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Álbert Costa Casals (June 25, 1975, in Lerida, Spain) is a
professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for winning
the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002.
Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. He first came
to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player. In 1993,
he reached the French Open Junior final and won the prestigious Orange Bowl.
He turned professional later that year, and quickly began establishing a
reputation as a strong clay court player. In 1994, he won two challenger
series events was named the ATP's Newcomer of the Year.
Costa won his first top-level singles title in 1995 at Kitzbuhel.
He won three further titles in 1996. In 1997, he won another two singles
titles and was part of the Spanish team which won the World Team Cup. He
won another two singles titles in 1998, including the Tennis Masters Series
event in Hamburg. Three further titles followed in 1999.
In 2000, Costa helped Spain win its first-ever Davis Cup.
He also captured a Bronze Medal in the men's doubles at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney, partnering Álex Corretja.
Going into the French Open in 2002, Costa had not won a tour
title since 1999 and was not considered to be among the favorites. In the
fourth round, he faced defending-champion Gustavo Kuerten and won in straight
sets. He followed this up with a five-set victory over Argentina's Guillermo
Canas in the quarter-finals. He then faced fellow-Spaniard and long-time
friend Álex Corretja in the semi-finals and won in four sets. In the
final, Costa came up aganist another Spaniard, Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrero
had been in fine form in the run-up to the event and most observers considered
him to be the heavy favourite going into the final. But Costa seized his
moment and won in four sets – 6-1, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 – to claim his
first (and only) Grand Slam title. The win propelled him to his career-high
singles ranking of World No. 6 in July 2002.
Five days after his 2002 French Open triumph, Costa married
his long-time girlfriend Cristina Ventura. Corretja was the best man at the
wedding. The couple have twin daughters, Claudia and Alma, who were born
in April 2001.
Coming into the French Open as defending-champion in 2003,
Costa spent a total of 21 hours and 15 minutes on court, winning four five-setters
before eventually being knocked-out in the semi-finals by Ferrero (who would
go on to win the title).
During his career, Costa has won 12 top-level singles titles.
In 2005, he captured his first tour doubles title (in Doha, partnering Rafael
Nadal).
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