By Scoop Malinowski
Marcelo Rios performed one of the most astounding runs in ATP history in 1998 at Indian Wells. Entering the tournament ranked 7 in the world, Rios exploded to play perhaps the finest tennis of his career in the California desert.
Fresh off the brutal 626262 loss to Petr Korda at the Australian Open final and semifinal loss to Mark Philippoussis in Memphis, 64 76, somehow Rios galvanized his talent and wizardry in Indian Wells, then called Newsweek.
Rios had a bye in the first round as a seed and struggled in a second round match with Germany’s journeyman 92-ranked Hendrik Dreekman 64 76.
In the round of 16, Rios met another German, the 27-ranked Nicolas Kiefer and came away with the 64 63 win.
Rios would meet a familiar foe in the quarterfinals – Petr Korda, his nemesis from Melbourne. This time Rios turned the tables on the no. 2 player in the world with a 64 62 victory.
Into the semis, Rios would play the surprising New Balls Please newcomer Jan-Michael Gambill, who was ranked 127 in the world. Gambill told me in my book “Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew” that Rios tried to intimidate him before the match by staring him down from across the player’s lounge. Whether the psychological warfare worked or not, Rios won the match 76 63 and set a date with world no. 6 Greg Rusedski in the final.
The two lefties staged one of the most exciting finals in the tournament’s history, with Rios earning a sensational 63 67 76 64 win which included a 17-15 second set tiebreaker won by the big-serving Brit. Rios earned $361,000 for winning the tournament, for which he did a cartwheel after the match point on the way to the net to shake the hand of Rusedski.
By conquering Indian Wells, the 22-year-old Chilean rose to no. 3 in the world. Two weeks later Rios would storm through the Lipton Key Biscayne draw, routing Dreekman again, Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Enqvist all in straight sets, then Tim Henman 62 46 60 in the semi and Andre Agassi 75 63 64 in the final.
The Miami title earned Rios $360,000 as well as $2.5m bonuses from his two main sponsors Nike and Yonex.
Fabrice Santoro, the masterful Frenchman, told me for my book about Rios that those back to back performances by Rios were some of the greatest tennis he had ever witnessed. However, Rios would never quite regain that level of supreme tennis genius again in his career.
The following week after Miami, Rios lost in Davis Cup to Hernan Gumy of Argentina, in four sets. Gumy was ranked 108 in the world.
Rios took a month off from competition because of an injury and returned at Hamburg Masters as no. 3 in the world, where he lost in his first match to Wayne Ferreira in three sets.
Rios won Rome Masters by walkover in the final over Albert Costa after blazing through the draw, beating Marzio Martelli, Tim Henman, Thomas Muster, Richard Krajicek, Gustavo Kuerten without losing a single set. Still his ranking stayed at no. 3.
The following week Rios won St. Polten in Austria, again without losing a set. Rios was the favorite to win Roland Garros. He defeated Ferreira in the R32 and Albert Costa in the R16 but lost in four sets to eventual champion Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals 16 62 26 46.
Rios got to no. 2 in the world but lost first round at Wimbledon in five sets to Spaniard Francisco Clavet.
For six weeks in the spring of 1998 Rios was the ATP world no. 1 and his spectacular play at the 1998 Indian Wells tournament will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it.
