Lozano, Jorge

Career start

At 17, Jorge Lozano was invited to the Mexican national team for the Davis Cup match with the US team . Although young Jorge lost both his singles games to John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner , he managed to get the upper hand in doubles with the highly experienced Raul Ramirez . These results were an indicator of how his gaming career developed in the future.

In the first half of the 80s, Lozano studied at the University of Southern California and three times in a row (in 1983 - 1985 ) he got into the symbolic student team of North America. During this time, he continued to play for the national team (mainly in pairs) and sometimes took part in open tennis tournaments, in particular, making his way to the quarterfinal of the U.S. Indoor Court in Indianapolis in 1985, paired with American Todd Whitsken . Upon graduation in 1986, he began a professional tennis career. Already in May, he and Whitsken reached the semifinals of the Grand Prix tournament in Florence , and then to the third round of the French Open . At the beginning of next year, Lozano won the Challenger tournament in Lagos (Nigeria), and in October, after defeating the 15th racket of the world, Tim Mayotte reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix tournament in Scottsdale (USA), where he lost to the young Michael Chang . In doubles, he and Whitsken made it to the quarter finals of the US Open after defeating the ninth and seventh seeded pairs; they eventually lost to future champions Stefan Edberg and Anders Yarrid ^[1] . Towards the end of the year, in Itaparica (Brazil), Lozano with Uruguayan Diego Perez reached the first Grand Prix tournament final in his career and finished the year among the 50 best tennis players in the world doubles, having made more than a hundred places in the ranking for the year.

Peak career

The best in the career of Lozano was the 1988 season . Almost at the very beginning, he and Whitsken reached the final of the super tournament in Indian Wells (USA), having beaten several leading pairs of the world along the way; in mid-April, he played a key role in the survival of the Mexican national team in the Davis Cup World Group, winning two of his three meetings in a match with the Swiss ; and from the end of April, the triumphal procession of the Lozano – Whitsken pair began, lasting three months and including 28 wins with only three defeats, four tournaments won, two defeats in the finals and one in the quarterfinals of the French Open. Having started this segment of the season in 26th place in the ranking, Lozano finished it already sixth, and in August, after the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament in Cincinnati and reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, he climbed to fourth place in it. At the end of the season, Lozano and Whitsken took part in the Masters tournament - the final competition of the year - and, having won two matches in the group stage, including over the freshly baked Olympic champions Seguso and Flack , reached the semifinals, where they were stopped by Rick Leach and Jim I drink it . Lozano achieved another great success in the mixed doubles , having won the French Open with American Laurie McNeill . On the way to the title, they defeated Martina Navratilova and Emilio Sanchez in the semifinals, and the Dutch Schulz - Schapers pair in the final ^[2] . The season was successful for Lozano in singles: at the very beginning, taking the 152nd place in the ranking, he made it to the semifinals of the Grand Prix tournament in Philadelphia , defeating four rivals from the first hundred, including the 24th racket of the world Amos Mansdorf , and in August, being in 68th place in the ranking, he entered the fourth round of the US Open, which allowed him to rise to the highest in career 51st position among players in singles.

In 1989, Lozano continued to perform successfully, although not as brilliantly as in the previous season. In the spring, he and Whitsken reached the semifinals in Philadelphia and won the tournament in Rio de Janeiro . In July, Lozano, like a year ago, saved the national team from relegation from the World Group by winning all three of his meetings in a match with the Soviet team , and at the end of the season with Whitsken made it to the finals of two tournaments in a row, one of them winning and securing a second for career performance in the Masters tournament. There, however, he and Whitsken failed to repeat last year’s success and did not leave the group. In the consolation match for fifth place, they beat last year's offenders - Lich and Pugh. In early 1990, Lozano alternated performances with Whitsken and his compatriot Leonardo Lavalle , with the first reaching the semi-finals of the tournament in Toronto , and the second having won the Grand Prix tournament in Rotterdam and the “challenge” in his hometown of San Luis Potosi . In the second half of the year he again played only with Whitsken and twice reached the finals of the Grand Prix tournaments, as well as the semi-finals at the ATP tournament of the highest category in Paris . This year, he also won his second title at the French Open in the mixed double with Aranche Sanchez-Vicario . In the final, the fourth seeded Sanchez and Lozano were opposed by the Australian Nicole Provis and Dani Visser from South Africa - the second pair of the tournament, but both sets lost in a tie-break.

Retirement

At the end of 1990, Lozano finally parted with Whitsken. The attempt to make a permanent couple with Lavalle was unsuccessful, and in the second half of the year Lozano changed several partners, only once having managed to get to the finals at the Grand Prix tournament; in Grand Slam tournaments, he did not go beyond the third round. The following year he finished with one title in 11 tournaments, ending the season in July.

1993 was more favorable for Lozano. Having started it at the end of the second hundred of the rating, he already in February with the Argentinean Horacio de la Peña reached the final of the Grand Prix tournament in Mexico City . In August, after another final, this time in Prague, he returned to the first hundred, and after the US Open, he played in two more finals in a row, in one of which he won (also from de la Pena) and ended the year with approaches to the Top-50. In early 1994, in Jakarta, he reached the 22nd Grand Prix tournament finals of his career and returned to the top 50 in the doubles, but this was his last major success. He continued to perform until the end of this season, ending at the end of the first hundred of the rating, but in the next he played mainly for the national team. In her ranks, he won three victories in three doubles games, including in the playoff match against Spain , where he and Lavalle beat the famous pair Sergio Casal - Emilio Sanchez , contributing to the sensational overall victory of Mexico with a score of 3: 2. After this match, which returned the Mexican team to the World Group, Lozano ended his playing career.

Further activities

Since 2008, Jorge Lozano became captain of the national team of Mexico in the Davis Cup ^[3] . He remained in this post until mid- 2011 . In 2010, the Mexican team under his leadership entered the 1st American group, but the next year lost all three of their matches and returned to the second group.

Victories (2)

Wins (9)

Lost (13)

• Profile on ATP website

• Profile on the Davis Cup website