Luiz Mattar
Luiz Mattar is a former professional tennis player from Brazil.
He played on the professional tour from 1985–1995, during which time he won seven top-level singles titles and five tour doubles titles. Mattar's career-high rankings were World No. 29 in singles and World No. 55 in doubles. His career prize money totalled $1,493,136.
With seven ATP singles titles in tournaments of the Association of Professional Tennis Players, he is the second Brazilian tennis player, after Gustavo Kuerten, with more ATP titles in his career. He also lead the Brazilian Davis Cup team to their best result in history back in 1992 defeating Germany and Italy and reaching the semi-final of the World Group in the 1992 Davis Cup. This feat has only been matched by Gustavo Kuerten who lead the Brazilian team again to the semi-final in 2000.
He started his professional career only at the age of 22, unlike most tennis players who started their careers at 18 or earlier, after dropping out in his last year of engineering at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo.
He was trained by Paulo Cleto from the beginning to the end of his career. He even said that he couldn't see himself training with another coach. He is considered by several sports analysts, tennis critics and former tennis players as one of the ten greatest Brazilian tennis players of the Open Era.
Mattar is the son of textile businessman :pt:Fuad Mattar|Fuad Mattar and is of Lebanese descent. After retiring from tennis he became an entrepreneur and is the founder of :pt:TIVIT|TIVIT, one of Brazil's largest information technology service providers.
Career finals
Singles (7 wins, 4 losses)
Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
Win | 1–0 | Jan 1987 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Cássio Motta | 6–3, 5–7, 6–2 |
Loss | 1–1 | Nov 1987 | São Paulo, Brazil | Hard | Jaime Yzaga | 2–6, 6–4, 2–6 |
Loss | 1–2 | Nov 1987 | Itaparica, Brazil | Hard | Andre Agassi | 6–7, 2–6 |
Win | 2–2 | Jan 1988 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Eliot Teltscher | 6–3, 6–3 |
Win | 3–2 | Feb 1989 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Jimmy Brown | 7–6, 6–4 |
Win | 4–2 | Apr 1989 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Carpet | Martín Jaite | 6–4, 5–7, 6–4 |
Loss | 4–3 | Feb 1990 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Martín Jaite | 6–3, 4–6, 3–6 |
Win | 5–3 | Apr 1990 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Carpet | Andrew Sznajder | 6–4, 6–4 |
Win | 6–3 | Nov 1992 | São Paulo, Brazil | Hard | Jaime Oncins | 6–1, 6–4 |
Loss | 6–4 | Feb 1994 | Scottsdale, USA | Hard | Andre Agassi | 4–6, 3–6 |
Win | 7–4 | May 1994 | Coral Springs, USA | Clay | Jamie Morgan | 6–4, 3–6, 6–3 |
Doubles (5 wins, 6 losses)
Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
Win | 1–0 | Jan 1987 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Cássio Motta | Martin Hipp Tore Meinecke | 7–6, 6–1 |
Win | 2–0 | Sep 1987 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | Ricardo Acioly | Mansour Bahrami Diego Pérez | 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
Loss | 2–1 | Feb 1990 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Cássio Motta | Javier Frana Gustavo Luza | 6–7, 6–7 |
Loss | 2–2 | Jun 1990 | Florence, Italy | Clay | Diego Pérez | Sergi Bruguera Horacio de la Peña | 6–3, 3–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 2–3 | Oct 1990 | São Paulo, Brazil | Carpet | Mark Koevermans | Shelby Cannon Alfonso Mora | 7–6, 3–6, 6–7 |
Win | 3–3 | Dec 1990 | Wellington, New Zealand | Hard | Nicolás Pereira | John Letts Jaime Oncins | 4–6, 7–6, 6–2 |
Loss | 3–4 | Apr 1991 | Madrid, Spain | Clay | Jaime Oncins | Gustavo Luza Cássio Motta | 0–6, 5–7 |
Loss | 3–5 | May 1991 | Bologna, Italy | Clay | Jaime Oncins | Luke Jensen Laurie Warder | 4–6, 6–7 |
Loss | 3–6 | Apr 1992 | Tampa, USA | Clay | Andrei Olhovskiy | Mike Briggs Trevor Kronemann | 6–7, 7–6, 4–6 |
Win | 4–6 | Jun 1992 | Florence, Italy | Clay | Marcelo Filippini | Royce Deppe Brent Haygarth | 6–4, 6–7, 6–4 |
Win | 5–6 | Oct 1994 | Montevideo, Uruguay | Clay | Marcelo Filippini | Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez | 7–6, 6–4 |