Santiago Giraldo · Biography

In April 2014, Santiago Giraldo Salazar (born 27 November 1987 in Pereira, Colombia) reached the final of the Barcelona Open after beating Nicolás Almagro in the semi-finals, and a few weeks later he made the quarter-finals of the Madrid Masters 1000. That spring on clay shaped the career of a right-handed player with a two-handed backhand, standing 1.88 metres, who on 29 September 2014 reached No. 28 in the ATP rankings, his career-high in singles. He played two ATP singles finals and one doubles final, represented Colombia in the Davis Cup from 2006 to 2020 and competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Early steps from Pereira

Giraldo grew up in Pereira, in Colombia's coffee region, and earned his first ATP ranking point in 2003 at a Futures event in Medellín, while still a teenager. The following years were spent on the Futures and Challenger circuits, the usual ladder for South American players with few big tournaments close to home. At that level he won thirteen singles titles, ten of them Challengers, and built a baseline game that worked best on clay, the surface of his finest results. In 2006 he made his debut for Colombia's Davis Cup team, a commitment that would last almost fifteen years.

Establishing himself on the ATP Tour (2010-2012)

The 2010 season made him a regular in main draws. At the Australian Open he beat Tommy Robredo in the first round, and at the Rome Masters 1000 he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-0, 6-3. That year, in Colombia's Davis Cup tie against Canada, he beat Milos Raonic in four sets and also Steven Diez, as Colombia won 4-1; against the United States he defeated Sam Querrey before losing to Mardy Fish. In February 2011 he played his first ATP final, in Viña del Mar: seeded eighth, he got past Jorge Aguilar, Juan Ignacio Chela and Potito Starace, then lost the title match to Robredo, who won 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5).

In 2012 he had his best French Open run, reaching the third round. In March he had beaten Kei Nishikori in the second round at Indian Wells, and in July he and Robert Farah reached the doubles final in Gstaad, losing to Marcel Granollers and Marc López 6-4, 7-6 (9). Weeks later he represented Colombia at the London 2012 Olympics, beating Ryan Harrison in the first round before falling to Steve Darcis in the second.

The spring of 2014

In Barcelona in April 2014, Giraldo entered the draw unseeded. He beat Igor Sijsling, then Fabio Fognini, who retired during their match, and Philipp Kohlschreiber, who also pulled out, before defeating Almagro in the semi-finals. In the Barcelona final he lost to Nishikori 6-2, 6-2. The run continued at the Madrid Masters 1000, where he beat Lleyton Hewitt, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray, then ranked eighth in the world, whom he defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the third round for his first win over a top-10 player. In the quarter-finals he lost to Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-4. In June he reached the third round at Wimbledon, and on 29 September he climbed to No. 28.

The final seasons

In 2015 he again reached the third round at Wimbledon, beat Marin Čilić, then ranked tenth, in the quarter-finals in Geneva, and on 8 June hit his doubles career-high of No. 77. In 2017 he reached the second round of the US Open, his best result in New York, and that same year announced a partial retirement after poor results and physical problems. He remained available for the Davis Cup: in 2018 he lost to Thiago Monteiro in the tie against Brazil in Barranquilla, and in 2019 he beat Elias Ymer 6-2, 6-4 against Sweden. His last match came in March 2020, again in the Davis Cup, against Argentina, a defeat to Juan Ignacio Londero.

Retirement and career numbers

On 6 October 2020 he announced his retirement from professional tennis. He finished with 168 tour-level match wins, two singles finals (Viña del Mar 2011 and Barcelona 2014), one doubles final (Gstaad 2012) and US$4,541,251 in prize money. In the Davis Cup, which he played from 2006 to 2020, his singles record was 27 wins and 19 losses.