Martin Vassallo Arguello life and biography

Martin Vassallo Argüello is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. His career-high ATP entry ranking is #47 (as of April 27, 2009).

CAREER:

The clay-court specialist reached the second semifinal of his career at Acapulco in 2009, hitting a career-high ranking of No. 47 shortly after. Martin Vassallo Arguello’s best Grand Slam result came at Roland Garros in 2006, where he came through qualifying to reach the fourth round. He has also won nine titles (all on clay) on the ITF circuit. Vassallo Arguello is perhaps best known as Nikolay Davydenko’s opponent in the 2007 match for which Davydenko became embroiled in a match-fixing scandal.

In late 2007, at the Orange Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland, Argüello was embroiled in a betting scandal after his match against world number four Nikolay Davydenko. The match saw Davydenko retire with the scores at 2–6, 6–3, 2–1. Gamblers betting on the match displayed irregular betting patterns and a total of £3.4m was paid out on it, ten times the normal amount for a match at this level. Eventually, Betfair voided all bets on the match. Neither Argüello nor Davydenko have been formally charged with any offence by the ATP.[1]

In 2009, Vassallo Argüello made his Davis Cup debut for Argentina in the 5-0 defeat against The Netherlands in Buenos Aires playing doubles with Lucas Arnold Ker and in the reverse singles.

PERSONAL:
Full name is Martin Miguel Vassallo Arguello
No relation to former ATP pro Roberto Arguello of Argentina
Began playing tennis at age nine but decided to concentrate on tennis full-time at 13, giving up soccer
Father, Luciano Vassallo, is a government manager; mother, Clara Arguello, is a psychologist
Has one older sister, Lucia, who is a photographer
Speaks Italian, Spanish and English
Hobbies include soccer, dancing and horse riding
Fan of Boca Juniors soccer team in Argentina
Considers clay his favorite surface
Coached by former ATP pro Horacio de la Pena (since December 2006).

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