost to Spain. Spadea criticized Blake for questionable character during a match where Blake allegedly "trash-talked" him. The book reached the top of the ranks in sports and tennis books during its debut month.
Spadea reached the third round at the 2008 Australian Open. In the first round, he came back from two sets down to defeat former world No. 8, Radek Štěpánek. He closed the season by winning two Challenger titles, in Waco and Calabasas.
Vince had an injury-stricken season in 2009, plagued by an overuse tendonitis arm issue, as well as a lower extremity staph infection. He won only a handful of ATP-level singles matches before the start of the clay-court season, but reached the semifinals of the Carson Challenger.
The New York Times summarized his career by calling him "the epitome of a tennis journeyman" and then noted that "he has played in 15 US Opens and has never reached the quarterfinals."
ATP career finals
Singles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP International Series Gold (0–1)ATP International Series (1–3)Finals by surfaceHard (1–2)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–1)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (1–4)Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1St. Pölten, AustriaWorld SeriesClay Marcelo Ríos2–6, 0–6Loss0–2Indianapolis, United StatesInternational Series GoldHard Nicolás Lapentti6–4, 4–6, 4–6Win1–2Scottsdale, United StatesInternational SeriesHard Nicolas Kiefer7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–3Loss1–3Delray Beach, United StatesInternational SeriesHard Ricardo Mello6–7(2–7), 3–6Loss1–4Newport, United StatesInternational SeriesGrass Greg Rusedski6–7(3–7), 6–2, 4–6
Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series Gold (0–0)ATP World Series (3–2)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (2–2)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoor (3–2)Indoor (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Bologna, ItalyWorld SeriesClay Libor Pimek Byron Black Jonathan Stark5–7, 3–6Win1–1Buenos Aires, ArgentinaWorld SeriesClay Christo van Rensburg Jiří Novák David Rikl6–3, 6–3Win2–1Orlando, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Mark Merklein Alex O'Brien Jeff Salzenstein6–4, 4–6, 6–4Win3–1Tashkent, UzbekistanWorld SeriesHard Vincenzo Santopadre Hicham Arazi Eyal Ran6–4, 6–7, 6–0Loss3–2Coral Springs, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Mark Merklein Grant Stafford Kevin Ullyett5–7, 4–6
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 14 (8–6) LegendATP Challenger (8–6)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (8–5)Clay (0–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Winnetka, United StatesChallengerHard Cristiano Caratti6–1, 4–6, 7–5Win2–0Cincinnati, United StatesChallengerHard Jim Grabb6–7, 7–6, 7–5Win3–0Ponte Vedra, United StatesChallengerHard Kevin Ullyett6–3, 6–4Win4–0Aruba, ArubaChallengerHard Grant Stafford6–3, 7–5Loss4–1Tulsa, United StatesChallengerHard Jan Hernych5–7, 5–7Win5–1Houston, United StatesChallengerHard James Blake6–2, 6–7(3–7), 6–2Loss5–2Burbank, United StatesChallengerHard Kevin Kim2–6, 4–6Loss5–3Tyler, United StatesChallengerHard Noam Okun5–7, 2–6Win6–3North Miami Beach, United StatesChallengerHard Ota Fukárek4–6, 6–1, 6–4Loss6–4Paget, BermudaChallengerClay Flávio Saretta3–6, 5–7Loss6–5Waikoloa, United StatesChallengerHard Lu Yen-hsun2–6, 0–6Loss6–6Tulsa, United StatesChallengerHard Kevin Kim3–6, 6–3, 4–6Win7–6Waco, United StatesChallengerHard Joseph Sirianni6–0, 6–1Win8–6Calabasas, United StatesChallengerHard Sam Warburg7–6(7–5), 6–4
