Nicolás Almagro

Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro 2017 in Doha
Nickname:	Nico
Nation:	Spain
Birthday:	August 21, 1985
Size:	183 cm
Weight:	86 kg
1st professional season:	2003
Resignation:	2019
Playing hand:	Right, one-handed backhand
Trainer:	Mariano Monachesi
Prize money:	$ 10,751,807
singles
Career record:	397: 278
Career title:	13
Highest ranking:	9 (May 2, 2011)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	77: 120
Career title:	1
Highest ranking:	48 (March 21, 2011)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (born August 21, 1985 in Murcia ) is a former Spanish tennis player . He was considered a clay court specialist: all 23 individual finals that he reached on the ATP World Tour took place on clay. In total, he won 13 ATP titles. Three times - in 2008, 2010 and 2012 - he reached the quarter-finals of the French Open , where he lost each time to the eventual tournament winner Rafael Nadal . At the Australian Open in 2013, he reached the round of 8 once.

Career

First years as a professional (2003-2005)

In 2003 Almagro became a professional after he was in the semifinals of the French Open in the same year with the juniors , where he was defeated by the eventual tournament winner Stan Wawrinka . His best junior ranking was 18th. Within a few months with the professionals, he made the jump from the ITF Future Tour to the next higher ATP Challenger Tour by winning six futures. In only his second Challenger tournament in Olbia , he won the title straight away. In Palermo he also played his first match on the ATP World Tour against Àlex Corretja , which he won. He finished his first year as a professional at rank 153 in the world rankings . In 2004 he won another future title and thanks to three titles with Challengers, he finally established himself in the top 150 in the world. In addition to some participation in World Tour events, he came to Roland Garros in 2004 for his first main field appearance at a Grand Slam tournament , where he narrowly lost to Gustavo Kuerten in five sets. In 2005 he beat a top 10 player for the first time at the Masters tournament in Rome with the former No. 1 Marat Safin . He won the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games. He played on the World Tour for most of the year and reached three quarter-finals there. Nevertheless, he lost a few places in the ranking compared to last year.

Establishment in the top 30 (2006-2008)

2006 was Almagro's breakthrough year. After a moderate start to the year, he reached his first ATP semi-final at the tournament in Acapulco . In Valencia he even managed to win the title as a qualifier. On the way there he had again beaten Marat Safin and the former French Open winner and former No. 1 in the world, Juan Carlos Ferrero . In the same year, the Spaniard reached the semi-finals in Barcelona and the quarter-finals of the Masters in Rome, where he was defeated by world number one Roger Federer in just three sets. Acted as a favorite, Almagro was surprisingly defeated by James Blake in the second round of the French Open . Away from the sand, Almagro was less successful until the end of the year. At the end of the year he was in 33rd place. On February 26, 2007 Almagro was in 28th place in the world rankings - his highest ranking to date. In the same year the Spaniard won the Valencia tournament again . In the final, he beat the Italian Potito Starace 4: 6, 6: 2 and 6: 1. In addition, he was in the final of the Swedish Båstad , where he was defeated by David Ferrer . At the US Open , he moved into the third round for the first time.

After Almagro had won the tournament in Costa do Sauípe in February 2008 , he won the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco against David Nalbandian a week later . In his third final in a row in Valencia , he lost again to David Ferrer . At the French Open , the Spaniard played his way to the quarter-finals, where he had no chance against Rafael Nadal with only three wins. On the way there he won u. a. against Andy Murray . Throughout the tournament he had beaten 78 aces, more than any other player this year. After the tournament he was 12th on a new career high.

Extended world class and top 10 (2009-2013)

In 2009 he was able to defend the title in Acapulco . In the final, he retained the upper hand against Gaël Monfils , against whom he had lost at the Australian Open . At the Grand Slams this year he made it to the third round. Except for his title, he did not reach the semifinals in any other tournament, which made him fall out of the top 25 in the ranking.

2010 turned out to be a more successful year. In July 2010, he won his sixth and ATP title. In the final of the tournament in Båstad against the Swedish defending champion Robin Söderling he kept the upper hand in three sets with 7: 5, 3: 6 and 6: 2. Just two weeks later, the next title followed in Gstaad with a two-set win over Richard Gasquet . He also achieved good results in Masters tournaments such as the semi-finals in Madrid . Like a little later in the quarter-finals, this was the final stop for Roland Garros Nadal, who ultimately won both tournaments.

