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By Scoop Malinowski

One match. Ellis Ferreira was one match away from the end of his career.

It was summer of 1995 and Ferreira was 25 years old and struggling badly. He started the year off losing first round at four straight tournaments. Then a round of 16 at Memphis and a quarterfinal at Scottsdale. Then a final at Birmingham, Alabama, where he played college tennis.

After that brief success, it was back to losing. Two more first round losses in Atlanta and Hamburg. Then a second round in Rome. First round loss in Bologna. Round of 32 at Roland Garros. Then three straight first round losses at Queens, Wimbledon and Gstaad.

Ellis Ferreira tells the story two decades later. He was in Stuttgart for one last event. Ranked in the 80s in doubles and going nowhere fast, Ferreira had had enough of professional tennis in his second year on the Tour at age 25. Playing with Jan Siemerink in Stuttgart was going to be the last tournament of his career. Siemerink and Ferreira won their first round match against Florent/Eagle by a whisker, 36 63 64. But in the second round the opponents were the ATP number one team in the world, Eltingh and Haarhuis.

Ferreira didn’t expect to win and called his wife, a flight attendant with Delta Airlines, to say he would be coming home to Atlanta after they lost to the two Dutchmen. Ferreira was certain it was going to be the last match of his ATP career.

But a surprise twist of fate happened out of nowhere. Ferreira and Siemerink somehow managed to win the first set in a tiebreaker and astonishingly won the second set 6-2. All the sudden they were in the round of 16 and then they won again, beating Nijssen and Riglewski 76 62.

The Ferreira confidence tank was suddenly filling up fast. In the semis of Stuttgart, Ferreira and Siemerink defeated Jan Davids/Norval 63 62 and were into the final where they lost a thriller to Carbonnel and Roig 63 36 46.

Ferreira’s career was saved. He split $16,800 in prize money with Siemerink and gained 269 ATP points up his ranking from 83 to 66.

After the Stuttgart Surprise, Ferreira continued to play winning tennis, reaching the quarterfinal of Cincinnati and the semis in Amsterdam and then a victory in Vienna against Woodforde/Woodbridge in the final. In 1995 Ferreira earned $79,756 but more importantly, he regained his confidence and belief that he could win on the ATP Tour.

And that he did in future years, later winning two Grand Slam major titles in doubles (2000 Australian Open with Rick Leach and 2001 Australian Open mixed with Corina Morariu) and even achieving the ATP number one ranking.

But none of that post 1995 success, including eighteen total ATP doubles titles and over a million dollars in prize money, would have been accomplished if Ferreira had lost that second round Stuttgart match to Eltingh/Haarhuis. If he lost that match, a very successful and memorable ATP career would have never happened.

So when you wonder why so many players keep hanging in there, keep believing and keep working hard despite all the odds being against them, just think of Ellis Ferreira and what was supposed to be his final ATP tournament in Stuttgart at the tender age of 25.

(Note: Today Ellis Ferreira is the tennis manager at Life Time Fitness Center in Birmingham Alabama.)

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