Albert Costa

Spanish tennis player (born 1975) Albert Costa Casals (Catalan pronunciation: [əlˈβɛɾ(t) ˈkɔstəj kəˈzals]; born 25 June 1975) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at the French Open in 2002. Tennis career Costa began playing tennis at the age of five. He first gained attention as an outstanding junior player, reaching the French Open junior final and winning the Orange Bowl in 1993. He turned professional later that year and quickly established a reputation as a strong clay court player. Spanish former player and commentator Andrés Gimeno referred to him as "the man with two forehands", because of his ability to hit forehands and backhands with same accuracy and strength. In 1994, he won two challenger events and was named the ATP's Newcomer of the Year. In 1995, Costa won his first top-level singles title at Kitzbühel, defeating "King of Clay", Thomas Muster, in a five set final, beating Muster "with a mix of good ground shots, well-judged drop and slice winners and simple stamina in long baseline duels". It was Muster's first of 2 losses on clay in 1995. Costa ended Muster's streak of 40 consecutive