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.[citation needed]

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)

Legend
Legend Grand 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 surface Hard (1–2) Clay (0–1) Grass (0–1) Carpet (0–0)Finals by setting Outdoors (1–4) Indoors (0–0)
Grand 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 surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–4)
Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1May 1998St. Pölten, AustriaWorld SeriesClayChile Marcelo Ríos2–6, 0–6
Loss0–2Aug 1999Indianapolis, United StatesInternational Series GoldHardEcuador Nicolás Lapentti6–4, 4–6, 4–6
Win1–2Mar 2004Scottsdale, United StatesInternational SeriesHardGermany Nicolas Kiefer7–5, 6–7(5–7), 6–3
Loss1–3Sep 2004Delray Beach, United StatesInternational SeriesHardBrazil Ricardo Mello6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss1–4Jul 2005Newport, United StatesInternational SeriesGrassUnited Kingdom Greg Rusedski6–7(3–7), 6–2, 4–6

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Legend
Legend Grand 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 surface Hard (1–0) Clay (2–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)Finals by setting Outdoor (3–2) Indoor (0–0)
Grand 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 surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (2–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoor (3–2)
Indoor (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1May 1995Bologna, ItalyWorld SeriesClayCzech Republic Libor PimekZimbabwe Byron Black United States Jonathan Stark5–7, 3–6
Win1–1Nov 1995Buenos Aires, ArgentinaWorld SeriesClaySouth Africa Christo van RensburgCzech Republic Jiří Novák Czech Republic David Rikl6–3, 6–3
Win2–1Apr 1997Orlando, United StatesWorld SeriesClayThe Bahamas Mark MerkleinUnited States Alex O'Brien United States Jeff Salzenstein6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win3–1Sep 1997Tashkent, UzbekistanWorld SeriesHardItaly Vincenzo SantopadreMorocco Hicham Arazi Israel Eyal Ran6–4, 6–7, 6–0
Loss3–2May 1998Coral Springs, United StatesWorld SeriesClayThe Bahamas Mark MerkleinSouth Africa Grant Stafford South Africa Kevin Ullyett5–7, 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 14 (8–6)

Legend
Legend ATP Challenger (8–6) ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surface Hard (8–5) Clay (0–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)
ATP Challenger (8–6)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (8–5)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Jul 1994Winnetka, United StatesChallengerHardItaly Cristiano Caratti6–1, 4–6, 7–5
Win2–0Aug 1994Cincinnati, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Jim Grabb6–7, 7–6, 7–5
Win3–0Oct 1994Ponte Vedra, United StatesChallengerHardSouth Africa Kevin Ullyett6–3, 6–4
Win4–0Sep 1996Aruba, ArubaChallengerHardSouth Africa Grant Stafford6–3, 7–5
Loss4–1Oct 2001Tulsa, United StatesChallengerHardCzech Republic Jan Hernych5–7, 5–7
Win5–1Oct 2001Houston, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States James Blake6–2, 6–7(3–7), 6–2
Loss5–2Nov 2001Burbank, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Kevin Kim2–6, 4–6
Loss5–3Nov 2001Tyler, United StatesChallengerHardIsrael Noam Okun5–7, 2–6
Win6–3Mar 2002North Miami Beach, United StatesChallengerHardCzech Republic Ota Fukárek4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss6–4Apr 2002Paget, BermudaChallengerClayBrazil Flávio Saretta3–6, 5–7
Loss6–5Jun 2008Waikoloa, United StatesChallengerHardChinese Taipei Lu Yen-hsun2–6, 0–6
Loss6–6Sep 2008Tulsa, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Kevin Kim3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win7–6Sep 2008Waco, United StatesChallengerHardAustralia Joseph Sirianni6–0, 6–1
Win8–6Oct 2008Calabasas, United StatesChallengerHardUnited States Sam Warburg7–6(7–5), 6–4

