HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

João Pedro Coelho Marinho de Sousa (born 30 March 1989), known as João Sousa (), is a Portuguese former professional
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 28 on 16 May 2016 and a doubles ranking of No. 26 on 13 May 2019. Continuously ranked in the world's top-100 between July 2013 and March 2021, and with four
ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
singles titles, Sousa is often regarded as the best Portuguese tennis player of all time. He is nicknamed ''Conquistador'' (Portuguese for "Conqueror") for sharing his birthplace of
Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...
with Afonso I, the country's first king. Sousa is coached by former player Frederico Marques and practices at the BTT Tennis Academy in Barcelona.Sousa began playing tennis at the age of seven. After winning national youth titles, he decided at the age of fifteen to invest in his career by moving to Barcelona. After an unimpressive junior career, Sousa turned professional in 2008 and won his first singles tournament in 2009. He started playing in the
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
in 2008, winning his first tournament at this level in 2011. Sousa debuted in the top-level ATP World Tour in 2008, and rose to prominence at the 2013 Malaysian Open, where he became the first Portuguese player to win a World Tour-level singles tournament. Sousa holds several Portuguese men's tennis records. In October 2013, he ranked 49th in the world after his victory at the Malaysian Open, becoming the first Portuguese player to break into the singles top 50. In November 2015, Sousa reached a career-high and Portuguese-best ranking of World  33, following his second ATP World Tour singles title at the Valencia Open. In May 2016, he improved his personal ranking best, becoming the first Portuguese player to enter the top 30 at World No. 28, as a result of reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter-finals in Madrid. In 2014, he was the first Portuguese player to compete exclusively at the ATP World Tour in a single season; the first to be seeded in a Grand Slam tournament ( 2014 US Open); and the second to reach the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam event ( 2015 US Open doubles). Sousa is the fourth Portuguese player to reach the singles top 100, and the second to do so in both singles and doubles rankings, after
Nuno Marques Nuno Miguel Bacelar de Vasconcelos Marques (born 9 April 1970) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese former tennis player. He was the first Portuguese to reach the top 100 ATP rankings and held the record of highest ranked Portuguese player in hist ...
. He is also the Portuguese player with the largest career prize money, and the most wins at Grand Slam singles tournaments.


Early and personal life

João Sousa was born on 30 March 1989 in
Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...
, Portugal, to Armando Marinho de Sousa, a judge and amateur tennis player, and Adelaide Coelho Sousa, a bank clerk. Sousa has a younger brother named Luís Carlos. At age seven, Sousa began playing tennis with his father at a local club. In 2001, he won the national under-12 singles title, beating future
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
partner
Gastão Elias Gastão José Ministro Elias (; born 24 November 1990) is a Portuguese professional tennis player, who competes on the ATP Challenger Tour. In October 2016, he reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 57 to become the third highest-ran ...
in the semifinals, and was runner-up in doubles. In 2003, he partnered with Elias to win the national under-14 doubles title. Sousa also played
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
at local clubs Vitória de Guimarães – of which he is a keen supporter – and Os Sandinenses until the age of 14, when he decided to give up on football and the goal of studying medicine to pursue a professional tennis career. He briefly joined the National Tennis Training Center in
Maia Maia (; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, ; ), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus. Family Maia is the daughter of A ...
until he was forced to leave after its closure. In September 2004, aged 15, Sousa moved to
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, Spain, to attend a boarding school and join the Catalan Tennis Federation. A year later, he joined the BTT Tennis Academy, which was recommended to him by former member and countryman Rui Machado. He was first coached by Álvaro Margets, under the supervision of one of his mentors, Francisco Roig. At the academy, he met and shared a flat with his future coach, Frederico Marques. Sousa continues to practice at BTT, even after joining the
ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
. During his youth, Sousa's idols were
Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...
,
Juan Carlos Ferrero Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former professional tennis player and current coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Pro ...
, and
Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, as well as English, French and Italian. Since 2008, Sousa has been dating Júlia Villanueva, whom he met during his training in Barcelona. Sousa and his family manage the Conquistador Palace hotel in his hometown of Guimarães. The hotel opened on November 13, 2021.