Also in 2011 Almagro was able to win an ATP title again: In February 2011 he won in Costa do Sauípe in two sets against Oleksandr Dolhopolow and thus the title there for the second time since 2008. Only a week later, the second title of the season followed in Buenos Aires with a three-set win over Juan Ignacio Chela . In Acapulco he then had the chance to be the first player ever to win three tournaments in the South American tournament series called "Golden Swing" in one year. However, after winning 13 matches in a row, he lost to defending champion David Ferrer , against whom he had lost a final for the third time. In May Almagro was in 9th place and thus higher than ever in the world rankings. In Nice he managed to win a third title in one season for the only time in his career. In the final, he beat Victor Hănescu . At the French Open , the Spaniard surprisingly flew out of the tournament in five sets against Poland's Łukasz Kubot in the first round . In Hamburg he was in the final for a fifth time this year, but lost to Gilles Simon . In addition to the five finals, he was also four more times in an ATP semi-finals. As world number 10. at the end of the year he was the second substitute player at the ATP Finals , but was not used there.

In 2012 Almagro started with a semi-final in Chennai, followed by a round of 16 at the Australian Open . In February he defended his title in São Paulo before losing to David Ferrer in the final in Buenos Aires the following week . A week from the French Open, Almagro played his way to the title in Nice without losing a set , where he had little trouble against surprise finalist Brian Baker at 6: 3, 6: 2. In Paris , Almagro held himself harmless again. Up to the quarter-finals, he won 12 sets in a row without having to go into the tie-break. In the quarterfinals he was just as clearly defeated by Nadal in three sets as in 2008 and 2010. At the clay court tournament in Båstad, he lost for the fifth time in a final against David Ferrer. Although his aversion to grass, the Spaniard was able to reach the quarter-finals at the Olympic Games , where he was defeated by the eventual Olympic champion Andy Murray. Also at the US Open , he achieved his best result at this tournament by reaching the last sixteen.

At the beginning of 2013 Almagro surprised on hard court when he marched to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open , where his "feared opponent" David Ferrer defeated him again in five sets. After semi-finals in Buenos Aires and Acapulco , he was in the finals in Houston and Barcelona , where he was defeated by John Isner and Rafael Nadal in two sets. In Roland Garros , Tommy Robredo was too strong after leading the set 2-0 in the round of 16, in Wimbledon he did not get past the third round for the fourth time. At the end of 2013 Almagro surprised with two semi-finals at ATP 500 tournaments in Tokyo and Valencia , both of which were played on hard courts. He finished the year in 13th place and thus in the top 15 in the world for the fourth time in a row.

Injury problems, relapse in the ranking list and resignation (2013-2019)

With three semi-finals and the finals in Houston , 2014 also started befittingly for Almagro. In Barcelona he managed to beat the number 1 Rafael Nadal for the only time. He only managed to do this once in 16 matches. To do this, he broke Nadal's streak of 41 wins on clay in a row. In his first round match against Jack Sock in Paris , the Spaniard had to give up when the score was 0: 5 in the first set. The acquired foot injury forced him to pause until the end of the year, so that he dropped to 71st place in the ranking.

In 2015 he played again regularly and reached a semi-finals for the first time in Buenos Aires . He also achieved this in Kitzbühel , before returning to the Challenger Tour for two tournaments. Here he won his fifth Challenger title in Genoa . At the end of the year he was 73rd in the world.

In 2016, after beating the top ten players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Ferrer, he reached the final in Buenos Aires , but lost it narrowly against Dominic Thiem in three sets. He also reached the final in Estoril . Here he prevailed against Pablo Carreño Busta and won his 13th and final career title. In Paris and New York at the Grand Slams, he said goodbye in the third round, in Wimbledon in the second round. In 2017, Almagro often lost early in the year. In Rome he had to give up early because of a knee injury against Nadal. The same fate befell him at the French Open , where he was tied against Juan Martín del Potro until then. The Argentine consoled the disappointed Almagro. Almagro returned to the tour in August, but in 2017 did not get past the second round of a tournament. In 2018, the Spaniard only played five matches, all of which he lost.

In April 2019, he therefore ended his career because of persistent knee problems.

Davis Cup

In his career, Almagro played for the Spanish Davis Cup team in three years . In this he has a balance of 8: 4. In 2012 he was used in all matches and lost in the final against France with 2: 3, although he could not win both games himself.

