Gabriel Silberstein

Gabriel Silberstein (born 17 October 1974) is a former professional tennis player from Chile.

Gabriel Silberstein

Full name	Gabriel Silberstein Berisic
Country (sports)	Chile
Born	(1974-10-17) 17 October 1974 (age 50) Neumünster, West Germany
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1993
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$116,651
Singles
Career record	11–14
Career titles	0 1 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 131 (1 December 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	Q1 (1997)
Doubles
Career record	3–8
Career titles	0 0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 261 (13 June 1994)
Medal record Tennis Representing  Chile Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Men's doubles
Last updated on: 3 September 2022.

Biography

Early career

As a junior he was a strong performer and most notably finished runner-up in the boys' doubles with Marcelo Ríos at the 1992 US Open. He won his first Challenger match aged 17 and in 1992 won a Challenger tournament in Ribeirão.

Professional tour

In 1993 he began competing professionally and made his first ATP Tour main draw appearance the following year at Santiago. He was one of the successful qualifiers at the 1995 ATP German Open, a top-tier event now known as the Hamburg Masters. At the end of the 1997 season he reached his best ranking of 131 in the world, following a year which included wins over Karol Kučera in St Poelten and Carlos Costa in Santiago.

Representative career

Silberstein featured in a total of 9 ties for the Chile Davis Cup team from 1993 to 1997.

In 1995 he suffered disappointment, having started a tie against Argentina with a win over Franco Davín, it was his loss to Javier Frana in the final reverse singles that decided the tie, a match Silbertein led two sets to love.

He helped Chile reach the World Group qualifiers in the 1997 Davis Cup. His defeat of Ecuador's Nicolás Lapentti in five sets started Chile's campaign and he finished off the tie by beating Luis Morejón in a dead rubber to secure a 4–1 win. His most significant contribution came in the next tie, against Argentina at the National Stadium in Santiago. With the tie level at 1-1, a scoreline which included a loss for Silberstein to Hernán Gumy, he teamed up with Ríos in the doubles to beat Javier Frana and Luis Lobo in five sets. Ríos then gave Chile the tie over their South American rivals with victory in the first of the reverse singles, setting up a qualifying match against India.^[1] History repeated itself in the tie with India, as Silberstein again squandered a two set lead in the fifth and deciding rubber, to lose to Mahesh Bhupathi.^[2] He finished his Davis Cup career with an 8–6 record in singles, 11-9 overall.

At the 1995 Pan American Games he won a bronze medal for Chile in the men's doubles event, with partner Sergio Cortés.^[3]

Personal life

Silberstein emigrated to Chile from West Germany. He was born in Neumünster, a city in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

His youngest brother, Álvaro, was seriously injured in a 2004 car accident, which left him with full paralysis from the chest down^[4] In 2016 Álvaro trekked Patagonia in a wheelchair, a trip that captured media attention and was filmed by a documentary crew.^[5]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 3 (1–2)

Legend ATP Challenger (1–2) ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface Hard (0–0) Clay (1–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1992	Ribeirão Preto, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Mario Tabares	7–6, 7–6
Loss	1–1	Jun 1995	Bogotá, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Jérôme Golmard	6–2, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	1–2	Jul 1996	Oberstaufen, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Jens Knippschild	3–6, 7–5, 6–7

Doubles: 2 (0–2)

Legend ATP Challenger (0–2) ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface Hard (0–0) Clay (0–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 1994	Weiden, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Eyal Ran	Tommy Ho Nuno Marques	3–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Nov 1995	Santiago, Chile	Challenger	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	Brandon Coupe Sébastien Leblanc	6–3, 5–7, 4–6

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partnet	Opponents	Score
Loss	1992	US Open	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	Eric Taino Jimmy Jackson	3–6, 6–3, 1–6

See also

• List of Chile Davis Cup team representatives

References

1. "La Argentina pagó caro sus propios errores". La Nación (in Spanish). 7 April 1997. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
2. "Bhupati fightback gives India 3-2 win". Rediff. 20 September 1997. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
3. Olderr, Steven (April 29, 2003). The Pan American Games: A Statistical History. McFarland. ISBN 9780786443369.
4. "Gabriel Silberstein, ex-tenista. "Mi hermano quedó tetrapléjico"". El Mercurio (in Spanish). 18 April 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
5. Asimov, Nanette. "Trekking by wheelchair at the end of the Earth". San Francisco Chronicle. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2017.

External links

• Gabriel Silberstein at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Gabriel Silberstein at the Davis Cup
• Gabriel Silberstein at the International Tennis Federation