Marcelo Rios began the 1998 season ranked No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, but in just three months, he surged to the top, claiming World No. 1 honours on March 30.
At age 22, Rios completed the Sunshine Double — lifting the trophy in both Indian Wells and Miami — to become the first South American to reach No. 1. The 5’9” Santiago native possessed incredible feel and opened the court with unrivalled creativity to achieve success throughout his relatively short 10-year career.
Often brilliant and artistic, Rios kickstarted the 1998 season on an 11-match winning streak, beginning with a title run in Auckland. However, Rios’ momentum was halted in the Australian Open championship match. The Chilean suffered a straight-sets defeat to Petr Korda in what was Rios’ lone major final appearance. But Rios’ run of red-hot form was just taking shape.
Two months later, Rios avenged his Melbourne loss to Korda in the Indian Wells quarter-finals and eventually ousted Greg Rusedski in the championship match, which featured a dramatic 17/15 second-set tie-break that the Briton won. That was the only set Rios lost that tournament.
A double prize was then on the line in Miami: Rios would become No. 1 if he won the title. The third seed did just that, defeating Andre Agassi to become the fourth player to achieve the ‘Sunshine Double’. Jim Courier (1991), Michael Chang (1992) and Pete Sampras (1994) previously accomplished the feat. Agassi, Roger Federer (three times), and Novak Djokovic (four times) have all followed suit.
Following Miami, Rios grabbed the No. 1 position from Sampras, who had spent the previous 102 weeks atop the PIF ATP Rankings and ended the previous five seasons as the leader.
Rios' rise to World No. 1 was a triumph celebrated across Chile. Cementing his place in the record books, Rios travelled home from Miami and received a hero’s welcome in the heart of the capital city Santiago, where the lefty was led to Chilean President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle on La Moneda Palace.
Rios captured a career-best seven tour-level titles in 1998 and spent six weeks in total as World No. 1. He played just four matches holding that title. At 5’9” (175cm), Rios is the shortest player to reach No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history. Rios and Ivan Lendl are the only two players to reach the top spot without previously winning a Slam title, though the Czech-American eventually claimed eight major crowns. Rios’ best result at a major was his 1998 runner-up finish in Melbourne.
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