2002 ATP Tour

Season summary

The season saw Pete Sampras win his 14th Grand Slam singles title, breaking his own record of 13 in the process, by defeating longtime rival Andre Agassi 6–3, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4 in the final of the US Open. This would be Sampras’s last tournament before retirement with him officially announcing his retirement at the next year's US Open. Sampras finished up with a 20–14 lead over Agassi in head to head, ending a rivalry that defined the 1990’s and early 2000’s in tennis.

Young Australian Lleyton Hewitt ended the year No. 1 for the second season in a row, having captured his second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon by defeating David Nalbandian in a crushing straight set victory. Hewitt captured 5 titles in 2002 overall, including winning the title at the Indian Wells Masters and then successfully defending the title at the Tennis Masters Cup by defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero 7–5, 7–5, 2–6, 2–6, 6–4 in the final.

Despite not winning a Grand Slam in 2002, Andre Agassi would win multiple ATP Masters Series events by capturing the title in Miami, Rome and at the first edition of the Madrid Masters. He won 5 titles overall throughout 2002 and ended the year ranked world No. 2. Swede Thomas Johansson won his maiden and only Grand Slam title by defeating Marat Safin in the final of the Australian Open from a set down 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6(7–4). The tournament had been rife with upsets that saw no top 6 seed reach the quarterfinals and saw both top 2 seeds Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten lose in their first round matches. Albert Costa also became a maiden Grand Slam champion after he defeated fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–1, 6–0, 4–6, 6–3 in the final of the French Open. Like Johansson, he would also never win another Grand Slam title after this.

2002 saw the emergence of future 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer as a top 10 player. The young Swiss won his first Masters Series title in Hamburg by defeating Marat Safin in the final in straight sets. Federer would go on to end the year as world no. 6. Safin would also have a strong season, bouncing back inside the top 3 after dropping out of the top 10 of the ATP rankings in 2001. Having reached the Australian Open final, Safin would reach the semifinals of the French Open and win the Paris Masters. Youngster Juan Carlos Ferrero also solidified himself as a top player, ending the year inside the top 5 for the second season in a row. Jiří Novák, Tim Henman, Albert Costa and Andy Roddick rounded out the year-end top 10.

Russia won the 2002 Davis Cup title after beating France 3–2. Mikhail Youzhny defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu from 2 sets down in the final rubber to give Russia their first Davis Cup title.

Schedule

The table below shows the 2002 ATP Tour schedule.

;Key

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

Statistical information

List of players and titles won (Grand Slam and Masters Cup titles in bold), listed in order of most titles won:

• USA Andre Agassi – Scottsdale, Miami Masters, Rome Masters, Los Angeles and Madrid Masters (5)
• AUS Lleyton Hewitt – San Jose, Indian Wells Masters, London Queen's Club, Wimbledon and Masters Cup (5)
• ESP Carlos Moyà – Acapulco, Båstad, Umag and Cincinnati Masters (4)
• MAR Younes El Aynaoui – Doha, Casablanca and Munich (3)
• SUI Roger Federer – Sydney, Hamburg Masters and Vienna (3)
• ARG Guillermo Cañas – Chennai and Canada Masters (2)
• ESP Àlex Corretja – Gstaad and Kitzbühel (2)
• ESP Juan Carlos Ferrero – Monte Carlo Masters and Hong Kong (2)
• ARG Gastón Gaudio – Barcelona and Mallorca (2)
• CHI Fernando González – Viña del Mar and Palermo (2)
• RUS Yevgeny Kafelnikov – Halle and Tashkent (2)
• FRA Paul-Henri Mathieu – Moscow and Lyon (2)
• ARG David Nalbandian – Estoril and Basel (2)
• USA Andy Roddick – Memphis and Houston (2)
• GBR Greg Rusedski – Auckland and Indianapolis (2)
• ITA Davide Sanguinetti – Milan and Delray Beach (2)
• THA Paradorn Srichaphan – Long Island and Stockholm (2)
• ARG José Acasuso – Sopot (1)
• SWE Jonas Björkman – Nottingham (1)
• USA James Blake – Washington, D.C. (1)
• GER Lars Burgsmüller – Copenhagen (1)
• DEN Kenneth Carlsen – Tokyo (1)
• ARG Juan Ignacio Chela – Amersfoort (1)
• ESP Albert Costa – French Open (1)
• USA Taylor Dent – Newport (1)
• SWE Thomas Enqvist – Marseille (1)
• FRA Nicolas Escudé – Rotterdam (1)
• ESP David Ferrer – Bucharest (1)
• FRA Sébastien Grosjean – St. Petersburg (1)
• GBR Tim Henman – Adelaide (1)
• SWE Thomas Johansson – Australian Open (1)
• BRA Gustavo Kuerten – Costa do Sauipe (1)
• ECU Nicolás Lapentti – St. Poelten (1)
• CHI Nicolás Massú – Buenos Aires (1)
• RUS Marat Safin – Paris Masters (1)
• USA Pete Sampras – US Open (1)
• FRA Fabrice Santoro – Dubai (1)
• NED Sjeng Schalken – 's-Hertogenbosch (1)
• RUS Mikhail Youzhny – Stuttgart (1)

The following players won their first title:

• ARG José Acasuso – Sopot
• USA James Blake – Washington, D.C.
• GER Lars Burgsmüller – Copenhagen
• USA Taylor Dent – Newport
• ESP David Ferrer – Bucharest
• ARG Gastón Gaudio – Barcelona
• CHI Nicolás Massú – Buenos Aires
• FRA Paul-Henri Mathieu – Moscow
• ARG David Nalbandian – Estoril
• ITA Davide Sanguinetti – Milan
• THA Paradorn Srichaphan – Long Island
• RUS Mikhail Youzhny – Stuttgart

