Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish 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. He achieved his career-high singles
ranking
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.
In 2005, López was the first male Spanish tennis player to reach the quarterfinals of
Wimbledon since 1972. He repeated the feat in 2008 and 2011. López defeated
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...
at the
2007 Wimbledon
The 2007 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 121st edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
second round. Throughout his career, he has played in the most five-set matches that have gone beyond 6–6 in the post-tiebreak era, his longest fifth set being 16–14 at the
2009 Australian Open
The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 Jan ...
against
Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP W ...
.
He reached the quarterfinals of the
2015 US Open, and won his first Grand Slam title at the
2016 French Open
The 2016 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 120th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 22 May to 5 June and consisted of ...
when he won the
men's doubles title with
Marc López
Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013).
Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
. In 2017 at the age of 35 López won the Aegon Championship at
The Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...
, London, beating
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
in a third set tiebreak. He distinguished himself by winning his ATP titles, both in singles and doubles, on all surfaces, hard, grass and clay. During the
2018 Wimbledon Championships
The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and finished on Sunday, ...
, López made his 66th consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearance, surpassing the previous record of 65 consecutive appearances held by
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. As of the
2022 Australian Open
The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...
, his record stands at
79 consecutive Grand Slam appearances and 21 consecutive French Open appearances, also a record. López also holds the record for most losses on the ATP Tour, with 486. On 22 June 2021, he achieved 500 match wins at the
2021 Mallorca Championships
The 2021 Mallorca Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the inaugural edition of the Mallorca Championships, and part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the 2021 ATP Tour. It was held at the Santa Ponsa Te ...
, putting him No. 10 on the list of active players with over 500 match wins. On 13 July 2021 at the
2021 Hamburg European Open
The 2021 Hamburg European Open was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 115th edition of the event for the men and the 19th edition for the women, after last tournament being held in 2002. The to ...
, he became the fifth player in the world to reach 10,000 aces on the
most aces in career list.
With his direct entry in the
2021 Indian Wells, he broke the record with his 139th participation in events in the Masters 1000 category.
Playing style
López is left-handed and uses a single-handed backhand. He is known for his strong serve and ability to play balls repeatedly on the baseline, and is also a confident net player and has been known to serve and volley. Unlike most Spanish players, who almost always prefer clay courts due to the popularity of that surface in their country, López is an exceptionally strong grass-court player, with three quarter-final runs at Wimbledon (his strongest Grand Slam showing), as well as 4 titles on grass at the Eastbourne International in 2013 and 2014 and at the Queen's Club Championships in 2017 and 2019. This is due in part to his more traditional playing style, which is more like grass-court legends
Pete Sampras and
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
than fellow Spaniards
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
and
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
. This traditional arsenal includes a big serve and a willingness to come into the net.
Career
Early years
In 1997, Feliciano López made his pro circuit debut in Mallorca on 29 September, losing in the second round to
Dušan Vemić. In 1998, he made his ATP debut at the
1998 Open SEAT, where he lost to
Jiří Novák
Jiří Novák (; born 22 March 1975) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Career
Novák turned professional in 1993 and won seven singles and 18 doubles ...
in the first round. He then competed on the Challenger circuit, making the quarter-finals of Spain F7 and Spain F8. In 1999, he competed on the Futures and Challenger circuits. He won his first Futures event in Spain F6, beating Pedro Canovas in the final. He also reached one other final, losing to
Réginald Willems at the Spain F7.
In 2000, López competed in only his second ATP tournament at the
2000 Estoril Open, losing to
Juan Antonio Marín. His performance was mediocre on the Challenger circuit, and he reached only two quarter-finals. The next year was a better one for López, as he won his second Futures event in France F3, defeating
Juan Antonio Marín in the final, and reaching the final in Maia, losing to
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
. He also made his first ATP win in the
2001 Chevrolet Cup, defeating
Adrián García
Adrián Alonso García Sobarzo (born May 25, 1978) is a former professional from Chile.
Born in Concepción, Chile, García achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 103 in September 2004. His best achievement in singles was reachi ...
. However, he lost the quarter-final to eventual champion
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...
. He also made his Grand Slam debut at the
2001 French Open
The 2001 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2001 and the 105th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2001.
Seniors
Men's singles
Gustavo Kuerten de ...
, losing to
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá Llompart (; born 27 August 1976) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he was part of his country's succ ...
in straight sets.
2002–2005
In 2002, López competed on the ATP circuit regularly. He started the year with his first semi-final at the
2002 ATP Buenos Aires, losing to
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...
. He followed it up with a quarter-final appearance at the
2002 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, losing to
Antony Dupuis
Antony Dupuis (; born 24 February 1973) is a French retired professional tennis player.
__TOC__
Personal life
Dupuis began playing tennis at the age of nine with his father Xavier. He mentioned in an interview once that he prefers clay and har ...
