José Luis Clerc

José Luis Clerc

Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Miami, USA
Born	(1958-08-16) 16 August 1958 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1977
Retired	1988
Plays	Right-handed (1-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,987,036
Singles
Career record	375–148
Career titles	25
Highest ranking	No. 4 (3 August 1981)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (1980)
French Open	SF (1981, 1982)
Wimbledon	4R (1979)
US Open	4R (1979, 1981)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	QF (1982)
WCT Finals	QF (1982)
Doubles
Career record	110–99
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 30 (8 October 1979)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	SF (1981)
Wimbledon	2R (1977, 1979, 1981)

José Luis Clerc (born 16 August 1958) is a former Argentine professional tennis player, and one of the most important Argentine players in history.

Right handed, Batata^[1] Clerc started playing professionally in 1977, and won 25 ATP titles, and retired in 1988. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 4 on 4 August 1981, following a run of 27 victories and four titles in one month, and had year-ending world rankings of No. 8 in 1980, No. 5 in 1981, No. 6 in 1982, and No. 8 in 1983.

Tennis career

Clerc represented Argentina for the Davis Cup from 1976 to 1989. With team mate Guillermo Vilas, Argentina was runner up of the 1981 Davis Cup losing 3–1 to United States in Cincinnati. He defeated Roscoe Tanner 7-5, 6-3, 8-6 in a singles match, but lost to John McEnroe in five sets, and to Fleming/McEnroe in doubles with Vilas.

Also with Vilas and Carlos Gattiker, Argentina won the 1980 World Team Cup, defeating Adriano Panatta 7-6, 6-3 to beat Italy 3–0 in the finals in Düsseldorf.

Clerc reached the semifinals at Roland Garros in two consecutive years. In 1981, in the quarterfinal beating Jimmy Connors in an epic 5 setter, then he faced Ivan Lendl who survived a match point in the fourth set. Clerc eventually lost in 5 sets against Lendl who advanced into his first Grand Slam final. In 1982, the rising star, Mats Wilander was his opponent in the semifinal in Paris and Wilander defeated Clerc in 4 sets.^[2]

He received the ATP Sportsmanship Award of 1981, and Argentine Konex Awards in 1980 and 1990 for Merit in Tennis.

Clerc runs a tennis school in Argentina, participates in Senior tournaments, and regularly serves as a tennis analyst for ESPN Latin America and ESPN Deportes. He also coaches Julia Cohen, a top American junior player.

Clerc is currently developing and will serve as director of the "José Luis Clerc Tennis Academy" at Algodon Wine Estates in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina. He also serves as Ambassador to the "Algodon" brand.^[3]

Career titles

Singles (25)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	21 May 1978	Florence, Italy	Clay	Patrice Dominguez	6–4, 6–2, 6–1
2.	26 November 1978	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Víctor Pecci	6–4, 6–4
3.	4 December 1978	Santiago de Chile, Chile	Clay	Víctor Pecci	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
4.	16 April 1979	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Deon Joubert	6–2, 6–1
5.	10 March 1980	San José de Costa Rica, Costa Rica	Hard	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 2–6, retired
6.	28 July 1980	South Orange, New Jersey, U.S.	Clay	John McEnroe	6–3, 6–2
7.	4 August 1980	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	Clay	Mel Purcell	7–5, 6–3
8.	29 September 1980	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 1–6, 1–6, 6–4, 6–2
9.	3 November 1980	Quito, Ecuador	Clay	Víctor Pecci	6–4, 1–6, 10–8
10.	17 November 1980	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Rolf Gehring	6–7, 2–6, 7–5, 6–0, 6–3
11.	11 May 1981	Florence, Italy	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–1, 6–2
12.	18 May 1981	Italian Open, Rome	Clay	Víctor Pecci	6–3, 6–4, 6–0
13.	13 July 1981	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Clay	Hans Gildemeister	0–6, 6–2, 6–2
14.	20 July 1981	Washington D.C.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 6–2
15.	28 July 1981	North Conway, New Hampshire, U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 6–2
16.	3 August 1981	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.	Clay	Ivan Lendl	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
17.	8 February 1982	Richmond, Virginia, U.S.	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–3
18.	7 June 1982	Venice, Italy	Clay	Peter McNamara	7–6, 6–1
19.	5 July 1982	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–1, 6–3, 6–2
20.	12 July 1982	Zell am See, Austria	Clay	Heinz Günthardt	6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1
21.	15 November 1982	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Marcos Hocevar	6–2, 6–7, 6–3
22.	24 January 1983	Guarujá, Brazil	Hard	Mats Wilander	3–6, 7–5, 6–1
23.	11 July 1983	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Clay	Jimmy Arias	6–3, 6–1
24.	18 July 1983	Washington D.C., U.S.	Clay	Jimmy Arias	6–3, 3–6, 6–0
25.	25 July 1983	North Conway, New Hampshire, U.S.	Clay	Andrés Gómez	6–3, 6–1

Personal

Jose Luis Clerc is married to Annalie and has two sons & a daughter, Juan Pablo 9/23/81, Dominique 1/12/84 & Nicolas 10/19/90.

References

External links

• José Luis Clerc at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• José Luis Clerc at the International Tennis Federation
• José Luis Clerc at the Davis Cup
• Clerc's Konex Awards (Spanish)
• 1980 Argentina's World Team Cup
• Interview (Spanish)
• Algodon Wine Estates website