Nicols Alejandro Mass Fried: was born on October 10, 1979, in Via Del Mar, Chile.

He earned his nickname, Vampiro (Spanish for vampire), for his intensity on the tennis court. He began his professonal tennis career in 1997. His first full-year on the ATP tour was 2000 when he was a finalist in a tournament in Orlando and competed in three of the four Grand Slam events (French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open). Nicols also competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In the mens tennis singles competition in Sydney, he defeated Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic in the first round , but was eliminated in the second round by Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain Mass then played in the doubles competition with Chileans were eliminated in the first round after losing to Korea. In 2001, he competed in the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. In 2002, he won the first singles title of his career. Mass had an oustanding year in 2003, and his performance at the Tennis Masters tournament catapulted the player to the top 20. He won his third career singles title -- and second of the year -- at the Palermo Open in late September, and is currently the top-ranked male Jewish player in the world, holding the No. 14 spot as of August 15, 2004. Mass has represented Chile in three Summer Olympics:Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008. At the 2000 event's opening ceremony, he was his country's standard bearer, after Marcelo Ros failed to show up. In his first-round match, he beat Slava Dosedl, but lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the next round. The story was different in Athens, where Mass captured both singles and doubles titles. On August 21, he and partner Fernando Gonzlez, defeated Nicolas Kiefer andRainer Schttler of Germany to win the doubles competition, making history by giving Chile its first-ever Olympic gold medal. The following day, he captured his second gold medal by defeating American Mardy Fish in five sets in the men's singles final. Following his victory in singles he was declared as Athlete of the Day by the 2004 Athens Olympics' organization.

2005 -- Retired in 2nd RD at Australian Open with a stress fracture in his left foot and was sidelined for three months...Reached SF in Gstaad (l. to Gaudio) and Kitzbnhel (l. to Verdasco)...In doubles, reached final in Amersfoort and SF at Roland Garros (both w/Gonzalez) 2006 -- Won his sixth title in Costa do Sauipe (d. Martin)...Finalist at hometown event in Via del Mar. 2007 -- Finished in Top 100 for ninth consecutive season at No. 79....Finalist at hometown event in Vina del Mar for second straight year 2008 The No. 2 Chilean (behind Gonzalez) finished in Top 100 for 10th consecutive season, highlighted by two ATP QF and two Challenger titles...Began campaign with QF at Auckland (l. to Ferrero)...Lost in 1st RD of next four tournaments before reaching QF at Acapulco. 2009 Mass began 2009 by not winning a match during his first five tournaments and losing his opening Davis Cup singles match against Croatia in March. He broke his losing streak at the Indian Wells Masters, beating Argentine Eduardo Schwank in three sets in the first round.

2013 The 33-year-old broke down in tears in an emotional press conference, thanking fans and family, in particular, grandfather Ladislao Fried, who he described as an inspiration of life The former World Number 9 gave a press conference at the W Hotel, announcing that he would retire from tennis. The vampire has struggled with injury in recent years, seeing his world ranking drop. The Chilean is currently ranked 587 in the world.