Nicolás Almagro · Biography

Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) won his first match on the ATP Tour at the 2003 Palermo event. He had come through qualifying, and his first-round opponent in the main draw, Àlex Corretja, retired with the Spaniard leading 3-1. It was the start of sixteen years as a professional in which he won 13 ATP singles titles, all on clay, reached No. 9 in the world rankings and was part of the Spain team that won the 2008 Davis Cup.

Early years and development

He took up tennis at the age of eight in his home city. As a junior he climbed to No. 18 in the world in December 2003, the same year he won his first Challenger title in Olbia. In 2004 he added a Futures event and three Challengers, Kiev among them, and finished the season inside the Top 100 for the first time. In 2005 he took singles gold at the Mediterranean Games in Almería, beating Guillermo García-López 6-2, 7-5 in the final, and won the doubles alongside him as well.

First titles on clay (2006-2009)

On 16 April 2006 he won his first ATP title in Valencia, defeating Gilles Simon in the final, and ended that year in the Top 50. In 2007 he defended Valencia against Potito Starace and lost the Båstad final to David Ferrer, the player who would beat him in more finals than anyone else. In 2008 he won Costa do Sauipe, against Carlos Moyá, and Acapulco, against David Nalbandian. That year he also reached the French Open quarter-finals for the first time, losing to Rafael Nadal, and played at the Beijing Olympics. In July 2008 he had surgery on a tendon in his right hand. In 2009 he won Acapulco again, this time beating Gaël Monfils.

Into the Top 10 (2010-2012)

In 2010 he played the Australian Open with a broken left wrist, returned to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros and won back-to-back titles in July, at Båstad over Robin Söderling and at Gstaad over Richard Gasquet. His strongest season came in 2011, with titles in Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires and Nice and a career-high ranking of No. 9 on 2 May 2011. He finished the year at No. 10 and was an alternate at the ATP Finals in 2011 and 2012. In 2012 he won São Paulo and Nice again, reached a third quarter-final in Paris, once more stopped by Nadal, and made the fourth round of the US Open. From 2006 to 2012 he won at least one ATP title every year.

Playing for Spain

He made his Davis Cup debut in 2008, in the first round against Peru, and won both of his singles rubbers. Spain went on to lift the 2008 Davis Cup after beating Argentina in the final. In 2012 he played in the final against the Czech Republic, which Spain lost 3-2: Almagro was beaten by Tomáš Berdych and, in the deciding fifth rubber, by Radek Štěpánek. In all he played seven ties and won eight of his ten singles matches, every one of them on clay. At the 2012 London Olympics he reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to Andy Murray.

Playing style

A right-hander standing 1.83 metres, he played an attacking game from the baseline. His signature shot was a powerful, flat one-handed backhand, although he named his forehand as his best stroke. His serve was quick, with a compact motion, and often went above 210 km/h. Clay was the surface of all his titles and most of his biggest results. He reached the Top 10 while training at Juan Carlos Ferrero’s Equelite academy.

Injuries, Estoril and retirement (2013-2019)

At the 2013 Australian Open he reached the quarter-finals and lost to Ferrer after leading by two sets to love. That year he also played the finals in Houston and Barcelona, the latter against Nadal, and a left wrist injury kept him out of the Davis Cup. In 2014 he beat Nadal, then world No. 1, in the Barcelona quarter-finals, but retired in the first round of Roland Garros against Jack Sock with a foot injury that required surgery and ruled him out of Wimbledon and the US Open. In 2015 he won the Genoa Challenger and the Kitzbühel doubles title with Carlos Berlocq. In 2016 he beat Pablo Carreño Busta to win Estoril and lost the Buenos Aires final to Dominic Thiem. A left knee injury shaped his final seasons, and his last event before the farewell was Szczecin in September 2018. On 8 April 2019 he announced his retirement at the Murcia Challenger, and the next day he lost 6-2, 6-2 to Mario Vilella Martínez in the last match of a career that ended with a 397-278 singles record.