Ricardo Mello (born 21 December 1980) is a Brazilian retired

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. His preference is for

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Clay courts are made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate depending on the tournament. ...

s. He has had the occasional win in

hard court A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and ...

tournaments. His best singles rank was No. 50 in 2005. He won one singles tournament (Delray Beach in 2004) and reached the semifinals three times at the

Brasil Open The Brasil Open was a tennis tournament held annually in São Paulo, Brazil. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series, and was one of the main events in the Brazilian tennis calendar alongside ATP Tour 500 Rio Open. Since 2004, it was a part of th ...

. He played most of his tennis in Challenger tournaments, where he won 15 singles titles and three doubles titles.

Career

Early days

Ricardo was born in

Campinas, Brazil Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...

and started to play tennis at the age of three. At 15, he drew a wild card into a tournament in his hometown. He lost to veteran and

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

winner

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 ...

. However, he gained his first ATP career points. In 1999, Ricardo won his first Futures events in Uruguay and Paraguay.

2004

Mello won his lone ATP title at Delray Beach, defeating

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 ...

in the final.

2006

At the

Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. Open (tennis), U.S. National ...

, Mello played top seed

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...

. Murray was in control of the first set, winning 6–1, but Mello won the second set 6–1. Mello took the third and final to a tiebreak, after having three match points. He lost in the tiebreak 5–7. At the

RCA Championships The Indianapolis Tennis Championships was an annual men's tennis tournament played in Indianapolis as part of the ATP Tour. Since its inaugural playing in 1987, the tournament was held for one week in July up until its final playing in 2009. Or ...

in Indianapolis, Mello faced

Jean-René Lisnard Jean-René Lisnard (born 25 September 1979) is a professional tennis player who represents Monaco, and formerly France. He has been a member of the Monaco Davis Cup team since 2007. He is to date, the only Monegasque tennis player to have won ...

in the first round and won in straight sets. In the second round, he faced 14th seed

and lost.

Sponsorship

The sponsor for his clothes, shoes and racquets was

Babolat Babolat is a French tennis, badminton, and padel equipment company, headquartered in Lyon, best known for its strings and tennis racquets which are used by professional and recreational players worldwide. The company has made strings since 187 ...

ATP Tour Career Finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 30 (21–9)

Doubles: 16 (3–13)

Grand Slam performance timeline

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mello, Ricardo Brazilian male tennis players Sportspeople from Campinas Living people 1980 births Tennis players at the 2011 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Brazil