. He also reached the second round of the Miami Masters, losing to
Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja i Verdegay (; born 11 April 1974) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. During his career, he was twice a major runner-up at the French Open (in 1998 and 2001), won the Tour Finals in 1998, reached a career-high single ...
in the final. He then won his first Grand Slam match at the
2002 French Open
The 2002 French Open was the second Grand Slam event of 2002 and the 106th edition of the French Open. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from late May through early June, 2002.
Both Gustavo Kuerten and Jennifer Capriati ...
, defeating
Didac Pérez in five sets, before losing to third seed
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
in straight sets. In his
Wimbledon debut, he reached the fourth round, losing to
André Sá four sets, after defeating
Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas (; born November 25, 1977), often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. Cañas won the Canada Masters i ...
in five sets with the fifth going to 10–8, in the second round, a match that lasted 3 hours and 40 minutes. This was his first win over a top-20 player. He then gained revenge for his loss to
Sá by defeating him in López's
US Open debut in the first round in straight sets, before losing to
Gastón Gaudio in the next round. He then reached the quarter-finals in Hong Kong and Tokyo. In Tokyo, he defeated
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
in the second round, his first win over a top-5 player. He also reached the third round of the
2002 Madrid Masters, losing to
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...
. He ended the year in the top 100 for the first time, at no. 62.
In 2003, López started the year with first-round exits at Doha and Auckland. He made his Australian Open debut, reaching the third round, but losing to
Younes El Aynaoui
Younes El Aynaoui ( ar, يونس العيناوي) (born 12 September 1971) is a former professional tennis player from Morocco.
He is a five-time singles winner on the ATP Tour and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 in Mar ...
in four sets. He performed badly in the first rounds in Milan, Marseille, and Rotterdam. He then reached the quarter-finals in Dubai, losing to
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés, known as Tommy Robredo (, ; born 1 May 1982), is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the Hamburg Masters ea ...
, and in Estoril, losing to
Max Mirnyi
Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player.
Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...
. He reached the second rounds of
Indian Wells and
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
. In his second French Open, he lost to
Mariano Zabaleta
Mariano Zabaleta (born 28 February 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He had an unusual but effective service motion. His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay. Zabaleta's career highlights ...
in straight sets. He once again reached the fourth round of
Wimbledon, where he lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
in straight sets. He then reached two straight semi-finals in Stuttgart and Kitzbühel, losing both to eventual champion
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...
. He continued his form by reaching the quarter-finals at the
2003 Canada Masters, losing to
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
in straight sets. After early losses in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Long Island, the
US Open, and Moscow, he reached the quarter-finals of Vienna, the
Madrid Masters, and Basel. He ended the year with second-round exit at the
Paris Masters
The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy.
The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association ...
, where he lost to
Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Sebastián Coria (born 13 January 1982), nicknamed ''El Mago'' (''The Magician'' in Spanish), is an Argentine retired professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP world No. 3 singles ranking in May 2004. Coria achieved hi ...
, his fifth lost to Coria. He ended the year ranked no. 28.
In 2004, López began the year with a 1–3 record, losing in the first rounds of Sydney, the
2004 Australian Open
The 2004 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 19 January to 1 February 2004.
Andre Agassi was unsuccessful in defending his 2003 title, being defeated in the semi-finals by Marat Safin. This ended ...
, and Milan, with his only win coming at the Davis Cup. He reached his first final at the
2004 Dubai Open, losing to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. He then reached the second rounds of the
2004 Indian Wells Masters, the
2004 Miami Masters, the
2004 Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, and the
2004 Monte Carlo Masters. He also reached the fourth round of the
2004 French Open
The 2004 French Open was the 108th edition of the tournament. Gastón Gaudio became the first men's Open Era Grand Slam title winner to save two match points in the final; the last time that had happened was 70 years earlier. Gaudio also became t ...
, losing to
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
. This was the furthest he had reached at the French Open. He then lost in the third round of
2004 Wimbledon
The 2004 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 118th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
, losing to tall Croatian
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...
. In his next three tournaments, he reached the second round, in Stuttgart, the
Canada Masters
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, and the
Cincinnati Masters. He also reached the quarter-finals of Kitzbühel, losing to
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player.
His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009.
His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...
. In the
2004 US Open, he reached the third round, before losing to eventual runner-up
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
. Then at the
2004 Bank Austria-TennisTrophy, he won his first title, defeating
Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas (; born November 25, 1977), often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. Cañas won the Canada Masters i ...
in the final. He ended the year with a quarter-final appearance at the
2004 Paris Masters, losing to
Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas (; born November 25, 1977), often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. Cañas won the Canada Masters i ...
. He ended the year at world no. 24.
He started 2005 with quarter-final appearances at the
2005 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, losing to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
, and at the 2005 Medibank International, losing to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
. 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 ...
, he reached the third round, losing to
Joachim Johansson
Joachim Johansson (born 1 July 1982) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He reached the semifinals of the 2004 US Open, won 3 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 9 in February 2005.
Backg ...
in five sets with the fifth set going to 11–13, in a match that lasted almost four hours. This propelled him to world no. 20 and the semi-finals of
2005 Open 13
The 2005 Open 13 was an ATP men's tennis tournament held in Marseille, France. The tournament was held from February 7 to February 14.