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament1992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAQ13R2RA3RQF1RAQ21R1R1R1R2R3R1RA0 / 1212–12French OpenAAA1R1R1R2R3R1RQ13R3R2R2R1R1R1RAA0 / 139–13WimbledonAAQ21R1R1R2R1R2RA2R1R4R1R1R1R1R2RA0 / 147–14US OpenQ11R2R4R3R1R1R4R1RQ32R1R2R2R3R1R1RQ1A0 / 1514–15Win–loss0–00–11–15–43–40–34–49–41–40–04–32–45–42–42–41–42–41–20–00 / 5442–54ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAQ21RA1R2R1R1RAASF3R2R2R2R1R1RQ10 / 128–12MiamiA2R2R3RQF3R3R4R2RQ1Q22RSF3R2R2R1RQ2A0 / 1424–14Monte CarloAAAAAAAQF1RAASF1R1RAAAAA0 / 57–5HamburgAAA1RAAAA1RAQ11R1R1RQ1AANMS0 / 50–5RomeAAA2RAAA2R1RA1R1RQFAQ1Q1AAA0 / 65–6CanadaAAAAA2R3R3RAQ22R3R2R1RQ1Q1AAA0 / 79–7CincinnatiAQ1A2R2R3RQF1R1RQ2Q21R1R1R2R1RAAA0 / 118–11Madrid1AAAAAA1R1RAAQ23R3R1RQ1Q1AAA0 / 53–5ParisAAAAAA3R1RAAQ11R3R1R1R1RAAA0 / 73–7Win–loss0–01–11–14–55–25–410–69–80–60–01–213–912–91–83–42–40–20–10–00 / 7267–72Year-end ranking0303758154884220213125672920757377762951517Prize Money: $5,004,860
Doubles Tournament199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAAA1RAAAAAAA1R1R2R2RA1R0 / 62–6French OpenAAAA2RAAAAAAAA2R3R1RAA0 / 44–4WimbledonAAAAAAAAAAA1R3RA1RAAA0 / 32–3US Open1R1R1RA1R1R1RAAA1R1R1R3RA2RAA0 / 113–11Win–loss0–10–10–10–01–30–10–10–00–00–00–10–22–33–33–32–30–00–10 / 2411–24ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAAAAAAAAAAAA1RAAAA0 / 10–1MiamiAAAQ2Q1AAAA1RAAAAAAAA0 / 10–1RomeAAA1RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 10–1CanadaAAAAAQ1AAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0CincinnatiAAA1RAQ1AAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 10–1Win–loss0–00–00–00–20–00–00–00–00–00–10–00–00–00–10–00–00–00–00 / 40–4
1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.
Top 10 wins Season199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010TotalWins00111480010400100021
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRdScore19951. Yevgeny Kafelnikov7US Open, New YorkHard3R6–2, 6–4, 6–48019962. Thomas Enqvist9Miami, United StatesHard2R6–3, 7–59019973. Thomas Enqvist7Cincinnati, United StatesHard2R6–7(1–7), 6–3, 6–39519984. Pat Rafter4Miami, United StatesHard2R6–3, 7–5645. Petr Korda3Toronto, CanadaHard2R5–7, 6–1, 6–4446. Andre Agassi9Cincinnati, United StatesHard2R6–2, 0–6, 7–6(7–2)447. Richard Krajicek8Cincinnati, United StatesHard3R6–2, 6–34419998. Andre Agassi6Australian Open, MelbourneHard4R6–1, 7–5, 6–7(3–7), 6–3449. Yevgeny Kafelnikov3Miami, United StatesHard2R6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–4), 6–24110. Karol Kučera9Monte Carlo, MonacoClay2R6–4, 6–33311. Mark Philippoussis9Rome, ItalyClay1R7–6(7–2), 4–6, 6–12712. Richard Krajicek5French Open, ParisClay2R6–1, 6–2, 6–43513. Gustavo Kuerten5Gstaad, SwitzerlandClay2R6–2, 2–6, 7–6(8–6)2914. Pete Sampras1Indianapolis, United StatesHardQF6–4, 3–6, ret.3415. Yevgeny Kafelnikov2Lyon, FranceCarpet (i)QF6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–5)22200216. Albert Costa7Toronto, CanadaHard1R6–3, 6–174200417. Andy Roddick3Scottsdale, United StatesHardSF6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–42918. Paradorn Srichaphan10Miami, United StatesHard4R5–7, 6–3, 6–23619. Rainer Schüttler5Rome, ItalyClay1R6–2, 2–6, 7–53420. Rainer Schüttler8Wimbledon, LondonGrass3R6–4, 6–2, 6–330200721. Tommy Haas9Delray Beach, United StatesHardQF6–3, 2–6, 6–463
References
External links
Official website Spadea's book wins ACE Magazine Book of the Year for 2006