Titles won by nation:

• ESP Spain 10 (Acapulco, Monte Carlos Masters, French Open, Båstad, Gstaad, Umag, Kitzbühel, Cincinnati Masters, Bucharest and Hong Kong)
• USA United States 10 (Memphis, Scottsdale, Miami Masters, Houston, Rome Masters, Newport, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., US Open and Madrid Masters)
• ARG Argentina 8 (Chennai, Estoril, Barcelona, Mallorca, Amersfoort, Sopot, Canada Masters and Basel)
• AUS Australia 5 (San Jose, Indian Wells Masters, London Queen's Club, Wimbledon and Masters Cup)
• FRA France 5 (Rotterdam, Dubai, Moscow, Lyon and St. Petersburg)
• RUS Russia 4 (Halle, Stuttgart, Tashkent and Paris Masters)
• CHI Chile 3 (Viña del Mar, Buenos Aires and Palermo)
• MAR Morocco 3 (Doha, Casablanca and Munich)
• SWE Sweden 3 (Australian Open, Marseille and Nottingham)
• SUI Switzerland 3 (Sydney, Hamburg Masters and Vienna)
• GBR United Kingdom 3 (Adelaide, Auckland and Indianapolis)
• ITA Italy 2 (Milan and Delray Beach)
• THA Thailand 2 (Long Island and Stockholm)
• BRA Brazil 1 (Costa do Sauipe)
• DEN Denmark 1 (Tokyo)
• ECU Ecuador 1 (St. Poelten)
• GER Germany 1 (Copenhagen)
• NED Netherlands 1 ('s-Hertogenbosch)

ATP entry rankings

Singles

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Retirements

Following is a list of notable players (winners of a main tour title, and/or part of the ATP rankings top 100 (singles) or top 50 (doubles) for at least one week) who announced their retirement from professional tennis, became inactive (after not playing for more than 52 weeks), or were permanently banned from playing, during the 2002 season:

• MAR Karim Alami (born May 24, 1973, in Casablanca, Morocco) He turned professional in 1990 and reached his career-high ranking of no. 25 in 2000. He earned two career singles titles and one doubles title. He played his last career match in Trani, Italy in August against Potito Starace.
• ESP Sergi Bruguera (born 16 January 1971, in Barcelona, Spain) He turned professional in 1988 and reached a career-high ranking of world no. 3. He won the French Open in 1993 and 1994 and was a semifinalist at the year-end finals in 1994. He won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics. In doubles, he earned 3 titles and achieved a career-high ranking of world no. 49, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open. He played his last career match in Segovia in July against Lovro Zovko.
• SWE Magnus Gustafsson (born 3 January 1967 in Lund, Skåne, Sweden) He turned professional in 1986 and reached his career-high ranking of world no. 10 in 1991. He reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 1994 and earned 14 career titles. His last match was in Stockholm in October 2001 against Jan Vacek.
• FRA Cédric Pioline (born 15 June 1969 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) He turned professional in 1989 and reached a career-high ranking of no. 5. He was a finalist at the US Open in 1993 and at Wimbledon in 1997. He also won one Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo in 2000. He played his last match in October in Basel against Tim Henman.
• AUS Patrick Rafter (born 28 December 1972) He turned professional in 1991 and reached a ranking of world no. 1 in 1999. He won the US Open in 1997 and 1998 and was a finalist at Wimbledon and a semifinalist at the Australian Open and French Open. He won 11 career ATP titles. He played his last match in Davis Cup competition in November 2001 against France.
• USA Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971, in Lake Sherwood, California) Sampras debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when he won the US Open, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final. He was the year-end world no. 1 for six consecutive years (1993–1998) and won seven Wimbledon singles championships.
• NED Jan Siemerink (born 14 April 1970 in Rijnsburg, South Holland, Netherlands) He turned professional in 1989 and reached his career-high ranking of no. 14 in 1998. He reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1998 and earned four career singles titles. In doubles, he was ranked no. 16 in 1996 and earned 10 career titles. He played his last match in Valencia, Spain in May partnering Dennis van Scheppingen.

References

References

1. "Sampras Wins U.S. Open". [[The New York Times]].
2. "How Pete Sampras Came To His Retirement Decision After 2002 U.S. Open Win". World Tennis Magazine.
3. "''Winning The Title Is An Amazing Feeling'' - Lleyton Hewitt On His 2002 Wimbledon Glory". The Sportsman.
4. "Looking back at Roger Federer's 28 Masters 1000 triumphs". [[Sportskeeda]].
5. "ATP Year-end top 20". ATP.
6. [https://www.atptour.com/en/players/karim-alami/a203/overview. Karim Alami]
7. [https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sergi-bruguera/b350/overview. Sergi Bruguera]
8. [https://www.atptour.com/en/players/magnus-gustafsson/g182/overview. Magnus Gustafsson]
9. [http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Pi/C/Cedric-Pioline.aspx?t=pa&y=2002&m=s&e=0 ATP Player Activity page]
10. [http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ra/P/Patrick-Rafter.aspx?t=pa&y=2001&m=s&e=0 ATP Player Activity page]
11. [http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Si/J/Jan-Siemerink.aspx?t=pa&y=2002&m=d&e=0 ATP Player Activity page]