Mariano Zabaleta

Mariano Zabaleta is a retired pro tennis player from Argentina. Born on February 28, 1978, Zabaleta started off as an outstanding junior player, finishing 1995 as number one with a career record of 8-1-6, after winning three of the major events in that year. A year later he won his first Challenger event, defeating Bill Behrens with a score of 6-4, 6-4.

In 1997 the Argentine reached the qualifiers of the French Open before reaching the semifinals in Amsterdam a year later. In November he won his first ATP title in Bogota by defeating Ramon Delgado in the final.

He reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2000, his best ever showing before he was demolished by seasoned player Andre Agassi. He also played in the Davis Cup and was leading when the crowd starting to throw fruits, coins, bottles, among others, in response to what was perceived as bad calls against Nicolas Massu. The Argetine team did not compete following the tie and had to be escorted out of the court with security.

The 33-year old also reached the third round in the Sydney Olympics after slamming his way past Marcelo Rios and Jeff Tarango before bowing out to Max Mirnyi. He made his best career performance in 2002 when he reached the QF, when he was defeated by Marat Safin. Zabaleta showed more or less the same level of performance in the next years before knee injuries started to affect his game in 2006. However, he managed to win the La Serena Challenger in 2007 and even made it to the finals at the US Men's Clay Court Championships. He followed this by winning the Bermuda Challenger. Zabaleta retired in 2010.