Fernando Verdasco Carmona (born 15 November 1983 in Madrid) is a professional tennis player from Spain. He is currently the second-highest ranked Spanish tennis player, ranked number 9 in the world (as of September 14, 2009). Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight. As of 2009, Verdasco has been working in Las Vegas with Andre Agassi and his team including Darren Cahill (Agassi's former coach) and Gil Reyes (Agassi's fitness coach).

He turned professional in 2001, finishing as world number 464. 2002 was a good year for him, as he won his first Futures category title in Spain F1 and was runner-up in Spain F3. He played his second career challenger in Segovia, where he reached the final after beating Belarusian Vladimir Voltchkov in the semifinals. He then reached two additional Challenger semifinals in Kiev and in Eckental, finishing the year in the top 200, at 173.

In 2003, Verdasco played his first Masters Series tournament (Miami Masters). He joined the main draw as a qualifier, and after defeating Karol Kučera and Max Mirnyi, he lost to countryman Carlos Moyà in the third round. After this good performance, he had a poor season on clay, and then he lost in the first round of Wimbledon against Finn Jarkko Nieminen in five sets. Then Verdasco played in Cincinnati, where he lost to Andy Roddick in straight sets. He reached the third round at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Thai Paradorn Srichaphan after defeating countryman Tommy Robredo in the first round and Italian Davide Sanguinetti in the second round.