Performance timelines

Key
WFSFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH

Singles

Tournament1992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAAQ13R2RA3RQF1RAQ21R1R1R1R2R3R1RA0 / 1212–1250%
French OpenAAA1R1R1R2R3R1RQ13R3R2R2R1R1R1RAA0 / 139–1341%
WimbledonAAQ21R1R1R2R1R2RA2R1R4R1R1R1R1R2RA0 / 147–1433%
US OpenQ11R2R4R3R1R1R4R1RQ32R1R2R2R3R1R1RQ1A0 / 1514–1548%
Win–loss0–00–11–15–43–40–34–49–41–40–04–32–45–42–42–41–42–41–20–00 / 5442–5444%
ATP Masters Series
Indian WellsAAQ21RA1R2R1R1RAASF3R2R2R2R1R1RQ10 / 128–1240%
MiamiA2R2R3RQF3R3R4R2RQ1Q22RSF3R2R2R1RQ2A0 / 1424–1463%
Monte CarloAAAAAAAQF1RAASF1R1RAAAAA0 / 57–558%
HamburgAAA1RAAAA1RAQ11R1R1RQ1AANMS0 / 50–50%
RomeAAA2RAAA2R1RA1R1RQFAQ1Q1AAA0 / 65–645%
CanadaAAAAA2R3R3RAQ22R3R2R1RQ1Q1AAA0 / 79–756%
CincinnatiAQ1A2R2R3RQF1R1RQ2Q21R1R1R2R1RAAA0 / 118–1142%
Madrid1AAAAAA1R1RAAQ23R3R1RQ1Q1AAA0 / 53–538%
ParisAAAAAA3R1RAAQ11R3R1R1R1RAAA0 / 73–730%
Win–loss0–01–11–14–55–25–410–69–80–60–01–213–912–91–83–42–40–20–10–00 / 7267–7248%
Year-end ranking0303758154884220213125672920757377762951517Prize Money: $5,004,860

Doubles

Tournament199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian OpenAAAA1RAAAAAAA1R1R2R2RA1R0 / 62–625%
French OpenAAAA2RAAAAAAAA2R3R1RAA0 / 44–4100%
WimbledonAAAAAAAAAAA1R3RA1RAAA0 / 32–340%
US Open1R1R1RA1R1R1RAAA1R1R1R3RA2RAA0 / 113–1121%
Win–loss0–10–10–10–01–30–10–10–00–00–00–10–22–33–33–32–30–00–10 / 2411–2431%
ATP Masters Series
Indian WellsAAAAAAAAAAAAA1RAAAA0 / 10–10%
MiamiAAAQ2Q1AAAA1RAAAAAAAA0 / 10–10%
RomeAAA1RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 10–10%
CanadaAAAAAQ1AAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0–
CincinnatiAAA1RAQ1AAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 10–10%
Win–loss0–00–00–00–20–00–00–00–00–00–10–00–00–00–10–00–00–00–00 / 40–40%

1This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.

Top 10 wins

Season199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010Total
Wins00111480010400100021
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRdScoreSR
1995
1.Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov7US Open, New YorkHard3R6–2, 6–4, 6–480
1996
2.Sweden Thomas Enqvist9Miami, United StatesHard2R6–3, 7–590
1997
3.Sweden Thomas Enqvist7Cincinnati, United StatesHard2R6–7(1–7), 6–3, 6–395
1998
4.Australia Pat Rafter4Miami, United StatesHard2R6–3, 7–564
5.Czech Republic Petr Korda3Toronto, CanadaHard2R5–7, 6–1, 6–444
6.United States Andre Agassi9Cincinnati, United StatesHard2R6–2, 0–6, 7–6(7–2)44
7.Netherlands Richard Krajicek8Cincinnati, United StatesHard3R6–2, 6–344
1999
8.United States Andre Agassi6Australian Open, MelbourneHard4R6–1, 7–5, 6–7(3–7), 6–344
9.Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov3Miami, United StatesHard2R6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–4), 6–241
10.Slovakia Karol Kučera9Monte Carlo, MonacoClay2R6–4, 6–333
11.Australia Mark Philippoussis9Rome, ItalyClay1R7–6(7–2), 4–6, 6–127
12.Netherlands Richard Krajicek5French Open, ParisClay2R6–1, 6–2, 6–435
13.Brazil Gustavo Kuerten5Gstaad, SwitzerlandClay2R6–2, 2–6, 7–6(8–6)29
14.United States Pete Sampras1Indianapolis, United StatesHardQF6–4, 3–6, ret.34
15.Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov2Lyon, FranceCarpet (i)QF6–2, 3–6, 7–6(7–5)22
2002
16.Spain Albert Costa7Toronto, CanadaHard1R6–3, 6–174
2004
17.United States Andy Roddick3Scottsdale, United StatesHardSF6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–429
18.Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan10Miami, United StatesHard4R5–7, 6–3, 6–236
19.Germany Rainer Schüttler5Rome, ItalyClay1R6–2, 2–6, 7–534
20.Germany Rainer Schüttler8Wimbledon, LondonGrass3R6–4, 6–2, 6–330
2007
21.Germany Tommy Haas9Delray Beach, United StatesHardQF6–3, 2–6, 6–463

External links