from ESPN Star Sports by Jason Dasey
13 June 2003

Juan Carlos Ferrero is Spanish, he’s a clay-courter and just loves the baseline. But there’s no way you’d call the 2003 French Open champion “one-dimensional” or “boring”.

This 23-year-old from Villena breathed much needed life into Roland Garros by claiming his long overdue first Grand Slam title.

It’s easy to like Ferrero. His groundstrokes, heavy with topspin, are stunningly precise and he moves with speed and grace. And he has a charming and slightly boyish manner that endears him to everyone around him.
His light frame and agility earned him the well-known nickname of “The Mosquito”. But his fellow countrymen on tour have coined another alias for Juan Carlos. It’s “Chavalito” which means “little kid” in Spanish.

Ferrero’s breakthrough win in Paris means the “little kid” is now well and truly becoming an adult in the sporting world.

Before beating unseeded Dutchman Martin Verkerk in the 2003 French Open final, Ferrero was gaining a reputation as being a young man who often stumbled in the big occasion. His 9-8 record in finals was less than impressive for a player with such natural ability. He seemed to be better known for the championship matches he’d lost rather than won.

Like the 2002 Roland Garros final when he was upset by the less gifted but perhaps more determined Spaniard Albert Costa. And the 2002 Masters Cup final in Shanghai when he threw away a break in the final set to lose to world number one Lleyton Hewitt.

And who could forget those two disappointing defeats to eventual winner Gustavo Kuerten in the 2000 and 2001 French Open semi-finals?

The 2003 victory is just what Ferrero needs to catapult him to the next level. A mental toughness to go with his flamboyant shot making. It’s a combination that could well take him to the number-one ranking at year’s end.

Ferrero has little to fear with very good head-to-head records with the best players in the world. He’s 3-2 versus his old nemesis Kuerten. He has a 2-1 edge over Andre Agassi. He’s 2-3 against Hewitt and 3-3 versus Costa. He’s also tied 2-2 with Switzerland’s Roger Federer. Interestingly, he’s never played Americans Pete Sampras nor Andy Roddick.

While his best surface undoubtedly is clay, Ferrero is also a very good player on hardcourts. After making the 2002 Masters Cup final (blasting out Agassi and Carlos Moya along the way) in November, Ferrero was also in the championship match of the Sydney International and a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open in January.

He’s already talking up his chances at Wimbledon, but realistically Juan Carlos will make little to no impression with just two weeks to adapt his game to grass.

Last year after playing in the Paris final, Ferrero lasted just two rounds at the All England Club, falling to little known American Jeff Morrison in straight sets.

Like defending Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, Ferrero has speed to burn. But unlike the abrasive Aussie, the Spaniard is less of a counter-puncher and much more the aggressor in matches. And that’s why the unpredictable, low bounce of the All England club will suit him a lot less than the Court Suzanne Lenglen in Paris.

Back in the mid 1990s, I remember watching the one-time French Open champion Thomas Muster hitting up on a practice court at the Queens Club in England about two weeks before Wimbledon. The Austrian was putting on a brave face, but was clearly uncomfortable with his footing on the lush green grass of west London. He ended up losing in the early rounds at both Queens and Wimbledon that year.

I don’t believe that Ferrero will end up being one-slam wonder like Muster (1995 French Open), Michael Chang (1989 French Open) and Andres Gomez (1990 French Open), nor a player like Spain’s Sergi Bruguera who won the 1993 and 1994 Roland Garros titles, but struggled at the three other Grand Slams. [Incidentally, I think Marat Safin (2000 US Open champion) WILL win another big title or two while Albert Costa (2002 French Open) and Thomas Johannson (2002 Australian Open) WON'T.]

If his light frame (he is 1.82m tall yet weighs just 72kg) can stay relatively injury-free, there’s no reason why Ferrero can’t win at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne Park, not to mention repeat victories in Paris. He has the perfect game to claim at least another two Grand Slam titles, especially with Agassi and Sampras on the way out and Safin, Federer and even Kuerten struggling for consistency. And Hewitt, as the classic counter-puncher, doesn’t have the game to overpower a man like Ferrero when he’s really ‘on’. New rivals are Argentina’s Guillermo Coria and hard-hitting Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, an old foe from his junior days.

Ferrero seems very family-orientated and well-grounded. It was quite touching how on match-point at Roland Garros he looked up to the clouds to think about his mother, Rosario, who died of cancer when he was a teenager. And then after the victory, he jumped into the crowd to hug his entourage, including his father, two older sisters, coach and girlfriend.

This little kid has a very big heart — and a very big game. The world, and not just the crowds on the seemingly endless European claycourt season, will see a lot more of “Chavalito”.