Finals Singles
Joachim Johansson defeated Ivan Ljubičić 7–5, 6–4
* It was Johansson's 2nd title of th ...
, once again losing to
Joachim Johansson
Joachim Johansson (born 1 July 1982) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He reached the semifinals of the 2004 US Open, won 3 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 9 in February 2005.
Backg ...
. He then reached the third round of the
2005 Indian Wells Masters, losing to
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
in straight sets, and the quarter-finals of the
2005 Estoril Open
The 2005 Estoril Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. This event was the 16th edition of the Portugal Open, Estoril Open for the men (the 9th for the women), included in the 2005 ATP Tour ATP International Series, Internatio ...
, losing to
Gastón Gaudio in straight sets. He then reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at
2005 Wimbledon, losing to
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
in straight sets. He also reached the quarter-finals in Kitzbühel, losing to
Mariano Zabaleta
Mariano Zabaleta (born 28 February 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He had an unusual but effective service motion. His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay. Zabaleta's career highlights ...
in straight sets. At the
2005 Pilot Pen Tennis, he lost in his third final to
James Blake after winning the first set. He then reached the quarter-finals of the
2005 BA-CA Tennis Trophy, losing to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in straight sets. He ended the year ranked world no. 34.
2006–2008
2006 was a plateau year for López. He suffered early losses throughout the year. However, he did reach the third round of the
2006 Australian Open, losing to
Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career highlights include reaching a Grand S ...
. He reached the third round of the
2006 Nottingham Open, losing to
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...
. He reached the final of the
2006 Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad, losing to
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
. He reached the third round of the
2006 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, losing to eventual runner-up
Andy Murray. He reached the quarter-finals of the
2006 PTT Thailand Open, losing to
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
. He ended the year at world no. 81, 47 spots lower than the previous year.
In 2007, López started the year badly, having a 2–5 record in his first five tournaments, managing a win only at the
2007 Australian Open
The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.
The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competi ...
, losing to
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
, and at the
2007 SAP Open losing to
Vincent Spadea
Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He h ...
. However, he followed it up with a quarter-final appearance at the
2007 Tennis Channel Open, losing to eventual champion
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...
. He then lost in the second round of the
2007 Indian Wells Masters, losing to eventual semi-finalist
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
. He reached the fourth round of the
2007 Miami Masters, losing to eventual champion
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
. He then followed up with a 1–5 record, with his only win coming in the
2007 Open SEAT over compatriot
Guillermo García López
Guillermo García López (, born 4 June 1983) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He has won five singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in February 2011.
As of 2021, he has collected thirteen w ...
. López reached the third round of the
2007 Wimbledon Championships
The 2007 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 121st edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
, losing to
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
, after he ended
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...
's Wimbledon career, beating him in a five-set thriller in the second round, Henman having been two sets up. He then reached the semi-finals of the
2007 Mercedes Cup, losing to eventual champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
. He reached the fourth round of the
2007 US Open, losing to eventual champion
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
, the first set being the fewest games won by Federer in one set in the whole tournament. He followed it up with three straight quarter-finals at the
2007 AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, losing to eventual champion
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
, at the
2007 BA-CA-TennisTrophy, losing to eventual runner-up
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
, and the
2007 Madrid Masters, losing to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. He ended the year ranked world no. 35.
In 2008 López once again had a bad start, but rebounded at the
2008 Dubai Tennis Championships
The 2008 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 16th resp. 8th edition of the Dubai Tennis Championships, and it was part of the International Series Gold of the 2008 ATP Tour, resp. t ...
by reaching the finals, losing to
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
. He then reached the third round of the
2008 Miami Masters
The 2008 Miami Masters (also known as the ''Sony Ericsson Open'' for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 24th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the ATP Masters Series of the 2008 ATP ...
, losing to
Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. At age 12 he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singl ...
. He suffered first-round losses at the next three Masters Series at the
2008 Monte-Carlo Masters
The 2008 Masters Series Monte-Carlo (also known as the ''Masters Series Monte-Carlo presented by ROLEX'' for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 102nd edition of the Monte Carlo Masters, an ...
, the
2008 Rome Masters, and the
2008 Hamburg Masters. However, in the middle of these tournaments, he managed to reach the third round of the
2008 Torneo Godó
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
, losing to eventual champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
. He once again lost early in the first rounds of the
2008 French Open
The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...
and the
2008 Queen's Club Championships. He reached the quarter-finals of the
2008 Wimbledon Championships
The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
, for the second time losing to
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
. He recorded a 2–7 record after Wimbledon with wins coming only at the
2008 Countrywide Classic and at the Davis Cup World Group. He then reached the semi-finals of the
2008 Bank Austria-TennisTrophy, losing to eventual champion
Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner (born 24 March 1984) is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and bursts of speed around the court. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in ...
, the semi-finals of the
2008 Davidoff Swiss Indoors, losing to eventual champion
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
, and the quarter-finals of the
2008 Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid, losing to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
. He also helped the Spanish Davis Cup team to win the title against Argentina by beating
Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
. He ended the year world no. 31.