Tennis career


Pre-2008: Junior years

Sousa made his debut in a junior tournament in August 2004 at the Grade 4 Taça Diogo Nápoles in
Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
, reaching the semifinals. His first junior doubles title came in April 2005 at a Grade 4 tournament in
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...
, where he also reached his first junior singles final. Though he never won a singles title on the junior circuit, Sousa reached three singles finals and won five doubles titles, including a Grade 2 tournament in France. In 2005 Sousa was runner-up at the Portugal under-16 National Championship, losing in the final to Gastão Elias. He had previously won the doubles title at the 2004 edition in the same age category. Sousa peaked at number 61 in the world junior rankings in early 2007, shortly after entering the main draw of the 2006 Orange Bowl. His only participation at a junior Grand Slam was short-lived; he lost in the first qualifying round of the 2007 French Open Boys' Singles tournament. Sousa's last junior tournament was the European Junior Championships in Austria in July 2007. Despite not having turned professional before 2008, Sousa made his debut at a senior tournament in October 2005 after entering as a wild card in the main draw of a Futures doubles tournament in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. His first win as a senior came at a Futures doubles tournament, in August 2006 in
Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...
, and his debut singles tournament participation and win both came in May 2007 at a Futures tournament in
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
, Spain. Sousa would not go beyond quarterfinals at any Futures event until 2008.


