Vince Spadea life and biography

Vince Spadea is an ATP Tour professional tennis player from the United States. He is one of only three players in history to defeat Roger Federer 6-0 in set, at a major event.

CAREER:

A 17-year veteran of the tour, Vince Spadea was a winner at Scottsdale in 2004 and has reached four other ATP Tour finals. He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 1999 and peaked in the rankings at No. 18 in 2005, in addition to representing the U.S. in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Spadea wrote a book about life on tour entitled “Break Point,” which was released in 2006.

Singles Titles
2004: Scottsdale

Doubles Titles
1997: Tashkent, Orlando
1995: Buenos

Spadea started 2008 with outstanding results at the Australian Open making it to the third round. In the first round Spadea had an epic comeback from two sets down to defeat former world number 8 Radek Štěpánek, he celebrated with numerous dances and raps. 2008 marked Spadea's 13th year as a top 100 ranked player. He closed the season by winning 2 Challenger titles in Waco,TX and Calabasas,CA. This takes him to a personal best 9 career pro singles titles.

Vince has had an injury-stricken season so far in 2009, plagued by an overuse tendonitis arm issue, as well as a lower extremity staph infection. Only winning a few singles ATP level singles matches before the start of the clay season, while he got to the semi-final of the Carson challenger. 2009 marks his 17th season on the ATP tour.

In July 2009, Vince won the Shotgun 21 Championships in Pacific Palisades, CA . A unisex event where participants included celebrities, WTA and ATP pros. A unique tournament where every competitor must start the point with a groundstroke, excluding the serve as an attempt to equalize the players. Along the way he beat Oscar nominated actress Elizabeth Shue and ATP pro Ramon Delgado in the final.

PERSONAL:
Father, Vincent, Sr., has been instrumental in his son’s career; mother, Hilda, who was born in Colombia, also travels during year
Won 1992 Orange Bowl title, becoming first American to win title since Courier in 1987, in his final junior tournament of career
Finished No. 4 in world junior rankings before turning pro in January 1993
Enjoys Italian food and Jim Carey movies
Sisters, Luanne and Diana were top junior players and played collegiately at Duke
Wrote a book about life on tour, entitled “Break Point” and was released in 2006
Made Davis Cup debut in 2000 in Spain and lost to Ferrero in dead rubber
Also competed in 2000 and 2004 Olympics
Works occasionally in Los Angeles with former Pete Sampras mentor Pete Fischer.

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