2009: First Masters semifinal, Davis Cup winner
In 2009, López started the year with a string of first-round losses, in the
2009 Heineken Open to
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
, in the
2009 Australian Open
The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 Jan ...
to
Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP W ...
, and in the
2009 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament to
Julien Benneteau
Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
. He then competed in the
2009 Open 13
The 2009 Open 13 was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 17th edition of the Open 13, and was part of the World Tour 250 tier of the 2009 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Palais des Sports in Marseille, France, ...
and made it to the quarter-finals, before losing to eventual champion
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
. López struggled after this, and at one point he suffered eight straight main-draw losses in a row. In the midst of his bad run, he won a title at the
Open Castilla y León
The Open Castilla y León is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Hard courts, outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ATP Challenger Tour, Challenger Tour and the International ...
Challenger event, beating
Adrian Mannarino
Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 22, attained on 19 March 2018. He won his first ATP Tour singles title at the 2019 Rosmalen Open on grass. He is c ...
in straight sets. At the inaugural
Shanghai Masters, he advanced to his first
Master Series semi-final, beating
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
,
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gera ...
, and
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
en route. However, he retired due to a right ankle injury in his semi-final match against
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
, trailing 1–6, 0–3. Despite his poor year on the ATP tour, López did play a key role for the
Spain Davis Cup team
The Spain men's national tennis team has represented Spain internationally since 1920. Organised by the Real Federación Española de Tenis (RFET), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European association (Tennis Europ ...
, helping them win the
2009 Davis Cup
The 2009 Davis Cup was the 98th edition of the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Sixteen teams participated in the World Group and more than one hundred other took part in different regional groups. Spain won their ...
with doubles wins in the quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals.
2010: Second ATP title
López started his 2010 season by playing in the
2010 Medibank International Sydney, where he lost to eventual runner-up
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
in the first round. He then competed in the
2010 Australian Open, where he reached the third round, defeating
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
and
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
, but lost to seventh seed
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
in a close four-setter.
In the
2010 SA Tennis Open
The 2010 SA Tennis Open was a tennis tournament played on hard courts indoors. It was the 19th edition of the SA Tennis Open and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place in Johannesburg, South Africa fr ...
as the third seed, he beat
Benjamin Balleret
Benjamin Balleret (born 15 January 1983) is a professional tennis player from Monaco. His father, Bernard Balleret, is former tennis player, while his cousin Arthur Rinderknech also plays the sport professionally. Balleret is a member of the M ...
,
Blaž Kavčič, and
Rajeev Ram in the first three rounds, reaching the final after defeating top seed
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. His career hig ...
in the semi-finals. He went on to win the tournament, beating the eighth seed
Stéphane Robert
Stéphane Robert (; born 17 May 1980) is a professional French tennis player.
Career
Coach
From 2001 to March 2010, Ronan Lafaix was Robert's coach. In May 2016, Lafaix, who is 12 years older than Robert, became Robert's coach for the secon ...
. Thus, he ended his five and a half-year title drought and won just his second ATP-level title. His finals record now improved to 2–4. He lost in the first rounds of the
2010 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2010 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the event known as the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2010 AT ...
and
2010 Dubai Tennis Championships. He then reached the third round of the
2010 BNP Paribas Open, losing to sixth seed
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
, after defeating
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu (; born 12 January 1982) is a French former professional tennis player. He won four singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best singles performance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament was reaching the semifinals of the ...
and receiving a bye. He lost to
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
in the third round, after defeating
Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer (born 1 July 1980) is a German retired professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 in May 2010.
Career
2010
He reached the quarterfinal at the Aircel Chennai Open in January, losing t ...
in the
2010 Sony Ericsson Open.
In the European clay season, he lost in the first round of
2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
. He then won his first clay victory of the season by reaching the third round of the
2010 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell
The 2010 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (also known as the ''Torneo Godó'') was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 58th edition of the event known this year as the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, and was part of the AT ...
, losing to
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...
. At the
2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, López reached the quarter-finals, losing to
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
, but upset
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
en route. After he disappointingly lost in the opening round at the
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 114th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through ...
, he appeared at the
2010 Aegon Championships
The 2010 Aegon Championships (also known traditionally as the ''Queen's Club Championships'') was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 108Th edition of the Aegon Championships and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 serie ...
, the first grass tournament of the year. He beat
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
and
Julien Benneteau
Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
. He went on to stun top seed and world no. 1
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
to reach the semi-finals. There, he lost to
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
. In the
2010 Aegon International, he retired against 342nd-ranked Briton
James Ward down 3–6, 4–5. He then played at
2010 Wimbledon, reaching the third round, but losing to
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Gera ...
. He then lost three straight matches, beginning in the semi-finals of the
2010 Farmers Classic
The 2010 Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 84th edition of the Los Angeles Open, and was part of the Olympus US Open Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place at ...
to
Andy Murray, and the first rounds of the
2010 Rogers Cup and the
2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. He reached the fourth round of the
2010 US Open, losing to eventual champion
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
in straight sets. He then ended the year with a five-match losing streak: in the second round of
2010 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships
The 2010 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 37th edition of the event known that year as the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, and was part of the 500 Series of t ...
and the first rounds of the
2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000
The 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the second edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took pla ...