Private

Almagro had a son in March 2017.

2014 in Madrid

successes

Legend (number of victories) Grand Slam ATP World Tour Finals ATP Masters Series ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ATP International Series Gold ATP World Tour 500 (2) ATP International Series ATP World Tour 250 (12) ATP Challenger Tour (5)

Title after covering Hard Court (0) Sand (14) Lawn (0)

singles

Tournament victories

ATP Challenger Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	July 20, 2003	Olbia	sand	Martín Vassallo Argüello	6: 2, 6: 3
2.	April 4, 2004	Barletta	sand	Tomas Behrend	7: 5, 6: 2
3.	August 29, 2004	Manerbio	sand	Francesco Aldi	7: 6 5 , 6: 4
4th	September 5, 2004	Kiev	sand	Jiří Vaněk	4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 2
5.	13th September 2015	Genoa	sand	Marco Cecchinato	6: 7 1 , 6: 1, 6: 4

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 17, 2006	Valencia (1)	sand	Gilles Simon	6: 2, 6: 3
2.	April 16, 2007	Valencia (2)	sand	Potito Starace	4: 6, 6: 2, 6: 1
3.	February 18, 2008	Costa do Sauípe (1)	sand	Carlos Moyá	7: 6 4 , 3: 6, 7: 5
4th	March 3, 2008	Acapulco (1)	sand	David Nalbandian	6: 1, 7: 6 1
5.	March 2, 2009	Acapulco (2)	sand	Gaël Monfils	6: 4, 6: 4
6th	July 18, 2010	Båstad	sand	Robin Soderling	7: 5, 3: 6, 6: 2
7th	August 1, 2010	Gstaad	sand	Richard Gasquet	7: 5, 6: 1
8th.	February 12, 2011	Costa do Sauípe (2)	sand	Oleksandr Dolhopolov	6: 3, 7: 6 3
9.	February 20, 2011	Buenos Aires	sand	Juan Ignacio Chela	6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 4
10.	May 22, 2011	Nice (1)	sand	Victor Hănescu	6: 7 5 , 6: 3, 6: 3
11.	19th February 2012	Sao Paulo (3)	Sand (i)	Filippo Volandri	6: 3, 4: 6, 6: 4
12.	May 26, 2012	Nice (2)	sand	Brian Baker	6: 3, 6: 2
13.	May 1, 2016	Estoril	sand	Pablo Carreño Busta	7: 6 6 , 6: 7 5 , 6: 3

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	July 15, 2007	Båstad (1)	sand	David Ferrer	2: 6, 1: 6
2.	April 20, 2008	Valencia	sand	David Ferrer	6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 7 2
3.	February 26, 2011	Acapulco	sand	David Ferrer	6: 7 4 , 7: 6 2 , 2: 6
4th	July 24, 2011	Hamburg	sand	Gilles Simon	4: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6
5.	February 26, 2012	Buenos Aires (1)	sand	David Ferrer	6: 4, 3: 6, 2: 6
6th	July 15, 2012	Båstad (2)	sand	David Ferrer	2: 6, 2: 6
7th	April 14, 2013	Houston (1)	sand	John Isner	3: 6, 5: 7
8th.	April 28, 2013	Barcelona	sand	Rafael Nadal	4: 6, 3: 6
9.	April 13, 2014	Houston (2)	sand	Fernando Verdasco	3: 6, 6: 7 4
10.	February 14, 2016	Buenos Aires (2)	sand	Dominic Thiem	6: 7 2 , 6: 3, 6: 7 4

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 8, 2015	Kitzbühel	sand	Carlos Berlocq	Robin Haase Henri Kontinen	5: 7, 6: 3, [11: 9]

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 22, 2009	Buenos Aires	sand	Santiago Ventura	Marcel Granollers Alberto Martín	3: 6, 7: 5, [8:10]

Web links

Commons : Nicolás Almagro  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Nicolás Almagro (English)
• ITF profile of Nicolás Almagro (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Nicolás Almagro (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Almagro withdraws from US Open with foot injury. In: tennis.com. July 18, 2014, accessed April 25, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Del Potro comforts his sobbing opponent. In: 20min.ch. June 1, 2017, accessed April 25, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Nicolas Almagro loses - and ends his career. In: tennisnet.com. April 9, 2019, accessed April 10, 2019 . 
4. ↑ New baby on the ATP tour. In: spox.com. March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017 .