Fernando Meligeni

Fernando Meligeni

Country (sports)	Brazil
Residence	São Paulo, Brazil
Born	(1971-04-12) 12 April 1971 (age 52) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1990
Retired	2003
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,555,367
Singles
Career record	202–217 (48.2%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 25 (11 October 1999)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1997)
French Open	SF (1999)
Wimbledon	2R (2001)
US Open	3R (1997)
Other tournaments
Grand Slam Cup	1R (1999)
Olympic Games	SF – 4th (1996)
Doubles
Career record	63–64 (49.6%)
Career titles	7
Highest ranking	No. 34 (3 November 1997)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2003)
French Open	QF (1998)
US Open	1R (1997, 1998)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	SF (2000)
Medal record Pan American Games 2003 Santo Domingo Men's Singles

Fernando Ariel Meligeni (born April 12, 1971), nicknamed Fininho (diminutive form in Portuguese for thin), is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He won 3 singles titles and reached the semi-finals of both the 1999 French Open and the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was well known because of his capacity of fighting at the court, taking matches to the limit (tiebreaks and five sets). His favorite surface was clay. Meligeni is considered by critics one of the best tennis players to represent Brazil, in both singles and doubles. ^[1]

Personal life

Meligeni was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but moved with his family to São Paulo, Brazil, when he was four years old. He is of Italian descent. He has a younger sister, Paula, who also took up tennis but wound up only teaching the sport, and became the mother of two tennis players, Felipe and Carolina Meligeni Alves. ^[2] He applied to get Brazilian citizenship as a teenager, and took him 5 years to complete the process. ^[3] He is married to actress Carol Hubner, with whom he has two children. ^[4]

Tennis career

Juniors

As a junior, he won the traditional Orange Bowl in 1989, finishing No. 3 in the world junior rankings in the same year.

Pro tour

Meligeni turned professional in 1990, opting for the Brazilian nationality, even if his parents and sister disagreed with it. ^[5]

He won his first ATP Tour singles title in 1995, at the Swedish Open in Båstad, Sweden. In 1996, Meligeni won his second ATP Tour singles title in Pinehurst, North Carolina, defeating veteran Swede Mats Wilander in the final.

In 1996, ranked 93rd of the ATP rankings, Meligeni was one of the 64 competitors that would directly enter the upcoming tennis tournament of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Withdrawals due to injuries and personal decisions gave him an alternate spot. With four wins over higher ranked players, Meligeni reached the semi-finals, where he was defeated by Spain's Sergi Bruguera. In the bronze medal game, he lost to Leander Paes of India. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

In 1998, Meligeni won his third and last ATP Tour singles title in Prague, Czech Republic, beating then World No. 6 Yevgeny Kafelnikov from Russia on the way. This year Meligeni had an excellent performance at the 1998 French Open losing at 4th round but playing an incredible match of five tough sets against clay court specialist Thomas Muster.

Meligeni reached his peak in the following year, with a strong performance at the 1999 French Open in Paris, France. He defeated Justin Gimelstob, Younes El Aynaoui as well as seeds No. 3 Patrick Rafter, from Australia, No. 14 Félix Mantilla, from Spain, and No. 6 Àlex Corretja, also from Spain, only to fall in the semi-finals to Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev. This was his best Grand Slam singles result and led him to a career-high ranking of World No. 25. This year also had Meligeni's personal favorite match of his career, where he defeated Pete Sampras (ATP nº2 at the time) at Rome Masters Series (6–3, 6–1). At the press conference after this match, Sampras declared "he had attended a masterclass on how to play on clay". ^[9]

He was also a member of the Brazilian Davis Cup team, with an overall record of 13–16, and reaching the semifinals in 2000.

In addition to his three singles titles, Meligeni also won 7 doubles titles in the ATP Tour, most of them partnering countryman Gustavo Kuerten.

Meligeni retired from professional tennis in 2003, playing his last match against Marcelo Ríos from Chile in the final of the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which he won in three sets.

Two years later, he was nominated captain of the Brazilian Davis Cup team, but resigned in January 2007 due to political differences with the Brazilian Tennis Confederation. During his period as a captain, he collected a 5–1 W/L record in ties. Despite the positive record, his popularity as a captain among the local press and fans wasn't always high, due to the easy opposition faced by the Brazilian team in the Americas Group; the controversial decisions he took when selecting the players to represent the squad, insisting in players that were out of shape, like Flávio Saretta and Gustavo Kuerten, and sidelining the then best-ranked Brazilians in the ATP, Marcos Daniel and Thiago Alves; the lack of receptiveness to criticism; and reported difficulty to control the harmony between the players.

Off the court, Meligeni has also been a host for MTV Brasil, TV Cultura, and ESPN Brazil, in the last one and SporTV also serving as a tennis commentator.

Career statistics

Main article: Fernando Meligeni career statistics

Singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	SR	W–L	Win (%)
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	A	1R	1R	0 / 8	1–8	11%
French Open	A	A	4R	1R	3R	1R	2R	4R	SF	2R	3R	2R	Q1	0 / 10	18–10	64%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	1R	A	0 / 4	1–4	20%
US Open	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	1R	2R	1R	2R	2R	A	0 / 11	5–11	31%
Win–loss	0–0	0–1	3–2	0–4	2–2	0–3	4–3	3–3	6–3	1–4	4–3	2–4	0–1	0 / 33	25–33	43%

Significant finals

Olympic Games

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
4th Place	1996	Atlanta Olympics	Hard	Leander Paes	6–3, 2–6, 4–6

Pan American Games

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Gold	2003	Santo Domingo Games	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5)

References

1. "Os dez maiores tenistas brasileiros da Era Aberta". Esporte Final (in Portuguese). February 2, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
2. Em boa fase, irmãos Felipe e Carol Meligeni seguem passos do tio e sonham no circuito
3. "Fernando Meligeni e a relação Argentina-Brasil em sua carreira". 30 November 2020.
4. "Apontada como nova Ana Paula Arósio, atriz quer voltar a investir na carreira após filhos com Fernando Meligeni". Extra. Globo.com. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
5. "Conformismo não é uma opção: Meligeni brigou para ser brasileiro, quase ficou fora de Olimpíada e hoje critica a cultura do esporte na TV".
6. ""Fino" Meligeni Olympics results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 2011-01-07.
7. "25 of the Most Surprising Tennis Runs in Olympic History". Bleacher Report.
8. "Meu Momento Olímpico: Ficou no Quase". Folha UOL (in Portuguese).
9. "Meligeni vê vitória contra Sampras como o auge da carreira: "Dei aula"". Torcedores.com (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2019-09-22.

External links

• Fernando Meligeni at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Fernando Meligeni at the International Tennis Federation
• Fernando Meligeni at the Davis Cup
• Fernando Meligeni at Wimbledon
• Fernando Meligeni at Olympedia
• Fernando Meligeni at Olympics.com

Awards
Preceded by Nalbert Bitencourt	Brazilian Sportsmen of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Vanderlei de Lima