David Ferrer

David Ferrer Ern (born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player.

A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, and currently has the ninth highest career prize money earnings of all time among male tennis players (not adjusting for inflation).

Ferrer also holds the distinction of winning the most matches on the ATP Tour without having won a major.

Ferrer turned professional in 2000 and was regarded as a clay-court specialist in his early career, winning 13 of his 27 titles on the surface.

Ferrer turned professional in 2000, finishing as world no. 419, winning in Poland F1 and Spain F3, finishing runner-up in Spain F1.

2001 was not a particularly good year for him.

He won his first career Challenger title in Sopot and reached the semifinals at Manerbio.

He also reached the semifinals in Spain F15 and Spain F16.

In 2002, he played consistently in ATP (10–6) and Challenger (35–13) tournaments, winning his first ATP title in Bucharest (defeated José Acasuso) and reaching his first ATP final in just his second ATP event in Umag (defeated David Nalbandian and Guillermo Coria, lost to Carlos Moyá).

He won Challenger titles in Naples, Valencia, and Sassuolo.

All 10 ATP match wins and 34 of 35 Challenger wins came on clay.

The highlight of 2003 was Ferrer's victory against Andre Agassi at the Rome Masters.

He made his debut at all four Grand Slam tournaments, as well as six ATP Masters Series events.

In Rome, he upset the defending champion Agassi in the first round and lost to Ivan Ljubičić in the second round.

Ferrer advanced to the second round at the French Open and Wimbledon.

He reached his third career final in Sopot and lost to Guillermo Coria.

In doubles, he reached his first career final in Acapulco with Fernando Vicente.

He compiled a 13–16 record on clay courts, 6–10 on hard, 1–1 on grass, and had a year-ending ranking of world no. 71.

In 2004, Ferrer reached the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires, Valencia, and at the ATP Masters Series Hamburg (defeated no. 6 David Nalbandian, lost to Guillermo Coria).

He advanced to the semifinals in Stuttgart (lost to Gastón Gaudio).

Later in the year he advanced to the quarterfinals in Bucharest and the semifinals in Palermo (lost to Tomáš Berdych) and Lyon (defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, lost to Xavier Malisse).

He ended the year with a ranking of world no. 49.

In 2005, Ferrer advanced to the semifinals in Miami by defeating David Nalbandian, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Dominik Hrbatý, but lost to Rafael Nadal.

He closed the year with a quarterfinal showing in Madrid, where he defeated Puerta, but lost to Robby Ginepri, and Paris, where he lost to Andy Roddick.

He lost only once in the first round of nine Masters Series events, while compiling a 20–9 record.

In doubles, Ferrer won his first two ATP titles in Viña del Mar and Acapulco (with Ventura) and earned a career-high US$951,772.

He finished the year with a ranking of world no. 14.

Ferrer opened the year with a quarterfinal showing in Auckland, where he lost to Olivier Rochus.

He broke into the top 10 ATP rankings for the first time, following a personal-best fourth-round showing at the Australian Open, where he defeated Mario Ančić, but lost to Fabrice Santoro.

He first achieved a top-10 ranking in 2006 and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 3 in July 2013.

Ferrer was part of the Spanish Davis Cup team that won the title in 2008, 2009, and 2011.

He won the 2012 Paris Masters, and was runner-up at six other Masters tournaments as well as at the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup.

He is widely considered one of the best players not to have won a Grand Slam tournament.

However, he has had significant success on all surfaces, having reached the final of the 2013 French Open (without losing a set en route), the semifinals of the Australian and US Opens twice each, and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon twice.

Piles continued to coach Ferrer until they parted ways at the end of 2013.

Ferrer has said he considers Piles to be like a second father to him.

He retired in 2019, competing for the last time at his home tournament of Madrid.

Ferrer was born in Xàbia in the province of Alicante, but he moved to Gandia at age thirteen, followed two years later by a move to Barcelona to attend the Catalan Tennis Federation.

Once, as a teenager, when Ferrer did not practice hard enough, his coach, Javier Piles, locked him in a completely dark 2m x 2m ball closet for several hours, giving him only a piece of bread and a bit of water.

After this incident he was fed up with tennis and went to work at a construction site, but after a week he returned to Piles and asked if he could remain at the club and play tennis.