, the
2010 If Stockholm Open, the
2010 Valencia Open 500
The 2010 Valencia Open 500 was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 16th edition of the Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, and was part of the 500 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It was held at the Ciutat de l ...
, and the
2010 BNP Paribas Masters
The 2010 BNP Paribas Masters was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the tournament known that year as the BNP Paribas Masters after the sponsor BNP Paribas. It was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ...
.
2011: Third Wimbledon quarterfinal
López started his 2011 pre-Australian Open preparations at the
2011 Brisbane International
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12
* one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''E ...
and
2011 Medibank International Sydney, but lost early in both tournaments. He then was upset in the second round of the
2011 Australian Open and first round of the
2011 SA Tennis Open by 199th-ranked
Bernard Tomic
Bernard Tomic (; hr, Bernard Tomić, ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player whose career-high ranking was world No. 17. As a junior, Tomic enjoyed a successful career in which he won an Orange Bowl title and two ju ...
and 235th-ranked
Frank Dancevic
Frank Russell Dancevic ( ; sr, Френк Расел Данчевић, Frenk Rasel Dančević, ; born September 26, 1984) is a retired Canadian professional tennis player. He first became the country's top singles player, according to ATP rank ...
. He then lost in the second rounds of the
2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament and the
2011 Dubai Tennis Championships. He lost in the first round of the
2011 BNP Paribas Open, the third round of the
2011 Sony Ericsson Open, and the second round of the
2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. He then reached his first quarter-final of the year at the
2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell
The 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell (also known as the ''Torneo Godó'') was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 59th edition of the event known this year as the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, and was part of the ATP ...
, where he lost to
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
. He reached his first final in over a year at the
2011 Serbia Open in Belgrade, where he lost to
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
. He played a memorable match at the
2011 Mutua Madrid Open, where he lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. López made it to the third round of the
2011 Rome Open, but lost to fellow countryman
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
. López lost in the first round of the
2011 French Open
The 2011 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 115th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 Jun ...
to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
.
López started the grass court season at the
2011 Aegon Open with a second round loss to
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
. At
Wimbledon, López defeated
Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer (born 1 July 1980) is a German retired professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 in May 2010.
Career
2010
He reached the quarterfinal at the Aircel Chennai Open in January, losing t ...
in the first round, former semi-finalist
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler (; born 25 April 1976) is a German former professional tennis player. Schüttler was the runner-up at the 2003 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. He won an Olympic silver medal in doubles ...
in the second round, and former world no. 1 and three-time finalist
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
in the third round. In the fourth round, López stormed back from two sets to love down to take out Polish qualifier
Łukasz Kubot
Łukasz Kubot (; born 16 May 1982) is a Polish professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2014 Australian Open with Robert Lindstedt, as well as the 2017 W ...
. In his third quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon, López lost to world no. 4
Andy Murray in straight sets.
López helped his country in the
2011 Davis Cup
The 2011 Davis Cup (also known as the 2011 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 100th edition of a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Spain was the championship team, winning the final over Argentina, 3–1. ...
by beating American
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
in five sets. He was scheduled to play
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
in the fifth and final match, but Spain was already up 3–1 over the United States. Spain won that year's
Davis Cup without his help, beating Argentina in the December final.
Feliciano made it to the quarter-finals of the
2011 Suisse Open by defeating
Michael Lammer
Michael Lammer (born 25 March 1982) is a retired Swiss professional tennis player. At the 2009 Allianz Suisse Open in Gstaad, he won the doubles tournament with compatriot Marco Chiudinelli. It was his only ATP tour title. and
Daniel Gimeno Traver in the first two rounds. However, he lost to fellow countryman and top seed
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ...
in straight sets. He beat Radek Štěpánek in the first round of the
2011 Rogers Cup, but lost to
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
in the second. He recorded a big win over fellow countryman and former world number one
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
in the first round of the
2011 Western & Southern Open
The 2011 Western & Southern Open, also known as the Cincinnati Open, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, United States. The tournament was a joint men's and women's event, with s ...
. He lost in the following round to
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
. At the
US Open, he lost in the third round, again to Murray.
At the
2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters
The 2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the third edition of the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2011 ATP World Tour. It took place ...
, López beat ninth seed
Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarević ( sr-cyr, Јанко Типсаревић, ; born 22 June 1984) is a Serbian former tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 8, achieved on 2 April 2012. In his career, he won 4 ATP World Tour titles, one AT ...
,
Alex Bogomolov Jr., sixth seed
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
, and
Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer (; born 5 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player.
Mayer reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in June 2011. Also in 2011, Mayer won his first ATP title after four previous defeats in ATP fin ...
, before losing in the semi-finals to third seed
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
.
