186 at the beginning of the year, he qualified for the Australian Open but was defeated heavily in the first round by the eventual champion Marat Safin.

[3] He then recorded his first Grand Slam match victory at the French Open, defeating Robby Ginepri in the first round, before losing to Guillermo Coria in the second.

407 and was still participating in the junior tour, where he reached the semifinals of the French Open but lost to eventual champion Marin Čilić.

He was awarded a wildcard into the main draw at Wimbledon, where he defeated George Bastl in the first round,[4] and fourteenth seed Radek Štěpánek in the second, before losing to former finalist David Nalbandian in the third, despite having gone two sets to love up.

Following is a list of notable players (winners of a main tour title, and/or part of the ATP rankings top 100 (singles) or top 50 (doubles) for at least one week) who announced their retirement from professional tennis, became inactive (after not playing for more than 52 weeks), or were permanently banned from playing, during the 2002 season: