Carlos Moya Llompart, known to the world as Carlos Moya is a former number one Spanish tennis player, turned coach of Rafael Nadal.
Born August 27, 1976 in Pallma de Mallorca, Moya belongs to a family of tennis players and started to play tennis at the young age of six. An older cousin, Gregory Moya, is an ATP player and an aunt, Tamara Espinoza was a professional tennis player who taught Carlos and Gregory how to play when they were young. Although he is naturally left-handed, Moya usually plays with his right hand.
Moya turned pro in 1995 and reached his first Grand Slam 1997. He competed against Pete Sampras and lost. He made up for this defeat by winning the French Open and the Tennis Masters Series, both in 1998. He capped the year off by winning the ATP world championships, now known as the Tennis Masters Cup.
Moya reached the number one singles ranking in 1999 and held the spot for two weeks. Later that year he defended and lost his title against Andre Agassi.
Despite a stress fracture which bothered him and caused him to play in only two tournaments for the rest of 1999, Moya capped 2000 off by being one of the world’s Top 50 for the fifth straight year.
Other significant wins include winning the title at Umaq, as well as the Tennis Masters Series titles in 2000. In the same year he also defeated Lleyton Hewitt, who held the top stop at that time, in the final match.
Moya was also one of the crucial players in the Spanish team’s win of the Davis Cup in 2004 and in 2005 won his 18th career title in Chennai. In the spirit of goodwill he donated his prize money to the Indian Ocean earthquake victims.
Moya captured the 18th place in the world rankings when he beat defending champion Andre Pravel in 2007. In August of the same year he beat three other greats (Nalbandian, Docovic, and del Proto) to reach a quarterfinal match with Hewitt. He announced his retirement from tennis in 2010, as he battled a long-term foot issue.
All in all, Moya won the 1998 French Open and was a runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. He won 20 ATP singles titles including three Master Series titles.
