'The Mosquito' for Gold Flake Open

Juan Carlos Ferrero will be part of the field for the 2001 Gold Flake Open tennis championship at the Nungambakkam Stadium, Madras, from January 1 to 7.

The Spanish ace, who is currently 11th in the ATP Tour champion's race, is the third international player after Sweden's Magnus Norman and France's Cedric Pioline to confirm participation for the opening event of 2001.

"There is a new group of tennis players beginning to emerge on the ATP Tour and the sport is going through another period of excitement as they start to challenge the old guard," said tournament director Sheila Maniam. "One of those new players is the 20-year-old from Spain, Juan Carlos Ferrero and he is a star player on the Tour's new campaign called 'New Balls Please', which promotes this young brigade. Some even believe Ferrero has the makings to go to the very top of world tennis," she added.

"I have seen Juan Carlos in action, most notably at this year's French Open where he reached the semifinals, and all I can say is that I was so impressed with the way he conducted himself on the court and the manner in which he gave everything to the match," said Ms. Maniam. "He went for every ball that crossed the net and fought to the very end. After seeing him in action I thought that we must try and secure him for the Gold Flake Open and I am delighted to say he accepted our invitation."

The 2000 season has been a breakthrough year for the Spaniard. While his performance at Roland Garros was a standout with wins over Mark Philippoussis and his countryman Alex Corretja, Ferrero has also demonstrated that he can play on other surfaces beside hardcourt.

He was a finalist at Dubai, where he upset Nicolas Lapentti; he was a semifinalist at Scottsdale, beating Patrick Rafter and Carlos Moya; he was a quarterfinalist at Auckland and the Olympics, and went to the round of 16 at the US Open. He was also a finalist in Barcelona, where he beat Marcelo Rios and Moya; and a quarterfinalist in Estoril and the Tennis Masters Series - Monte Carlo.

In 1999 he won his first career title in beautiful Mallorca, Spain, defeating Corretja. That result was among those that helped catapult him over 300 places on the rankings. To further highlight Juan Carlos' emergence in world tennis, one just has to look at his 2000 prize-money level -- he has won over $US600,000, which is three times what his career earnings were to the end of 1999.

This lanky player who lives in Villena, Spain, has two nicknames. He is known as "The Mosquito" because of his physique, and as "Chavilto" which means "little kid". He has a passion for the game, which led John McEnroe to suggest that Ferrero will probably become the best player ever from Spain. A tall statement when one considers the other great players to have emerged from there.

Here is a tennis player for fans to be captivated with and Chennai will be first to see him in action in 2001.