Martín Jaite (born 9 October 1964) is a former top-10 professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player from Argentina. Jaite's career-high

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, a ...

singles ranking was world no. 10, which he achieved in the summer of 1990, and he won a total of 12 titles and $1,873,881 in tour prize money during his career. Jaite's playing style leveraged his consistency, speed, thoughtful use of tactics, and fitness to compensate for his lack of power.

Early life

Jaite was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, and is Jewish.

Tennis career

Jaite was a top junior in both Spain and Argentina. He joined Argentina's

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

team. He began playing on the ATP tour in 1983, and soon was ranked among the top 20 players in the world. He reached the quarterfinals in competition at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

in 1985, defeating

Paolo Canè Paolo Canè (born 9 April 1965; ) is a former tennis player from Italy. Canè turned professional in 1983. During his career, he won three top-level singles titles (Bordeaux in 1986, Båstad in 1989, and Bologna in 1991) and achieved much succes ...

, Trevor Allan, Miloslav Mečíř and

Heinz Günthardt Heinz Peter Günthardt (born 8 February 1959) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. Tennis player career Günthardt won five singles titles during his professional career, including the Rotterdam WCT in 1980. The right-hander reached hi ...

before losing to

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...

. In May 1986 at Forest Hills Jaite defeated world no. 4

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

6–2, 7–6. In May 1987, Jaite beat world no. 9

Henri Leconte Henri Leconte (born 4 July 1963) is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. Leconte ...

in Germany in two tiebreaks. In September 1987, Jaite upset world no. 3

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...

in five sets to win a competition in Barcelona, Spain. In April 1989, he upset world no. 8 Jakob Hlasek in two sets in Monte Carlo. Jaite became only the sixth South American to be ranked in the top 10 in the ATP computer rankings, reaching no. 10 in 1990. In May 1990, he defeated world no. 2

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 19 ...

3–6, 6–2, 6–4 in Germany. Jaite defeated world no. 4 Guy Forget 6–2, 6–2 in April 1991 in France, and then again in July, 7–6⁽⁵⁾, 7–5, in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Olympics

He participated for his native country at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, but lost to

Brad Gilbert Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961) is a former professional tennis player and an American tennis coach. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990, and a career-high doubles rank ...

, the eventual winner of the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

Davis Cup

Jaite was 14–20 in

play, 11–7 in singles on clay, from 1984 to 1999. Jaite was involved in a Davis Cup tie against the US in Buenos Aires when

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major champion and an Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympic ...

was leading 6–2, 6–2, 5–0. Jaite was leading 40–0 in the sixth game of the third set, and missed his first serve. Agassi then called out to his then-coach

Nick Bollettieri Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, ...

, "hey watch this", and then followed by catching the second serve in his left hand to give Jaite the game. Viewed as an act of disrespect, Agassi was booed by the crowd for five minutes.

After tennis

Jaite has had an important role in Argentine tennis since his retirement. He is the tournament director for

ATP Buenos Aires The ATP Buenos Aires ( es, Abierto de Buenos Aires, ) originally known as the Argentina International Championships and established in 1927 is an annual tennis event for male tennis players held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The tournament is an ...

, the Buenos Aires Challenger, and director of Futures events in Argentina. From July 2007 till December 2008, Jaite was coaching

David Nalbandian David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...

, and helped lead him to titles in Madrid and

Bercy Bercy () is a neighbourhood in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, the city's 47th administrative neighbourhood. History Some of the oldest vestiges of human occupation in Paris were found on the territory of Bercy, dating from the late Neolithic ...

, where he became the first man to defeat the top two players in the world,

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

and

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...

, in consecutive tournaments. In 2011, Jaite was named captain of the Argentina Davis Cup team.Jaite named Davis Cup captain
''

Buenos Aires Herald The ''Buenos Aires Herald'' was an English language daily newspaper published in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1876 to 2017. Its slogan was ''A World of Information in a few words''. History Under the original name of ''The Buenos Ayres Herald'', ...

''. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2012.

Career finals

Singles: 19 (12 wins – 7 losses)

Doubles: 2 (1 win – 1 loss)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaite, Martin 1964 births Living people Argentine Jews Argentine male tennis players Jewish Argentine sportspeople Jewish tennis players Olympic tennis players of Argentina Tennis players from Buenos Aires Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics