Francisco Javier Clavet González de Castejón (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko xaˈβjeɾ klaˈβet ɣonˈθaleθ ðe kasteˈxon];[a] born 24 October 1968), known as Pato Clavet (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpato]), is a former professional tennis player from Spain.
During his career, he defeated some contemporary, future and past number-one-ranked players, including John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, and Roger Federer.
Clavet turned pro in 1988 and won his first ATP singles title two years later at the Dutch Open in Hilversum.
That year he reached the finals in Gstaad and San Marino, the semifinals in Philadelphia, Indian Wells, in Madrid, in Palermo and Athens, and the quarterfinals in Indianapolis, and in Schenectady.
In addition, he reached two semifinals in Athens and Buenos Aires, losing, again to the eventual winners (Àlex Corretja and Alberto Berasategui).
He won the Amsterdam Open in 1996 (defeating Younes El Aynaoui), and reached the semifinals in Mexico and Bologna.
The same year he also reached two semifinals, Tashkent and Bucharest, but lost to Tim Henman and Richard Fromberg, respectively.
He also reached the quarterfinals in Dubai (losing to eventual finalist Nicolas Kiefer; he defeated hard-court specialists including Wayne Ferreira and Greg Rusedski), at St. Pölten, Gstaad, Umag and the Mallorca Open.
He won in Scottsdale, defeating Agassi in the first round, Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals and Magnus Norman in the final (ranked No.
[7] That year, on hard courts, he also reached the semifinal in Shanghai and the quarterfinals in Japan losing both to the eventual champions.
Clavet holds the record for the fastest ever ATP Tour victory when he beat Shan Jiang 6–0, 6–0 in only 25 minutes at the Shanghai Open.
But at Key Biscayne, entering at the tournament as a qualifier ranked 178th, and the oldest player in the draw, he defeated then-current number-one-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, who suffered from food poisoning the previous day.
Following his retirement, he worked as a coach with Thomaz Bellucci, Feliciano López, Alejandro Falla and Santiago Giraldo.
He occasionally works as a commentator for Spanish television, including the broadcast of the 10th French Open won by Rafael Nadal.
December 2019, he won the singles title at USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships defeating American Samuel Schroerlucke.
[11] His Davis Cup debut came in 1999 in New Zealand in a playoff that Spain had to win to stay in the World Group.
That year, due to several injuries and some refuses, the top Spanish players did not participate in the Davis Cup and Manolo Santana called Félix Mantilla and Clavet to play the singles matches on a difficult surface than Spanish tennis: hard indoor.
In 1999, in Madrid, the region where he was born, he defeated Àlex Corretja, the previous champion, recovering from a 1–6 loss in the first set, to claim the trophy.
Former tennis player and commentator for Spanish public television Andrés Gimeno said about him: "Clavet never gives up, he reaches all the balls, you must beat him each point".