2012: Australian Open fourth round
López played in Sydney to tune up for the Australian Open. He had a bye in the first round, then lost to
Julien Benneteau
Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
in straight sets in the second.
At the Australian Open, he beat
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
in the third round to set up a match with eventual finalist
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
in the fourth, but succumbed in straight sets.
He reached the semi-finals in Houston, where Isner took his revenge, beating López in three sets with two tie-breakers. In Barcelona, he beat
Flavio Cipolla and
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
, only to fall to compatriot
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
in the quarter-finals. In Munich, he beat Australian
Bernard Tomic
Bernard Tomic (; hr, Bernard Tomić, ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player whose career-high ranking was world No. 17. As a junior, Tomic enjoyed a successful career in which he won an Orange Bowl title and two ju ...
in the quarter-finals, but was defeated by
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
in the semi-finals. After his successes on clay, he had a disappointing grass season. At Wimbledon, he lost to
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles titles ...
in the first round. Back on clay, he made the quarter-finals in Gstaad, only to be beaten by Brazilian
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010.
Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
.
At the
2012 Olympics, he beat Russian
Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a retired Russian tennis player and current tennis coach. At age 12 he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singl ...
and Argentine
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking ...
, but was defeated by Frenchman
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
in straight sets with one tie-breaker.
At the US Open, he beat
Robin Haase
Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player.
He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reache ...
and compatriot
Pablo Andújar
Pablo Andújar Alba (; born 23 January 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Andújar has won four ATP Tour singles titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 32 in July 2015. His best results are reaching the fourth ...
, but could not stand up to eventual champion
Andy Murray in the third round, against whom he lost in four sets with three tie-breakers. In Beijing, he beat Americans
Ryan Harrison
Ryan Harrison (born May 7, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. Harrison has won one career ATP title in singles at the 2017 Memphis Open to go along with four in doubles, including the 2017 French Open.
Before turning 16, Harriso ...
and
Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
, before bowing again to Tsonga, retiring at 1–4 in the second set. In Shanghai, he defeated Kohlschreiber in straight sets to set up a meeting with
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
, to whom he lost in straight sets.
2013: Third ATP title
López played in Sydney as a tune-up event for the
2013 Australian Open. He beat
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French inactive professional tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best Grand Slam performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Austral ...
in the opening round in three sets, but he lost in the second round to
Kevin Anderson in straight sets. At the
Australian Open, he went out in straight sets in the second round to
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
.
In Memphis, López made it to the final, but was turned away by
Kei Nishikori
is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...
. At the
French Open he lost in the third round to compatriot and eventual finalist
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
. The week before Wimbledon, López won his first grass-court title by beating
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
in three sets in the final of the
Aegon International in Eastbourne.
2014: Fourth ATP title
López reached the final of the prestigious
Aegon Championships in June and had a championship point against
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
, but was eventually beaten in a deciding set tiebreak. However, one week later, López successfully defended his
Aegon International title, defeating
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
for the first time in six attempts, 7–5 in the deciding set.
López then continued his impressive grass-court form into the third Grand Slam of the year, Wimbledon. He saw off both
Yūichi Sugita
is a Japanese tennis player. He has won one ATP singles title, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 36 on 9 October 2017.
Career
Juniors
As a junior Sugita compiled a win–loss record of 34–19 (and 26–18 in doubles), ...
and
Ante Pavić
Ante Pavić (; born 7 March 1989) is an inactive Croatian professional tennis player. His highest singles ranking is No. 132 achieved on 13 October 2014. He qualified for the main draw in the 2014 French Open after saving a match point in the fina ...
in straight sets in the first and second rounds, respectively. He then met
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
in the third round. It was a match dominated by serve. López fought back from a set down to win 3 sets to 1, securing the first break of serve in the match in the penultimate game. López thus progressed to the fourth round, where he met
Stan Wawrinka, the fifth seed. López lost, despite having several set points in the second-set tiebreak.
López won over seeded players
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
and
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
at the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
to reach his third Masters 1000 semi-final, after which he lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. At the
2014 US Open, he was defeated by
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest ...
in the third round. The Spaniard claimed wins over
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
,
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ...
, and
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
at the
2014 Shanghai Masters, then lost the semi-final match to
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
.
2015: Career high singles ranking
López made the fourth round of the
2015 Australian Open
The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Stan Wawrinka was the def ...
, losing to
Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in five sets. He then entered the new
ATP 250 event, the
Ecuador Open
The Ecuador Open is a men's professional golf tournament held in Ecuador. The tournament was re-inaugurated as an event on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica in 2014 and the inaugural winner was Tyler McCumber
Mark Tyler McCumber (born April 4, 1991) ...
in
Quito, Ecuador
Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley on ...
and reached the final, losing to
Víctor Estrella Burgos
Víctor Estrella Burgos (; born August 2, 1980) is a retired Dominican professional tennis player. In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 in the ATP rankings. He also became the first Dominican player to reach the sem ...
. López lost in the first round of the
2015 French Open
The 2015 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 119th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 24 May to 7 June and consisted of ...
.
