Introduction
Albert Portas Soy ([əlˈβɛɾ ˈpɔɾtəs ˈsɔj], [alˈβeɾ ˈpoɾtas ˈsoi]; born 15 November 1973) is a Spanish former professional tennis player.
Career
Portas turned professional in 1994. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 19 in October 2001.
His only top-level singles title came at the 2001 Hamburg Masters, a tournament in which his mastery of the drop shot (key to his defeat of Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final) earned him the nickname "Drop Shot Dragon". According to the BBC, Lleyton Hewitt said of Portas that "He sure hits a lot of drop shots, but he hits them so well, as well as anyone I have faced.". It is also very remarkable his final at Barcelona Open in 1997. En route to the final he defeated Gustavo Kuerten (eventual champion this same year of French Open), Marcelo Rios, and Carlos Moya but lost in the final to Albert Costa. In 1999, Portas lost the final of San Marino defeated by his countryman Galo Blanco.
He coached WTA player Daniela Hantuchová from November 2008 to February 2009.
ATP career finals: 8 (2–6)
Singles: 4 (1–3)
| Titles by surface |
| Legend |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–2) |
| Titles by Surface |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Titles by surface |
| Outdoors (1–3) |
| Indoors (0–0) |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–2) |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Outdoors (1–3) |
| Indoors (0–0) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 21 April 1997 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | Albert Costa | 5–7, 4–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 15 August 1999 | San Marino, San Marino | Clay | Galo Blanco | 6–4, 4–6, 3–6 |
| Winner | 1. | 20 May 2001 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | Juan Carlos Ferrero | 4–6, 6–2, 0–6, 7–6, 7–5 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 29 July 2001 | Sopot, Poland | Clay | Tommy Robredo | 6–1, 5–7, 6–7 |
Doubles: 4 (1–3)
| Titles by surface |
| Legend |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–3) |
| Titles by Surface |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Titles by surface |
| Outdoors (1–3) |
| Indoors (0–0) |
| Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–3) |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (1–3) |
| Grass (0–0) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Outdoors (1–3) |
| Indoors (0–0) |
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 10 November 1996 | Santiago, Chile | Clay | Dinu Pescariu | Gustavo Kuerten Fernando Meligeni |
4–6, 2–6 |
| Winner | 1. | 23 July 2000 | Umag, Croatia | Clay | Álex López Morón | Ivan Ljubičić Lovro Zovko |
6–1, 7–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 21 July 2002 | Umag, Croatia | Clay | Fernando Vicente | František Čermák Julian Knowle |
4–6, 4–6 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 30 July 2006 | Umag, Croatia | Clay | Guillermo García-López | Jaroslav Levinský David Škoch |
4–6, 4–6 |
Singles performance timeline
| Tournament | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Career WR |
Career Win-Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | 0 / 7 | 2-7 |
| French Open | A | A | LQ | LQ | 3R | 1R | 2R | 3R | 1R | 3R | 2R | 1R | LQ | 1R | LQ | 0 / 9 | 8-9 |
| Wimbledon | A | LQ | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | A | 1R | LQ | 0 / 7 | 2-7 |
| U.S. Open | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 1R | A | A | LQ | A | 0 / 6 | 2-6 |
| Grand Slam Win Ratio | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 3 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 4 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 0 | 0 / 29 | N/A |
| Grand Slam Win-Loss | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 1-4 | 5-4 | 2-4 | 3-4 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | N/A | 14-29 |
| Indian Wells | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0-2 |
| Miami | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1-2 |
| Monte Carlo | A | A | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | 1R | 2R | 1R | A | LQ | 1R | 0 / 8 | 3-8 |
| Rome | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | LQ | A | A | A | 0 / 7 | 2-7 |
| Hamburg | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | LQ | W | 1R | A | 2R | A | LQ | A | 1 / 4 | 7-3 |
| Canada | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 | 0-1 |
| Cincinnati | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 | 0-1 |
| Stuttgart/Madrid | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 0-2 |
| Paris | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 2 | 1-2 |
| ATP World Tour Finals | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 | 0-0 |
| ATP Tournaments Played | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 24 | 18 | 23 | 29 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 3 | N/A | 199 |
| ATP Finals Reached | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 4 |
| ATP Tournaments Won | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 1 |
| Year End Ranking | 392 | 269 | 119 | 182 | 35 | 84 | 90 | 51 | 20 | 88 | 85 | 175 | 119 | 140 | 338 | N/A | N/A |
LQ = lost in the qualifiers WR = Win Ratio, the ratio of tournaments won to those played A = Did not play in tournament
Wins over top 10 players
| Season | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | Total |
| Wins | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| # | Player | Rank | Event | Surface | Rd | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | ||||||
| 1. | Marcelo Ríos | 9 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | 2R | 7–5, 7–6 |
| 2. | Carlos Moyá | 9 | French Open, Paris, France | Clay | 2R | 6–4, 4–6, 7–5, 6–3 |
| 3. | Thomas Muster | 4 | Stuttgart, Germany | Clay | 2R | 6–4, 7–5 |
| 2000 | ||||||
| 4. | Gustavo Kuerten | 5 | Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia | Hard | 1R | 4–6, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6, 6–4 |
| 2001 | ||||||
| 5. | Magnus Norman | 5 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | 2R | 1–1, ret. |
| 6. | Magnus Norman | 6 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | 2R | 7–6, 7–6 |
| 7. | Lleyton Hewitt | 7 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | SF | 3–6, 7–5, 6–2 |
| 8. | Juan Carlos Ferrero | 9 | Hamburg, Germany | Clay | F | 3–6, 6–2, 0–6, 7–6, 7–5 |
| 2003 | ||||||
| 9. | Andy Roddick | 6 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Clay | 1R | 7–6, 6–3 |
| 10. | Carlos Moyá | 4 | Sopot, Poland | Clay | 1R | 7–6, 6–7, 6–4 |