2008–2012: Early career

In 2008, Sousa began the season by winning his first professional title at the final of a Futures doubles tournament in
Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...
. He reached two more doubles finals that year, winning a second title in August in Bakio. The biggest achievement in his 2008 campaign came at the Estoril Open. Entering through qualifying rounds, Sousa made his debut at the main draw of an
ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...
-level tournament. He had his first ATP win over Austrian
Oliver Marach Oliver Marach (born 16 July 1980) is a former Austrian professional tennis player who primarily specialised in doubles. He achieved his highest singles ranking of world No. 82 in August 2005, but achieved most of his success in doubles where he ...
, losing to Frederico Gil in the second round. Sousa also started playing at the
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
and for the Portugal Davis Cup team in 2008. He played two singles dead rubbers, winning over Cyprus' Eleftherios Christou in July and losing to Ukraine's Illya Marchenko in September. Besides winning two more Futures doubles titles in three finals in
Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...
and Espinho, Sousa reached his first four singles finals at the same level in 2009. He won the title in the
La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...
final. At the Estoril Open, Sousa was granted a wild card to participate in his first doubles ATP World Tour level tournament, but lost in the first round. During 2009, Sousa was twice called to the Portugal Davis Cup team, winning both singles dead rubbers he took part in – over Philippos Tsangaridis from Cyprus in March and Algeria's Sid-Ali Akkal in July. In 2010, Sousa won his first Challenger title at the Tampere's doubles tournament in August. In the 2010 season, Sousa did not enter any ATP tournament; he began shifting his schedule increasingly from the Futures circuit to the Challenger tour. He was more successful in the Futures, winning three singles titles in four finals at Valldoreix,
Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
and
Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...
, and doubles titles in Lanzarote, Córdoba and two in Tenerife. At the Davis Cup, Sousa played two more dead rubbers, winning for the second time in three seasons over Cyprus' Christou and losing to Bosnian
Damir Džumhur Damir Džumhur ( ; born 20 May 1992) is a Bosnian professional tennis player. His career-best singles ATP ranking of World No. 23, achieved on 2 July 2018, makes him the highest-ranked tennis player from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently Bos ...
. Sousa reached several milestones in 2011. At the Challenger Tour, he won his first singles title at that level in
Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...
in June. At the ATP World Tour, Sousa participated as a wildcard in the singles and doubles events in
Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
, losing in the second round of the former to Canadian
Milos Raonic Milos Raonic ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...
. He also made his first attempt at entering the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, but fell in the qualifying rounds at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
,
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
and the US Open. In October, Sousa's participation at the
Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...
Futures was his last presence in the main draw of a tournament in that category. He won three more singles and one doubles Futures titles, making his career titles at this level seven singles and nine doubles titles. Once again, Sousa was called for two dead rubbers at Davis Cup, winning over
Martin Kližan Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April 2015, and No. 73 in doubles, achieved on 4 May 2015. He won the 2006 French Ope ...
from
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
and losing to Switzerland's
Marco Chiudinelli Marco Chiudinelli (born 10 September 1981) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. A member of Switzerland's winning 2014 Davis Cup squad, he reached his highest singles ranking of 52 in February 2010 during a career that was often hindered ...
. In October 2011, he hired Frederico Marques as a coach when he was ranked world No. 220. At the 2012 Estoril Open, Sousa reached the quarterfinals of an ATP tour tournament for the first time, losing to
Albert Ramos Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street mark ...
. At the 2012 French Open, he made his debut as a qualifier in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. He would lose in the first round to 20th seed
Marcel Granollers Marcel Granollers Pujol (; ; born 12 April 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 6 May 2024, becoming the second Spanish man to achieve the feat (after Emilio Sánchez Vicari ...
in four sets. He did not progress past the qualifying rounds at the other three Grand Slam tournaments. He also entered main draw events at the Barcelona Open (lost to Frederico Gil in the 2nd round) and the Croatia Open (lost to
Matthias Bachinger Matthias Bachinger (born 2 April 1987) is a German former tennis player who played professionally from 2005 to 2023. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 85, achieved in August 2011. Professional career In 2007, Bachinger qualified for ...
in the 1st round). At Challenger tournaments, Sousa won two singles titles out of three finals –
Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...
and Tampere – and one doubles title at Fürth. His role at the 2012 Davis Cup rose in importance. Sousa played his first doubles rubber against
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, partnering with Gastão Elias in a loss against
Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram (; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam event. Ram first ...
and
Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich (; born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Men's doubles, 2008 Aus ...
. Ram also beat Sousa in a dead rubber – his last as of 2016. In September, Sousa played three rubbers against Slovakia. He won the first singles match over Lukáš Lacko but lost the doubles with Elias and his second singles match to Martin Kližan, meaning Portugal's relegation from Europe/Africa Zone Group I to Group II in 2013. In this same month, Sousa became the top-ranked Portuguese tennis player for the first time, at No. 107. In October, his world ranking rose to No. 99, and Sousa became the fourth Portuguese player to enter the ATP top-100 singles ranking after
Nuno Marques Nuno Miguel Bacelar de Vasconcelos Marques (born 9 April 1970) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese former tennis player. He was the first Portuguese to reach the top 100 ATP rankings and held the record of highest ranked Portuguese player in hist ...
, Frederico Gil and Rui Machado.


