Leonardo Mayer · Biography

On 20 July 2014, on the clay of Rothenbaum, Leonardo Martín Mayer won his first ATP title in Hamburg. In the final he beat the top seed, David Ferrer, 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(4). That ATP 500 event lifted his career to a new level. Born on 15 May 1987 in Corrientes, Argentina, he stands 1.91 metres tall, is right-handed and plays a one-handed backhand. His nickname is “Yacaré”. He was part of the Argentina team that won the Davis Cup in 2016, and he reached a career-high world ranking of No. 21 in June 2015.

Early years and junior career

He started playing tennis at the age of nine in Corrientes and is listed as a professional from 2003, although his best junior results came later. In 2005 he won the French Open boys’ doubles title with Emiliano Massa, and the pair also won the Orange Bowl. In June of that year he reached No. 2 in the combined junior world rankings. He spent his first years as a professional mostly on the Challenger circuit, where he won eight singles titles and seven doubles titles. His first Grand Slam main draw came at the 2009 French Open, which he reached through qualifying.

A first title and a career-high ranking

In 2011 he won his only ATP doubles title, at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, with Austria’s Oliver Marach. They beat Franco Ferreiro and André Sá 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final. In 2014 he established himself on the tour. He reached the final in Viña del Mar, losing to Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4, and made the fourth round at Wimbledon, his best result on grass. In July came the win over Ferrer in Hamburg. In 2015 he lost the Nice final to Dominic Thiem in a third-set tiebreak, and on 22 June he rose to No. 21 in the ATP rankings, the highest of his career.

Hamburg 2017: champion after losing in qualifying

His second ATP title came by an unusual route. In July 2017 he arrived in Hamburg ranked No. 138 and lost in the deciding match of qualifying. He got into the main draw as a lucky loser when the 2016 champion, Slovakia’s Martin Klizan, withdrew, and did not lose again on his way to the title. On 30 July he beat Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the final. He was the first lucky loser to win an ATP 500 tournament. In 2018 he reached the Hamburg final again and lost to Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 0-6, 7-5.

Davis Cup: 6 hours and 42 minutes

He made his Davis Cup debut for Argentina in 2009. On 8 March 2015 in Buenos Aires he beat Brazil’s João Souza 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 5-7, 5-7, 15-13 in 6 hours and 42 minutes. It is the longest singles match ever played in the Davis Cup.

The 2016 title

Under captain Daniel Orsanic, Argentina opened their 2016 campaign against Poland in Gdansk. Mayer beat Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2, and on 5 March he clinched the tie by beating Michał Przysiężny 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-3. In September, in the semi-final against Great Britain in Glasgow, he beat Daniel Evans in four sets in the fifth and deciding rubber. In the final in Zagreb against Croatia in November, he played doubles with Juan Martín del Potro and they lost to Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig. Argentina won the tie 3-2 to claim their first Davis Cup.

Grand Slams and retirement

On 28 January 2019 he reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 48, and that same month he made the Australian Open doubles semi-finals with Portugal’s João Sousa. Later that year he had his best French Open: he beat Nicolas Mahut in four sets to reach the fourth round, then lost to Roger Federer 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 on 2 June 2019. His best US Open singles result was the third round, in 2012, 2014 and 2017. He played his final ATP tournament at the 2021 Chile Open. On 7 October 2021 he announced his retirement in a public letter, with a singles record of 179 wins and 197 losses. He said goodbye at the Corrientes Challenger in June 2022. Playing doubles on a wild card with Ignacio Monzón, he won his first match 6-4, 6-2 and then lost in the next round to Peru’s Huertas del Pino brothers 6-1, 7-6.