2016: French Open doubles title, Fifth ATP title
In 2016 Lopez achieved one of the greatest highlights of his career by winning the French Open doubles championship along with compatriot
Marc López
Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013).
Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
.
On 6 September 2016, López was part of the last match ever played in the old
Louis Armstrong Stadium
Louis Armstrong Stadium is a 14,000-seat tennis stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, one of the venues of the US Open. It opened for the 2018 US Open as a replacement for the 1978 stadium of the same n ...
at the
US Open. Alongside his partner
Marc López
Marc López Tarrés (, ; born 31 July 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player and coach. His career-high ATP singles ranking was world No. 106 (May 2004) and world No. 3 in doubles (January 2013).
Partnering Feliciano López, M ...
, they defeated
the Bryan brothers
The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...
(
Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
* Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname ...
and
Mike
Mike may refer to:
Animals
* Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum
* Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off
* Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...
) in the quarter-finals of the men's doubles tournament, the score 7–6
(7–2), 4–6, 6–3. The pair eventually lost in the semi-finals against fellow countrymen
Pablo Carreño Busta
Pablo Carreño Busta (; born 12 July 1991) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 11 September 2017. He also reached a bes ...
and
Guillermo García López
Guillermo García López (, born 4 June 1983) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He has won five singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23 in February 2011.
As of 2021, he has collected thirteen w ...
in straight sets.
2017: Sixth ATP title
López started the year representing Spain in the
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...
, along with
Lara Arruabarrena
Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (; born 20 March 1992) is a former professional tennis player from Spain. On 3 July 2017, she reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of 52, and her best doubles ranking is world No. 28, set on 22 February 2016. Arr ...
, but didn't make it past the round robin. In the
Auckland Open, he was seeded 6th and won in the first round to
Michael Venus, in three sets, but withdrew in the second round to
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French inactive professional tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best Grand Slam performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Austral ...
.
He lost in the first round of the
2017 Australian Open to
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. He is currently ranked (July 2022) in 64th place by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
in straight sets, where he achieved the wooden spoon. In the
Open Sud de France
The Open Sud de France (formerly known as the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon) is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour. It was held annually at the Palais des ...
, he beat
Julien Benneteau
Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
in three sets in the first round but then lost to
Benoît Paire in the second round. López appeared at the
2017 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2017 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (or Rotterdam Open) was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It took place at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, between 13 and 19 February 2017. It was the 44th ed ...
but lost to
Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Pierre-Hugues Herbert (; born 18 March 1991) is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Op ...
in the first round. López also appeared in the
2017 Abierto Mexicano Telcel but lost in the first round to
Jordan Thompson.
At the
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is ...
he lost in the second round to
Dušan Lajović.
In June López won the Men's Singles title at
Queen's Club Championships
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
(the Aegon Championships at The Queen's Club, London), beating Marin Čilić 4–6, 7–6
(7–2), 7–6
(10–8), which was his sixth career title and third on grass.
2018–2019: Singles and Doubles title at Queens Club, Davis Cup winner
After a disappointing 2018 in which he failed to progress beyond the quarterfinals in any of the tournaments he played, López went through the first few months with defeats to younger opponents. His year began with a first-round loss to Jordan Thompson at the Australian Open, then continued with a loss to Denis Istomin at Delray Beach in the first round, a defeat by Alex de Minaur at the Acapulco Open, and second-round defeats to Karen Khachanov and Grigor Dimitrov at Indian Wells and Miami, respectively before finishing out the North American hard court tour with a loss to Alexander Bublik in the quarterfinals at Monterrey.
The clay court season was also unfruitful with first-round losses in each of the tournaments he entered. This culminated with losses to Thomas Fabbiano in the Monte Carlo qualifying rounds, Fernando Verdasco in Barcelona, Damir Džumhur in Geneva, and Ivo Karlović at Roland Garros.
The grass-court season was much more productive, as he made the round of 16 at Surbiton, losing to Ivo Karlović, then made the round of 32 at Stuttgart, losing to Lucas Pouille. He then won both the singles and doubles titles at the Queens Club Championships with a three-set singles win over Gilles Simon and a champion tie-break doubles win (partnering with
Andy Murray) over Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.
2021: Record Grand Slam & Masters appearances, 500th win, out of Top 100
At the
2021 Australian Open
The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It w ...
Lopez reached the third round for the ninth time in his career defeating Australian wildcard
Li Tu and 31st seed
Lorenzo Sonego
Lorenzo Sonego (; born 11 May 1995) is an Italian professional tennis player. Sonego has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 21 achieved on 4 October 2021. He has a career high ATP doubles ranking of No. 60 achieved on 12 September 202 ...
in five sets. He was the oldest player to win a major match from two sets down since Ken Rosewall at the 1974 Wimbledon Championships. He also was the oldest player to reach the third round of the Australian Open since 1978. Melbourne was the 75th Grand Slam he has played in a row, having not missed one since the 2002 French Open. He lost to seventh seed
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (russian: Андрей Андреевич Рублёв; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (AT ...
.
