sports celebrity: Fernando Verdasco famous players pictures and information

Fernando Verdasco Carmona (born 15 November 1983 in Madrid, Spain) is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked number 17 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight. As of 2009, Verdasco has been working in Las Vegas with Andre Agassi and his team including Darren Cahill (Agassi's former coach) and Gil Reyes (Agassi's fitness coach).[1] Verdasco has aided Spain in winning two Davis Cup titles, winning the deciding match in both 2008 and 2009. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open where he lost to World No.1 Rafael Nadal in five sets, with that, it was the longest match in Australian Open history.
Career Early years
He turned professional in 2001, finishing as world number 464. 2002 was a good year for him, as he won his first Futures category title in Spain F1 and was runner-up in Spain F3. He played his second career challenger in Segovia, where he reached the final after beating Belarusian Vladimir Voltchkov in the semifinals. He then reached two additional Challenger semifinals in Kiev and in Eckental, finishing the year in the top 200, at 173.

2003
In 2003, Verdasco played his first Masters Series tournament (Miami Masters). He joined the main draw as a qualifier, and after defeating Karol Kučera and Max Mirnyi, he lost to countryman Carlos Moyà in the third round. After this good performance, he had a poor season on clay, and then he lost in the first round of Wimbledon against Finn Jarkko Nieminen in five sets. Then Verdasco played in Cincinnati, where he lost to Andy Roddick in straight sets. He reached the third round at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Thai Paradorn Srichaphan after defeating countryman Tommy Robredo in the first round and Italian Davide Sanguinetti in the second round.

2004
After finishing in 2003 as 109th in the world (with a 15–8 record in challengers), he had a breakthrough in 2004, when he won his first ATP title in Valencia. He defeated defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semifinal and Albert Montañés in the final. He also reached the final in Acapulco, losing to Carlos Moyà, and the quarterfinals in Halle and in 's-Hertogenbosch on grass. He reached the third round in two Masters Series tournaments: the Hamburg Masters and the Madrid Masters. He reached the quarterfinals in Stockholm and the semifinals in Kitzbühel, and won a doubles title in Stockholm (with countryman Feliciano López), ending the year ranked 36th in the world.

2005
In 2005 he defeated Andy Roddick twice, in Miami and in Rome. In Rome, the match was famous for Roddick being matchpoint up on Verdasco's serve and having the match end with a double fault from Verdasco, but Roddick claimed that the serve wasn't out and the match went on, with Verdasco winning. He also reached the quarters of Valencia (where he was defending the title), Rome and New Haven; the semis of Sankt Petersburg; and was finalist in Kitzbühel, where he lost to Argentine Gastón Gaudio. But Verdasco reached his first Grand Slam fourth round at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Finn Jarkko Nieminen after defeating Serb Novak Djoković. His year-end ranking improved slightly to No. 32 in the world.
2006
Fernando reached the fourth round of Wimbledon after beating Vince Spadea and German Benjamin Becker and also upsetting 3rd seed and former runner-up David Nalbandián in straight sets in the third round. Verdasco then lost to Czech Radek Štěpánek in five sets. At the U.S. Open, Fernando reached the third round, but lost to eventual runner-up Andy Roddick in five sets. In previous rounds, Fernando defeated Fabrice Santoro in four sets and Thiago Alves in three. Fernando then lost in the quarters of Palermo where he lost to Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo and then he lost to Ramírez Hidalgo again the following week in the first round of Metz. Verdasco did not win any match in the rest of year, he lost to Italian Daniele Bracciali in Moscow, and then in the last two Masters Series tournaments of the year, he lost to Tim Henman in Madrid Masters and to Michaël Llodra in Paris Masters. Verdasco finished the year ranked 35th on the ATP rankings.