Juan Carlos Ferrero underrated

[mavsman149]

I was always a big fan of his, it's really a shame injuries really destroyed his peak quickly early 2004 and then switching to Head.

He is always mentioned as a weak finalist for Roddick in 2003 USO but I don't think that's true at all, he had great 4 set wins over peak Hewitt and world number 1 Agassi to reach that final, he was no joke on hard courts and could play on grass pretty well too.

 

[travlerajm]

I think he gets underrated because his nickname was the mosquito and everyone hates mosquitoes.

 

[BauerAlmeida]

Great player from 2000 to early 2004. World #1, slam winner and slam finalist on different surfaces.

Too bad he was never able to return to that level after that, he had some nice runs here and there. He made the final in Cinci in 2006 and had MP vs Federer in Dubai 2005 when the latter was almost unbeatable outside clay.

 

[mavsman149]

Great player from 2000 to early 2004. World #1, slam winner and slam finalist on different surfaces.

Too bad he was never able to return to that level after that, he had some nice runs here and there. He made the final in Cinci in 2006 and had MP vs Federer in Dubai 2005 when the latter was almost unbeatable outside clay.

He played an absolutely brilliant match against Nadal in Rome in 2008 too, beat him 7-5 6-1, that was only Nadal's 2nd loss in 105 clay matches or something absolutely insane like that.

 

[NAS]

He played an absolutely brilliant match against Nadal in Rome in 2008 too, beat him 7-5 6-1, that was only Nadal's 2nd loss in 105 clay matches or something absolutely insane like that.

Nadal has foot injury( I think blister) don't remember now, but if you are looking his best match I think it was against Fed in slam during that time of 06-08, took Federer to four set on grass with one of being tie braker

 

[sandy mayer]

Ferrero had a strange career: 3 years in the top five and then eight years with year end rankings ranging from 17-55. He spent more years in the top 30 than anywhere else. Do injuries explain this completely? He was close in age to Federer but obviously was finished long before him. When Ferrero first came on the scene I thought he would be a top four player for many years.

I agree his impressive early 2000s achievements tend to be forgotten.

 

[NAS]

Ferrero had a strange career: 3 years in the top five and then eight years with year end rankings ranging from 17-55. He spent more years in the top 30 than anywhere else. Do injuries explain this completely? He was close in age to Federer but obviously was finished long before him. When Ferrero first came on the scene I thought he would be a top four player for many years.

I agree his impressive early 2000s achievements tend to be forgotten.

He has a chicken pox after AO 2004 and was never the same? Never understood what happened

 

[JasonZ]

I was always a big fan of his, it's really a shame injuries really destroyed his peak quickly early 2004 and then switching to Head.

He is always mentioned as a weak finalist for Roddick in 2003 USO but I don't think that's true at all, he had great 4 set wins over peak Hewitt and world number 1 Agassi to reach that final, he was no joke on hard courts and could play on grass pretty well too.

i was not a fan if him, but he was a great player and yes, definetely underrated.

 

[Gizo]

To me his best performance was against Mantilla (the recently crowned Rome champion and one of the biggest fighters that I’ve ever seen on a tennis court) at RG in 2003.

He was absolutely flawless that day, and Mantilla thanked him for the free tennis lesson at the net during the post-match handshake.

 

[travlerajm]

Ferrero had a strange career: 3 years in the top five and then eight years with year end rankings ranging from 17-55. He spent more years in the top 30 than anywhere else. Do injuries explain this completely? He was close in age to Federer but obviously was finished long before him. When Ferrero first came on the scene I thought he would be a top four player for many years.

I agree his impressive early 2000s achievements tend to be forgotten.

Those darn O-ports.

 

[aus89]

He has a chicken pox after AO 2004 and was never the same? Never understood what happened

Chicken pox which he came back from too quickly and then had to take more time off to recover from, then he fell and hurt his wrist and ribs and then... in a year where he was struggling with confidence he then switched racquets to the Head Flexpoint Radical Tour, so you know just a confluence of events that saw him lose all his confidence and take a long time to come back.