He lost in the first round at the
2021 Wimbledon Championships
The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to cl ...
to 26th seed
Daniel Evans but attained also a new record when he appeared in his 77th consecutive Grand Slam. Lopez played his 138th Masters 1000 tournament at the
2021 National Bank Open. As a result, he tied Roger Federer for the most appearances at the Masters’ events.
At the
2021 US Open he was eliminated in the first round by fellow countryman and qualifier
Bernabé Zapata Miralles in a five set match. This was his 78th appearance in a consecutive Slam and 79th overall. As a result, he dropped out of the top 100 to No. 110 on 20 September 2021, his 40th birthday.
Lopez played his 139th Masters 1000 tournament at the
2021 Indian Wells Masters. As a result, he now owns the record for the most appearances in the Masters 1000 category.
During
2021 Davis Cup Finals
The Finals, formerly known as World Group, was the highest level of Davis Cup competition in 2021. It was held on indoor hard courts at three venues in Innsbruck, Austria, Madrid, Spain and Turin, Italy. The 2020 edition was originally scheduled ...
, he represented
Spanish Davis Cup team in both singles and doubles. He won both his singles matches. In the tie against
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, aged 40, he won his tie against world number 5,
Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (russian: Андрей Андреевич Рублёв; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (AT ...
, which is only the second time in
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
history that a player aged 40+ managed to beat a top 5 player. Before Lopez, the only other 40+ player who managed to beat a top 5 ranked player was
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
, who, at the age of 42 scored a win against
Vitas Gerulaitis
Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player, known as Vitas Gerulaitis. In 1975, he won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering with Sandy Mayer. He won the men's singles ...
at
1977 Sidney Indoors.
2022: Record 79th consecutive & 81th overall Major appearances, Sixth doubles title, out of Top 500
In January, at
2022 Australian Open
The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...
, Feliciano lost in the first round in four sets to home favorite
John Millman
John H. Millman OLY (born 14 June 1989) is an Australian professional tennis player and commentator. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in October 2018. He has won one ATP title in his career.
Personal life
Millman ...
. It was his record
79th consecutive Grand Slam appearance and
80th overall putting him one Major away from Roger Federer’s record of 81 overall appearances.
In February, he won the
Mexican Open doubles tournament partnering with
Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He failed to qualify for the
2022 French Open
The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair ...
ending his consecutive appearances streak at this Major, also a record of 21, and overall in Majors. At the same tournament in doubles however, he reached the third round partnering
Maxime Cressy
Maxime Cressy (born May 8, 1997) is a French-American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 31 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on August 8, 2022. He has been ranked as high as wo ...
.
With his participation in the
2022 Wimbledon Championships
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tier tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title ...
he made his 81st main draw Grand Slam appearance, equaling Roger Federer's record. He was beaten in the first round by the 21st seed
Botic van de Zandschulp
Botic van de Zandschulp (; born 4 October 1995) is a Dutch professional tennis player. Van de Zandschulp has a career high ranking of world No. 22 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 29 August 2022. He is the ...
. Due to the ATP decision that Wimbledon will not be awarded ranking points and therefore players could not defend points from 2021, Feliciano automatically fell out of top 250, regardless of his Wimbledon result.
Modelling and endorsements
López has appeared as a model for the likes of
Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss AG, often styled as BOSS, is a luxury fashion house headquartered in Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company sells clothing, accessories, footwear, and fragrances. Hugo Boss is one of the largest German clothing companies, ...
and
Elle
''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
, and endorses
Braun shavers and
L'Oréal
L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...
products. He has professed to dislike being called a model, however, and states that he wants to be seen only as a tennis player. He has been endorsed by
Ellesse
Ellesse is an Italian sport apparel company originally founded in 1959 in Umbria, Italy. It has been part of the British Pentland Group since 1987.
History
Ellesse was founded by Leonardo "Mantis" Servadio on 19 June 1959 in Perugia, Umbria, Ita ...
tennis clothing since 2016; before that,
Joma
Joma () is a Spanish sports clothing manufacturer that currently produces footwear and clothing for football, futsal, handball, basketball, volleyball, running, tennis, and padel. Its headquarters are located in Portillo de Toledo, Spain.
Histo ...
was his endorser and
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
endorses his shoes.
Personal life
López was born in
Toledo and now lives in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. Feliciano grew up with his brother Victor who also played professional tennis.
He was married to model Alba Carrillo from July 2015 to March 2017. The couple had been separated since June 2016.
He married model Sandra Gago in September 2019, and their first child was born in 2021.
On 30 November 2017, López was announced as the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
tournament director, commencing in 2019.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timeline
Singles
''Current through the
2022 US Open.''
Doubles
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Olympic medal finals
Doubles: 1 (1 fourth place)
Records
* These records were attained in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
.
* Records in bold indicate peerless achievements.
* Records in ''italics'' are currently active streaks.
Notes
References
External links
*
Profiles
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Feliciano
1981 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Toledo, Spain
Spanish male tennis players
Tennis players from Castilla–La Mancha
Olympic tennis players of Spain
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
French Open champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles
Spanish male models
Hopman Cup competitors