Marcos Daniel

Marcos Daniel
Nation:	Brazil
Birthday:	4th July 1978
Size:	180 cm
Weight:	79 kg
1st professional season:	1997
Resignation:	2011
Playing hand:	Right
Trainer:	Larri Passos, Marcus Barbosa
Prize money:	$ 1,177,189
singles
Career record:	24:66
Highest ranking:	56 (September 14, 2009)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	14:33
Highest ranking:	102 (December 5, 2005)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Marcos Diniz Daniel (born July 4, 1978 in Passo Fundo ) is a former Brazilian tennis player .

life and career

Marcos Daniel started playing tennis at his older brother Márcio's tennis academy at the age of five. In 1994 he took part in an international junior tour tournament for the first time and was able to win several tournaments in the following two years and climb to 20th place in the junior world rankings.

As early as 1995 he took part in a Challenger tournament in the adult category for the first time with a wildcard in Brasília and in the following months collected his first world ranking points at satellite tournaments. By the end of 1996 Daniel had advanced into the top 400 of the tennis world rankings due to a satellite title, among other things , and then decided to pursue a career as a professional tennis player.

In August 1997 he reached a Challenger semi-finals for the first time in Belo Horizonte . In 1998 he played more future tournaments, and reached two finals there. Two more Future Finals followed in 1999, and he won his first title in November 1999. In 2000 he remained without a title, but in 2001 he won two future titles, and also reached his first Challenger final in Lima in October 2001 . On the way there he had defeated a top 100 player for the first time with Agustín Calleri . He himself was now in the top 200 of the world rankings.

In early 2002, Marcos Daniel tried for the first time at the Australian Open to qualify for a Grand Slam tournament, but failed in the second qualifying round. Only a month later he qualified for an ATP tournament for the first time in Viña del Mar , but lost in the first round to Nicolas Coutelot . In the further course of the year he could no longer qualify for another ATP tournament; at Challenger level, he reached the quarterfinals in four tournaments.

At the Australian Open 2003 , Marcos Daniel then qualified for a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, but was eliminated in the first round in five sets against Wayne Arthurs after he had already led with 2-0 sets. He qualified again in Viña del Mar and won his first ATP match against Fernando Meligeni before he was eliminated by Félix Mantilla . After he had won two future titles in the first half of the year and had reached the semi-finals in two Challenger tournaments, Marcos Daniel was finally able to win his first Challenger title in Gramado in September 2003 by defeating José de Armas . He also won the doubles title with Alexandre Simoni , which was their second joint title this season. In the world rankings, he achieved his best ranking to date with rank 152. A week later he got a wild card for the ATP tournament in Costa do Sauípe , but was eliminated in the first round against Flávio Saretta .

The 2004 season started less successfully: Marcos Daniel missed the qualification for the Australian Open , and also on his Davis Cup debut he lost his match in five sets and could not prevent Brazil's 2-3 defeat against Paraguay. In the further course of the year he won three future tournaments in a row, but in Challenger tournaments he only reached the semifinals once, and therefore fell back to rank 267 at the end of the season.

The year 2005 was all the more successful for Marcos Daniel: After two Challenger semi-finals in the first few months, he qualified for the French Open in May 2005 , but had no chance in the first round against Mario Ančić, who was seeded in 18th place . In July 2005 Daniel won his second Challenger title against Jean-Julien Rojer in Bogotá . In September 2005 he reached another Challenger final in Seville and was thus so well positioned in the world rankings that he was directly qualified for the ATP tournament in Bangkok . There he met world number one Roger Federer , against whom he lost in two tight sets. The following weeks were the most successful of his career so far: After a final defeat at the Challenger tournament in Quito , Marcos Daniel won the tournaments in Bogotá and Guayaquil one after the other, making it into the top 100 of the world rankings for the first time.

Thanks to his world ranking position, Marcos Daniel was directly qualified in many ATP tournaments in 2006. However, he was eliminated in a total of 12 tournaments, including all four Grand Slam tournaments, in the first round. Only in Acapulco was he able to reach the quarter-finals in February 2006, where he defeated the 2004 Olympic champion, Nicolás Massú . Another success was his victory over the former world number one Lleyton Hewitt in Pörtschach in May 2006. After he had achieved his best world ranking position at that time with rank 80, he fell back to rank 165 by the end of the year.

In 2007 he had to play again on the Challenger Tour and reached a total of four finals there, one of which he won in Bogotá. This was his third single title in the Colombian capital, but it wasn't to be the last. He also qualified for two ATP tournaments in the course of the year, but Daniel was eliminated in the first round in both Costa do Sauípe and the French Open .

The year 2008 began with three first round defeats at ATP tournaments, followed by the fourth Challenger title in Bogotá. In April 2008 Daniel reached another Challenger final in Naples , then he led Brazil with his first two individual wins in the Davis Cup to a 4-1 victory over Colombia, before he again a week later in Houston for the second time in his career Reached the ATP quarter-finals. As a result, he was now back in the top 100 in the world rankings, and therefore directly qualified for the French Open . There he met in the first round against the former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero , who had to retire in the second set due to a leg injury. Marcos Daniel was thus in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, but lost there in a tight five-set match against Jürgen Melzer . Also in doubles he reached the second round at the side of Jim Thomas , where they were eliminated against the later finalists Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić . The following months were less successful; Daniel only reached the second round in two ATP tournaments. In Wimbledon , the US Open and the Olympic Games in Beijing , he was eliminated in the first round. In September 2008, Daniel won the Challenger titles number 7 and 8 of his career; the first in Cali and the second in Bogotá. As a result, he rose to 61st place in the world rankings, his best position to date.