By then Coria had really stepped things up to another level on clay (RG 2004 notwithstanding), Nadal came along in 2005, and he didn't really have another level imo to consistently match Nadal/Federer etc... he improved a bit when he went back to Prince (first the POG and then the O3 Tour) - but basically, he just became obsolete in terms of being a top 10 player, lots of other players emulated what he did but they were younger and faster - but its a testament to his talent/ability that he was routinely still in the top 30 and didn't drop off the face of the Earth like say... Thiem (though the injury is probably more severe in Thiem's case)

 

[mavsman149]

Those darn O-ports.

In fairness, he had a bit of a renaissance with the o-ports compared to when he endorsed the Flexpoint Radical tour

 

[NatF]

Great player from 2000 to early 2004. World #1, slam winner and slam finalist on different surfaces.

Too bad he was never able to return to that level after that, he had some nice runs here and there. He made the final in Cinci in 2006 and had MP vs Federer in Dubai 2005 when the latter was almost unbeatable outside clay.

He had a really great match against Roddick in Cincy in 2005 as well, was at like 20 winners to 3 UE's or something ridiculous part way through the second set. Great mover and a sweet timer of the ball.

 

[FD3S]

Ferrero was so fun to watch during his (woefully short, goddamn chicken pox and injuries) peak. Wonderful movement with the ground game to match - I believe it was Steve Tignor that wrote JCF was one of the first players to successfully bridge the clay court and hard court playstyles and given his success when he was healthy it's hard to argue. Case in point; very few players could walk onto a tennis court against Fernando Gonzalez and wind up out-forehanding him but damn if he didn't do exactly that during their French Open QF in 2003. Add in that his two furthest runs at Wimby came well after his physcial decline and you have to imagine that an uninjured Ferrero - while very unlikely to add to his major total - would have absolutely been mixing it up deep at most tournaments. Dude could ball.

 

[FlyingSaucer]

Still a bit gutted he lost that TMC final to Hewitt. One of my favourite matches.

 

[Mustard]

You can divide Juan Carlos Ferrero's career into two parts, before chickenpox and after chickenpox. Oddly, the latter was a much better grass-court player.

 

[Mustard]

Ferrero had a strange career: 3 years in the top five and then eight years with year end rankings ranging from 17-55. He spent more years in the top 30 than anywhere else. Do injuries explain this completely? He was close in age to Federer but obviously was finished long before him. When Ferrero first came on the scene I thought he would be a top four player for many years.

I agree his impressive early 2000s achievements tend to be forgotten.

Chickenpox in March 2004. Chickenpox hits adults a lot harder than it does children. Ferrero changed as a player after it. The big forehand just wasn't really there anymore. In 2005, he had a few hints of his previous clay peak, but it didn't last. His results were generally a lot worse, yet his performances on grass were better.

 

[Galvermegs]

Was never a Ferrero fan. His style got results but he is actually a player that has sent me to sleep despite Federer being on the other side of the net. Too bad he got ill though and I pray his charge Charly Alca is more fortunate with fitness

 

[mental midget]

Great player from 2000 to early 2004. World #1, slam winner and slam finalist on different surfaces.

Too bad he was never able to return to that level after that, he had some nice runs here and there. He made the final in Cinci in 2006 and had MP vs Federer in Dubai 2005 when the latter was almost unbeatable outside clay.

underrated indeed! totally forgot he got to #1...agree he was one of the first 'clay guys' to really bridge to hardcourt success, guga being another (corretja did ok too.)

 

[buscemi]

underrated indeed! totally forgot he got to #1...agree he was one of the first 'clay guys' to really bridge to hardcourt success, guga being another (corretja did ok too.)

Moya, too.

 

[mental midget]

Moya, too.

can't believe i forgot, yeah maybe the best of that bunch on hc.

 

[Galvermegs]

Moya's powerhouse performances against hewitt and becker in different Aussie Opens were notable. Also his cincy masters in 02 was dominant. I really liked the Spaniard but I feel he had dimitrov syndrome and just enjoyed the fun life a bit.. however he still made it to no1.