Federico Delbonis · Biography

Federico Delbonis won his first ATP Tour matches in July 2011 in Stuttgart. He came through qualifying at the Mercedes Cup, won three main-draw matches and reached the semifinals, where Juan Carlos Ferrero came back to beat him 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Born on 5 October 1990 in Azul, in Buenos Aires province, he is a 6 ft 4 in left-hander with a two-handed backhand who built his career on clay. He won two ATP singles titles and rose to No. 33 in the world in May 2016. That same year he won the rubber that settled the Davis Cup final against Croatia.

Early years on the Challenger circuit

Delbonis turned professional in the late 2000s and spent his first seasons on the Challenger and Futures circuits, mostly on slow courts in Europe and South America. His first Challenger title came in Manerbio, Italy, in 2009, followed by Rome the next year. In 2013 he won back-to-back events in Bucaramanga and Barranquilla, Colombia, and also took the doubles title in Barranquilla. Across Challenger and Futures events he collected twelve singles titles, the last of them in Cali in 2023, along with four in doubles.

Hamburg 2013: the semifinal against Federer

His breakthrough came in July 2013 at the ATP 500 event in Hamburg. Ranked 114th at the time, Delbonis came through qualifying and then beat Tommy Robredo, Dmitry Tursunov and Fernando Verdasco in the main draw. In the semifinals, on 20 July, he defeated Roger Federer 7-6, 7-6, winning both tiebreaks. He lost the final to Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-7, 2-6, but the run lifted him into the top 100 for the first time. That year he also played his first Grand Slam main draw, at Roland Garros, where he reached the second round.

Two ATP titles

His first title came in February 2014 at the Brasil Open in São Paulo, on indoor clay, where he came from a set down to beat Paolo Lorenzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final. In May of that year he reached another final, in Nice, and lost it to Ernests Gulbis 1-6, 6-7. His second trophy came in April 2016 at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, where he beat Borna Ćorić 6-2, 6-4 in the title match. On 9 May 2016 he reached No. 33 in the ATP rankings, the highest of his career. In doubles he won the São Paulo event twice with Máximo González, in 2018 and 2019, and peaked at No. 110 in July 2019.

The 2016 Davis Cup

He had already decided a tie for Argentina on 9 March 2015 at Tecnópolis, in Buenos Aires. That day he beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the fifth rubber against Brazil, a match suspended the previous evening for bad light. In the 2016 quarterfinals, played in July on clay in Pesaro, he beat Andreas Seppi and Fabio Fognini as Argentina knocked out Italy 3-1. The final was held from 25 to 27 November at the Arena Zagreb. Delbonis lost the opening rubber to Marin Čilić in five sets. With the tie level at 2-2, he faced Ivo Karlović in the fifth rubber on 27 November and won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, giving Argentina its first Davis Cup title.

Olympics and Grand Slams

In August 2016 he represented Argentina at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and lost in the first round in both singles and doubles. At the Australian Open his best result was the third round in 2016, and at the US Open he reached the second round in 2014 and 2016. His deepest Grand Slam run came at Roland Garros in 2021: he beat Radu Albot, Pablo Andújar and 27th seed Fabio Fognini before losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the round of 16. In doubles, his best Grand Slam result was the third round at Roland Garros in 2019.

Final seasons and retirement

In the later part of his career he split his schedule between the ATP Tour and the Challenger circuit. In doubles he reached the Båstad final in 2019 with Horacio Zeballos and the Santiago final in 2021 with Jaume Munar. In 2020 the Konex Foundation awarded him a Diploma of Merit in tennis for the 2010-2019 decade. He won his last Challenger title in Cali in 2023. He announced his retirement on 29 January 2024, finishing with a singles record of 164 wins and 200 losses. His final match was in doubles, alongside Facundo Bagnis, at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires in February 2024.