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Dominik Hrbaty Remembers His Three Matches With Marcelo Rios
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
“I played a couple matches with him. It’s always something different because everybody said he was so talented, he was so gifted. And he had also a unique style of playing. He has very good hands. He used a lot of angles on balls at that time when we played (it) was not seen as often as nowadays because you see players like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, they use the all court game. But this time all court game and playing angles and spin and taking the opponent out of the position and out of the court was very rare so he was one of the top players.”
“Not only was it enjoyable to play against him but also to watch him. He brought different styles to the game at this time. And for me – I played him three times and I beat him all the times especially here where we are in Miami. I played him – he became no. 1 after this week (in ’98) – I beat him first round I think 6-1 6-0 in 2001. 6-1 6-0 – I just played too good. I made winners on anything I touched, it went in. And he was helpless. It was in like 50 minutes or so. I liked his style because he didn’t have a big serve. He has really slow second serve. And I could go for it in my returns. I can make him run. And once I make him run, he could not play his game. I was probably the younger generation at that time and starting to play faster and he was still the older generation. When he played against the older guys they had more difficulty with him, then he had more difficulty with me.”
Hrbaty also had a very important quarterfinal match win over Rios at the 1999 French Open, which seemed to signal the end of Rios as a major title contender.
“I beat him in four sets. That was actually the same year that I played him in Miami. We played twice in the same year. And it was my match to go semifinal. I think it was a big match for me. That was the only semi I made in my life in a Grand Slam. And it will was an interesting match. Out of the three matches we played, the one that I would put into second place after Roland Garros was the Davis Cup match we played in the Davis Cup, Slovakia against Chile. And I was losing two sets to love down. And that was the third match that we played. And I had no chance that match he was just playing too good. He was making me run, he was putting in big serves. In the first two sets I had not even one break point. And I had no chance to win. And in the third set it was I think 3-all and finally I got to my first break point in that match.”
“And he missed the first serve. And then he was going to get ready for his second serve and one of the – actually it was one of my friends, because Davis Cup was always wild atmosphere – he had big horns and everything, these sound things, sort of to make noise. And his was not working and he was playing with it to repair it. And when he was going for a second serve, it went off and he got scared and he double-faulted. And suddenly it all changed. And he, of course, got nervous, and he was complaining to the chair umpire. My friend, after the match, he came to him and said he was sorry. It didn’t help. After the moment it suddenly changed. I just roll over and I won – because it was the deciding point, we won the Davis Cup with Chile in Slovakia.”
“So I don’t think he has great memories of me and that match [smiles]. But we respected each other, Marcelo, we practice quite a lot. I was always – many players said he was tough to handle and at times, tough to speak, but for me, I never had the problems with him, I was always fine with him. We always respected each other. And I always took him as a fine player and a fine person. And whenever he asked me to practice I went on because he was, for me, the opportunity to play with a great player, with a top player in the world and I never said no to him.”
(Dominik Hrbaty won six career ATP singles titles. Along with a 3-0 record vs. Rios, Hrbaty also holds a 2-1 head to head edge on Roger Federer. Hrbaty, retired now at age 35, reached a career high singles ranking of no. 2 in 2004.)
Hrbaty had a trio of intriguing matches with Rios
Jen P. · July 25, 2013 at 10:40 am
Hmm not sure I agree with Hrbaty about his winning record over Marcelo – saying he was part of the new generation whom Marcelo had probs with – in 2001, this was post double groin op Rios, who was much slower than 1998 Rios. He was never the same player after that. The 1999 RG match – I saw the previous match against Berasategu, when Marcelo was down 2 sets in 50 mins! He clawed his way back but I remember thinking he wasn’t going to win RG on this form. It was after the Hrbaty match that Marcelo hit the Paris clubs and was photographed with those girls that the Chilean press covered and his future wife dumped him lol! So he wasn’t devastated by that loss:). I always thought that was an odd incident in that his agent was with him – and at the time he had the same agent as Sampras, I forget the guys name. I could never see him out on the town with Pete hitting the clubs!
Thanks for keeping Marcelo in the news, you’re doing a good job Scoop.
Scoop Malinowski · July 25, 2013 at 1:38 pm
Jen your personal historical information about Rios never ceases to impress ) I mean for you to remember how Rios specifially celebrated after certain wins or losses is amazing. You have a remarkable memory. The agent you mean was Jeff Schwartz who is a big time NBA agent now. Hrbaty seemed to have a style that bothered Rios and make him look ordinary. I remember that loss in Paris, it seemed to be almost funereal for him at Roland Garros. The loss in Davis Cup was also a heartbreaker. All three losses to Hrbaty were Hrbeartbreakers. I have to admit as a fan of Rios, if 98 Rios played Hrbaty at his best, not sure if I would pick against the Dominator, he just seemed to be like “kryptonite” for Rios. You