Thomaz Bellucci · Biography

In July 2009, on the clay of Gstaad in Switzerland, Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci beat Germany’s Andreas Beck 6-4, 7-6 to win the first ATP title of his career. Born on 30 December 1987 in Tietê, in the interior of São Paulo state, the 1.88-metre left-hander with a two-handed backhand had turned professional in 2005. He spent the following seasons moving between Challenger events and the main tour before establishing himself near the top of the world rankings.

Early years on tour

Bellucci began playing ATP ranking events in 2004 and turned pro the following year. In 2007 he reached the finals of the Bogotá and Cuenca Challengers, losing to Carlos Salamanca and Leonardo Mayer, and that September he made his Davis Cup debut against Austria in Innsbruck. The 2008 season changed his course: he won the Challengers in Santiago, Florianópolis, Tunis and Rabat and played at the Beijing Olympics, where he went out in the first round to Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbatý. In 2009 he added Challenger titles in Rimini and São Paulo.

Gstaad, Santiago and No. 21

Before his Swiss breakthrough, Bellucci had reached the final of the 2009 Brasil Open, losing to Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 after knocking out former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals. In Gstaad he also beat Stanislas Wawrinka on his way to the title. In 2010 he won the tournament in Santiago, Chile, defeating Juan Mónaco 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. That year brought his best Grand Slam run: he reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, where Rafael Nadal beat him in three sets, and the third round at Wimbledon, where he lost to Robin Söderling. On 26 July 2010 he rose to No. 21 in the world, the highest ranking of his career.

A Madrid semi-final and a second Gstaad title

His best Masters 1000 event came in Madrid in 2011. He beat Britain’s Andy Murray, then ranked fourth, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round and Czech Tomáš Berdych 7-6, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-final he took the first set off Novak Djokovic and led 3-1 in the second before the Serb came back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. In 2012 he returned to Gstaad and won the Swiss tournament for a second time, beating Janko Tipsarević 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the final. That season he also beat David Ferrer in Monte Carlo and finished runner-up in Moscow to Andreas Seppi. At the London 2012 Olympics he lost his opening singles match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Doubles and the Davis Cup

In doubles, Bellucci won the 2013 Stuttgart title with Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis, beating Poland’s Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk, and reached the Australian Open quarter-finals with Frenchman Benoît Paire. On 15 July 2013 he climbed to No. 70 in the doubles rankings. For Brazil he compiled a 21-15 Davis Cup record. In 2012 he won both his singles rubbers against Russia as Brazil returned to the World Group. In 2013, in Jacksonville, he beat John Isner in five sets, although the United States won the tie 3-2. In the 2014 play-off in São Paulo, Brazil defeated Spain 3-1: Bellucci came back from two sets down against Pablo Andújar and then won the deciding rubber against Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, sending Brazil into the 2015 World Group.

Geneva and the Rio quarter-finals

In 2015 he won the Geneva Open, his fourth singles title, beating Portugal’s João Sousa 7-6, 6-4. The same year he reached the third round of the US Open, his best showing in New York. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics he beat eighth seed David Goffin of Belgium 7-6, 6-4 to reach the Olympic quarter-finals, the same stage Gustavo Kuerten had reached in 2000. He won the first set against Rafael Nadal, but the Spaniard prevailed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. In 2016 he was runner-up in Quito to Víctor Estrella Burgos, and in 2017 he contested the Houston final against Steve Johnson, which was decided in a third-set tie-break.

Suspension and final years

In July 2017, a doping control at the Båstad tournament in Sweden returned a positive result for hydrochlorothiazide. The International Tennis Federation accepted that the substance had come from contaminated vitamin supplements and, in a decision dated 4 January 2018, imposed a five-month suspension, backdated to 1 September 2017 and ending on 31 January 2018. After his return he was a doubles finalist at the 2019 Rio Open with Rogério Dutra Silva, losing to Máximo González and Nicolás Jarry in a match tie-break. In January 2023 he announced that the Rio Open would be his last tournament. On 22 February 2023 he retired after a first-round defeat to Argentina’s Sebastián Báez, 6-3, 6-2.