In early 2009, Marcos Daniel retired from the Australian Open as well as in Viña del Mar and Acapulco in the first round. In March 2009 he won the Challenger tournament in Marrakech , in May 2009 the next title followed in Zagreb . A week earlier, he had reached an ATP quarter-finals in Belgrade for the third time in his career. At the French Open 2009 Daniel had to go through the qualification, but he succeeded, and so he met world number one and defending champion Rafael Nadal in the first round . As expected, he lost to the favorite in a close match. In July 2009 Marcos Daniel was able to win the Challenger tournament in Bogotá again. This was now his sixth title in Bogotá, and he had also won two double titles here. Only two weeks later he achieved his best result so far at an ATP tournament in Gstaad : With Paul-Henri Mathieu , Julien Benneteau and Florent Serra , he defeated three French in a row before he could only be stopped in the semifinals by Andreas Beck . In the world rankings, he then achieved his best position to date with rank 56.

It took until February 2010 for Marcos Daniel to win another match in Buenos Aires . In April 2010, he won his now twelfth Challenger title in Blumenau , but could not prevent him from falling out of the top 100 in the world rankings and dropping back to 153rd place. In the further course of the season he reached another Challenger final, and he won an ATP match on grass for the first time against Blaž Kavčič in London's Queen's Club . At the end of October 2010, Marcos Daniel started a winning streak: He won the tournaments in São Paulo and Medellín one after the other and could only be stopped in the quarter-finals in Guayaquil . This once again brought him back into the top 100.

In January 2011, like two years ago at the French Open , Marcos Daniel met world number one Rafael Nadal in the first round of the Australian Open , against whom he had to give up after 45 minutes with a knee injury.

successes

Legend (number of victories)

Grand Slam

ATP World Tour Finals

ATP World Tour Masters 1000

ATP World Tour 500

ATP World Tour 250

ATP Challenger Tour (21)

singles

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	September 7, 2003	Gramado	Hard court	José de Armas	7: 5, 7: 5
2.	July 24, 2005	Bogota (1)	sand	Jean-Julien Rojer	6: 4, 6: 4
3.	October 23, 2005	Bogota (1)	sand	Daniel Köllerer	6: 2, 6: 3
4th	November 13, 2005	Guayaquil	sand	Flávio Saretta	6: 2, 1: 6, 6: 0
5.	October 21, 2007	Bogota (2)	sand	Santiago Giraldo	7: 6 3 , 6: 4
6th	March 9, 2008	Bogotá	sand	Iván Navarro	6: 3, 1: 6, 6: 3
7th	September 21, 2008	Cali	sand	Leonardo Mayer	6: 2 up.
8th.	September 28, 2008	Bogota (3)	sand	Horacio Zeballos	6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 4
9.	March 22, 2009	Marrakech	sand	Lamine Ouahab	4: 6, 7: 5, 6: 2
10.	May 17, 2009	Zagreb	sand	Olivier Rochus	6: 3, 6: 4
11.	July 19, 2009	Bogota (2)	sand	Horacio Zeballos	4: 6, 7: 6 5 , 6: 4
12.	April 18, 2010	Blumenau	sand	Bastian Knittel	7: 5, 6: 7 5 , 6: 4
13.	October 30, 2010	São Paulo	sand	Thomaz Bellucci	6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 3
14th	November 7, 2010	Medellin	sand	Juan Sebastian Cabal	6: 3, 7: 5

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 3, 2003	Belo Horizonte	Hard court	Alexandre Simoni	Kentaro Masuda Takahiro Terachi	6: 4, 6: 2
2.	September 7, 2003	Gramado	Hartzplatz	Alexandre Simoni	Santiago González Alejandro Hernández	7: 6 5 , 6: 4
3.	August 15, 2004	manta	Hard court	Santiago González	Eric Nunez Jimy Szymanski	3: 6, 6: 2, 7: 6 5
4th	April 24, 2005	Bogotá	sand	Santiago González	Goran Dragicevic Mirko Pehar	7: 6 4 , 6: 3
5.	September 17, 2005	Seville	sand	Fernando Vicente	Flavio Cipolla Alessandro Motti	6: 2, 6: 7 1 , 7: 5
6th	October 23, 2005	Bogotá	sand	Santiago González	Frederico Gil Marcelo Melo	6: 2, 7: 5
7th	October 14, 2007	Quito	sand	Brian Dabul	Hugo Armando David Marrero	4: 6, 7: 5, [10: 7]

Web links

Commons : Marcos Daniel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Marcos Daniel (English)
• ITF profile Marcos Daniel (English)
• Davis Cup statistics Marcos Daniel (English)