Diego Ayala (born April 29, 1979) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from the United States.

Biography

Early life

Born in Argentina, Ayala grew up in southern Florida and competed for the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in college tennis. As a young player on the junior circuit he had a win over

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

, at the 1997 Coffee Bowl competition.

Professional career

Ayala turned professional in 1998 and played most of his top level tennis in the doubles format, in which he reached as high as 100 in the world. At the 2003 RCA Championships in Indianapolis he made the first and only final of his ATP Tour career. He and

Robby Ginepri Robert Louis Ginepri ( ; born October 7, 1982) is a retired American professional tennis player. He won three ATP singles titles in his career and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 15 in December 2005. Ginepri's best Grand Slam result ...

defeated the second and third seeded pairings en route to the final, where they faced

Mario Ančić Mario Ančić (; born 30 March 1984) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who currently works as a private equity vice president in New York City. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking c ...

and

Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram ( he, אנדי רם; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam ...

. Ayala and Ginepri took the first set, then lost the second in a tiebreak, before losing a close final 5–7 in the third set. He also made it into the singles main draw, as a qualifier. In 2004 he featured in the men's doubles at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...

with

Brian Vahaly Brian Vahaly (born July 19, 1979) is an American former professional tennis player and a graduate of University of Virginia. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2003 Indian Wells Masters (defeating world no. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero en route) an ...

, as lucky losers. The pair were beaten in the first round by

David Škoch David Škoch (born 6 November 1976) is a professional doubles tennis player from the Czech Republic. He was the Wimbledon boys' singles champion in 1992. In 2012–2019 he played in ITF tournaments with Petr Nouza, recently in May 2019 in Jabl ...

and

Álex López Morón Álex López Morón (born 28 November 1970) is a retired professional male tennis player from Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Pl ...

. He won a total of three

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

titles, all in doubles.

Coaching

Ayala has coached

and

Jelena Janković Jelena Janković ( sr-Cyrl, Јелена Јанковић, ; born 28 February 1985) is a Serbian former tennis player. A former world No. 1, Janković reached the top ranking before her career-best major performance, a runner-up finish at the ...

. He worked with

Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...

at the

2005 Australian Open The 2005 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 until 30 January 2005. Roger Federer was unsuccessful in defending his 2004 title, being defeated in the semi-finals by eventual champion Marat Safin ...

where she reached the quarter-finals. His association with Bouchard had begun when she was a junior and Ayala coached her at the

Saviano Saviano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 25 km northeast of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 15,114 and an area of 13.8 km2.All demogra ...

Academy.

ATP Tour career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Challenger titles

Doubles: (3)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Diego 1979 births Living people American male tennis players American tennis coaches Miami Hurricanes men's tennis players Argentine emigrants to the United States Sportspeople from Córdoba, Argentina Tennis people from Florida