 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Fernando Meligeni" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 Meligeni in 2003 | |||||||||
| Full name | Fernando Ariel Meligeni | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  Brazil | ||||||||
| Residence | São Paulo, Brazil | ||||||||
| Born | (1971-04-12)12 April 1971 (age 53) 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 | ||||||||
| 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 | ||||||||
| 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
| |||||||||
Fernando Ariel Meligeni (born 12 April 1971), nicknamedFininho (diminutive form in Portuguese forthin), is a Brazilian former professionaltennis player. He won three singles (and 7 doubles) titles and reached the semifinals of both the1999 French Open and the1996 Summer Olympics. He was known for taking matches to the limit (tiebreaks and five sets). His favorite surface was clay.[1]
Meligeni was born inBuenos Aires, Argentina but moved with his family toSão Paulo, Brazil, when he was four years old. He is ofItalian descent. He has a younger sister, Paula, the mother of two tennis players,Felipe andCarolina Meligeni Alves.[2] He applied to get Brazilian citizenship as a teenager, and took him five years to complete the process.[3] He is married to actress Carol Hubner, with whom he has two children.[4]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Fernando Meligeni" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
As a junior, he won the traditionalOrange Bowl in 1989, finishing No. 3 in the world junior rankings in the same year.
Meligeni turned professional in 1990, opting for Brazilian nationality, although his parents and sister disagreed with this.[5]
He won his firstATP Tour singles title in 1995, at the Swedish Open inBåstad, Sweden. In 1996, Meligeni won his secondATP Tour singles title inPinehurst, North Carolina, defeating veteranMats Wilander in the final.
In 1996, ranked 93rd of theATP rankings, Meligeni was one of the 64 competitors that would directly enter theupcoming tennis tournament of the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta. Withdrawals due to injuries and personal decisions gave him analternate spot. With four wins over higher ranked players, Meligeni reached the semifinals, where he was defeated by Spain'sSergi Bruguera. In the bronze medal game, he lost toLeander Paes of India.[6][7][8]
In 1998, Meligeni won his third and last ATP Tour singles title inPrague, Czech Republic, beating then world No. 6,Yevgeny Kafelnikov from Russia, on the way. This year Meligeni had an excellent performance at the1998 French Open losing at 4th round but playing an incredible match of five tough sets against clay-court specialistThomas Muster.
Meligeni reached his peak in the following year, with a strong performance at the1999 French Open in Paris, France. He defeatedJustin 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 semifinals toUkrainianAndrei Medvedev. This was his best major 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 defeatedPete Sampras (ATP nº2 at the time) at theRome Masters (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 BrazilianDavis Cup team, with an overall record of 13–16, and reaching the semifinals in2000.
In addition to his three singles titles, Meligeni also won seven doubles titles on the ATP Tour, most of them partnering countrymanGustavo Kuerten. Meligeni retired from professional tennis in 2003, playing his last match againstMarcelo Ríos fromChile in the final of the2003 Pan American Games inSanto Domingo, Dominican Republic which he won in three sets.
Two years later, he was nominated captain of the BrazilianDavis Cup team, but resigned in January 2007 due to political differences with theBrazilian Tennis Confederation. During his period as a captain, he collected a 5–1 win/loss record in ties.
Off the court, Meligeni has been a host forMTV Brasil,TV Cultura, andESPN Brazil, in the last one andSporTV also serving as a tenniscommentator.
| W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
| 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% |
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4th Place | 1996 | Atlanta Olympics | Hard |  Leander Paes | 6–3, 2–6, 4–6 |
| Result | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2003 | Santo Domingo Games | Hard |  Marcelo Ríos | 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5) |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Brazilian Sportsmen of the Year 2003 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
