Ricardo Ycaza (born 16 February 1958) is an Ecuadorian tennis player who was a world top 10 junior, a

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 organis ...

stalwart, and a world top 100 touring professional.

Tennis career

His most noteworthy achievement was winning the 1976 US Open Junior tournament. In the semi-finals of that tournament he staged a third-set comeback to defeat

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

after saving two match points at 2–5 in the third set and after coming back from 2–4 in the third-set tiebreaker. (Ycaza was to face McEnroe three more times in junior tournaments, winning each time.) In the final, Ycaza defeated

José Luis Clerc José Luis Clerc (born 16 August 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 3 August 1981, following a run of 25 consecutive matc ...

of Argentina. In May 1977, Ycaza again defeated John McEnroe in three sets to win the World Championship of Tennis Men's 21-and-under tournament in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas. Coached by

Miguel Olvera Miguel Olvera (born November 14, 1939) is a tennis player active in the 1960s and 1970s, playing for Ecuador. In 1960, as an unseeded player, he won the singles title at the Cincinnati Masters, the first unseeded player ever to win the singles t ...

at the Guayaquil Tennis Club, Ycaza had a successful junior career, winning numerous South American junior titles. At the college level, he achieved All-American status for the 1976–1977

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

season playing for the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. Ycaza represented

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

matches from 1973 through 1986, teaming up with long-time friend and

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 ven ...

champion

Andrés Gómez Andrés Gómez Santos (; born 27 February 1960) is an Ecuadorian former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the French Open in 1990. His son, Emilio Gómez, is a professional tennis player. His nephew Nicolás Lapent ...

in several important doubles triumphs against the likes of

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 second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. After his playing days were over, Ycaza also served as Davis Cup captain for Ecuador. Ycaza played on the professional tennis tour from 1977 to 1986. His career high rankings were world No. 45 in singles and No. 32 in doubles. During his professional career, he won three doubles tournaments (each with different partners). His best year on the professional tour was 1980 when he won doubles tournaments at Sarasota,

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

ATP Tour finals

Singles(1 runner-up)

Doubles (3 titles, 4 runners-up)

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ycaza, Ricardo 1958 births Living people Ecuadorian male tennis players Sportspeople from Guayaquil Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles US Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Ecuador Houston Cougars men's tennis players