Player portrait: Alex Corretja Monday, June 4, 2007 By Benjamin Adler A beaten finalist here in 1998 and 2001, Alex Corretja is back at Roland Garros, and as usual, he's hard at it. The only difference now is that he has swapped his tennis racket for a microphone. Early retirement Finally forced into retirement in 2005 due to a persistent eye injury, the 33 year-old confesses to missing the heat of on-court battle but takes a philosophical view: "Life comes in stages. I've just finished one and am starting out on another. Watching great matches in a fabulous atmosphere does bring it all ack but to compete you have to be physically and mentally fit. And that is no longer my case," says the 2003 Masters Cup winner. In addition to his TV duties, Corretja manages the tennis foundation he set up in his name, which is based in Sant Cugat in his native Catalonia. "I didn't plan to move into TV. I was looking forward to a quiet life actually, but the opportunity came up so I seized it,” says the man who now counts Aranxta Sanchez among his fellow commentators on TVE. Home from home "Emilio (Sanchez) put my name forward when he had to give up his post when he was appointed Davis Cup captain. We cover the Masters Series as well as the Grand Slams so I was in Indian Wells, Monte-Carlo, Rome and Hamburg before coming here. After Roland Garros, I'm heading off to Madrid, the BNP Paribas Masters at Bercy and Shanghai. It's a lot of fun," he says with a smile. One of the heroes of Spain's Davis Cup triumph in 2003, Corretja looks back on his time at The French with satisfaction, even if he fell twice at the final hurdle: "It's a special tournament for me, even if I didn't win it. Coming back is just great, especially as the French people are so nice to me. I really want to thank the organisers for being so good to me." The father of two who lost to Carlos Moya in the 1998 final and then to Gustavo Kuerten in 2001, attributes his country's success to the Spanish work ethic: "We have a culture of working hard in Spain. Our players put in the effort and are ambitious. We've been lucky enough to have two super generations of players and with Rafa (Nadal), tennis has really taken off. It has become a very popular sport, something which would have been hard to imagine in the past. But it can only be a good thing.” Corretja's genial personality was always a delight on court, and by all accounts it is evidently making him a hit in his new profession. We wish him every success…. ---- 这篇文章po得我起鸡皮疙瘩 Corretja真的是个从内好到外的绅士! 不论他在任何跑道都祝福他成功! 也谢谢他给予球迷的>///< 也如他所说，这个世代的西班牙网球选手们真的都很棒!!!! 请支持他们!!! (莫名激动起来== ==a) --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.119.171.208 ※ 编辑: Emily212 来自: 140.119.171.208 (06/05 11:46)