Spadea eager for challenge of defending his 1st title

Jeff Metcalfe
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 20, 2005 12:00 AM

Defending champion.

Vincent Spadea will carry that title for the first time when he's introduced this week at the Tennis Channel Open in Scottsdale.

"That'll be great," said Spadea, who won consecutive three-set matches over James Blake, Andy Roddick and Nicolas Kiefer last year for his first ATP career singles title. "It was a dream week. Leaving a city undefeated was spectacular. Having never won a match in my life (in Scottsdale, where he was 0-4 before 2004) tells me I can turn the tables around no matter what the circumstances." advertisement

Spadea, 30, had every reason to wonder whether he would ever win, or match the junior potential he flashed in winning the 1992 Orange Bowl title. Scottsdale was his 223rd pro tournament.

He lost his first 17 singles matches in 2000, and an ATP-record 21 in a row overall, before outlasting Greg Rusedski 9-7 in the fifth set of a first-round match at Wimbledon.

"I'm the Susan Lucci of tennis," Spadea declared after the streak ended.

Lucci won a Daytime Emmy for Best Actress in 1999, her 19th nomination, but has yet to repeat, so Spadea wants to take that comparison only so far.

"I'm working hard to achieve things I've never achieved before," he said last week. "I find tennis at the top level very fun and interesting and challenging. It's what I enjoy the most right now in my life."

Spadea parlayed his win in what was then the Franklin Templeton Classic into the best of his 12 pro years. He won 40 matches and earned more than $700,000, both career bests, and at No. 19 tied his best season-ending ranking.

Spadea also finished No. 19 in 1999, when he beat Andre Agassi to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals and had eight wins over top-10 opponents.

Then came a shoulder injury that he tried to play through, helping fuel his eight-month losing streak. He failed to qualify for the 2001 U.S. Open and that fall played on the USTA Pro Circuit in Challenger tournaments.

"No agencies were interested in me," he told USTA Magazine. "I had no clothing deals. I was calling 1-800 numbers of sporting goods companies saying, 'Can you get me some free shirts?' "

Spadea worked with sports psychologist John Murray to focus and prepare for matches and "have a positive attitude generally," Spadea said on Center Court with Chris Myers.

"It was nothing magical, just the application of solid, proven principles like believing in yourself, staying focused and doing the right things," Murray said. "He's a great American comeback story and a good role model for kids in terms of never giving up."

Spadea's latest hurdle occurred Thursday when he retired from a second-round match in Memphis, Tenn., because of a recurrence of a right shoulder injury first suffered a month ago.

"I knew coming into the tournament I was running on empty," Spadea told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I was just trying to see if it would get better and I could get a couple of quick wins and get into the tournament, but it was too tough to go out there and play powerfully with that shoulder."

Spadea is still entered here, where he is the second seed behind Tommy Haas, and probably will play his opening match at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess on Tuesday. Whether four days off will provide enough rest for him to be competitive is uncertain.

"I'm going to take a lot of confidence and good memories and use that to defend the title," Spadea said before his injury withdrawal in Memphis. "I believe I can do it again."