2013: Breakthrough in the ATP

Sousa started the 2013 season with his first participation in ATP tour level hardcourt tournaments at the Chennai Open and the
Sydney International The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
. Despite being knocked out of both tournaments in the first round, he returned to the top-100 world rankings. At the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, Sousa won his first Grand Slam on his second attempt, following a first-round win over wildcard
John-Patrick Smith John-Patrick Tracey "JP" Smith (born 24 January 1989) is an Australian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 108 on 28 September 2015, and his highest doubles ranking of N ...
. He lost to world number three
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in straight sets in the second round. In February, Sousa participated in the Portugal Davis Cup team in their Europe/Africa Zone Group II tie against
Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
. He won his singles match against Loic Didavi and the doubles match partnering with Pedro Sousa. Portugal won the tie 5–0 and progressed to the second round. Sousa then played his first clay court tournaments of the season at the Chile Open and ATP Buenos Aires, where he again lost in the first round. At the Mexican Open, he defeated former top 10
Jürgen Melzer Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian tennis coach and 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 youn ...
in the first round, but lost in the second round to
Santiago Giraldo Santiago Giraldo Salazar (, born 27 November 1987) is a Colombian former professional tennis player. He played on the ATP tour and represented Colombia Davis Cup team, Colombia in the Davis Cup competition. His best tournament result is reachi ...
. Despite failing to qualify for the Indian Wells Masters, Sousa entered for the first time in his career in the main draw of a Masters event at the Miami Masters. He lost in the first round to former world number 1
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...
in straight sets. Sousa did not play in April after fracturing his left foot during a Davis Cup training session. He was scheduled to return as a wild card at the Portugal Open. His invitation was given to world number 4
David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...
instead, which stirred some controversy in Portuguese media. Later in the season, Sousa showed uncertainties about his future Portugal Open participation, which prompted tournament director João Lagos to comment on the contention. Ahead of the 2014 edition, the controversy was no longer an issue. Sousa returned to action at the Madrid Masters qualifying rounds and at his first Challenger tournament of the season in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, but he lost early in these attempts. At the 2013 French Open, Sousa won his first round match over Go Soeda in straight sets, and lost in the second round to Spaniard
Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
. He returned to the Challenger circuit with a singles title at
Fürth Fürth (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Middle Franconia. It is the Franconia#Towns and cities, s ...
and an early loss at
Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...
. It was also his second title in Fürth, after the triumph in 2011. Sousa missed the
2013 Wimbledon Championships The 2013 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 127th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
main draw after losing in the third qualifying round to Julian Reister. He would also lose in the qualifying rounds of the doubles competition, while partnering with
Teymuraz Gabashvili Teymuraz Besikovich Gabashvili ( rus, Теймураз Бесикович Габашвили, , tɛɪ̯mʊˈraz ɡəbɐˈʂvʲilʲɪ; born 23 May 1985) is a Russian-Georgian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of Wo ...
. In July, he played exclusively in Challenger tournaments, being runner-up in singles and doubles in San Benedetto, re-entering the top 100 rankings, which he has maintained ever since. He won the singles title in his hometown
Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...
. This remains his last participation at the ATP Challenger Tour, having won five singles and two doubles titles at the level. After losing in the qualifying rounds of the
Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
, Sousa returned to the ATP World Tour at the
Winston-Salem Open The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional tennis tournament played on the ATP Tour at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in 2011 and is part of the ATP 250 tour ...
in August, losing to Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the second round. In his first US Open appearance, Sousa reached the third round after defeating 25th seed
Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
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 ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...
in back-to-back 5-set matches. He ended his campaign losing to world No. 1
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
. This was his best result at Grand Slams yet. In September, Sousa joined Portugal's Davis Cup team to face
Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
in the semifinals of Europe/Africa Zone Group II. He won his first singles match over Maxim Dubarenco and the doubles match with Gastão Elias. He lost his second singles match to Radu Albot in an epic five-set duel which lasted nearly five hours. Portugal won 3–2 and was promoted to Group I in
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
. Following early-round wins over
Paolo Lorenzi Paolo Lorenzi (; born 15 December 1981) is an Italian former professional tennis player and former Italian number 1. He was coached by Claudio Galoppini. At the age of 34 years and seven months, Lorenzi became the oldest first-time champion in AT ...
and
Sergiy Stakhovsky Sergiy Eduardovych Stakhovsky (, ; born January 6, 1986) is a Ukrainian former professional tennis player. Stakhovsky turned professional in 2003 and played mostly at the Challenger level from 2005 to 2008. His career-high rankings were World No ...
at the St. Petersburg Open, Sousa beat former ATP top 20 player
Dmitry Tursunov Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a Russian tennis coach and former player. At age 12, he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singles ranking is w ...
in the quarterfinals to advance to his first career ATP tour semifinal. He would lose there to Guillermo García López. Sousa's breakthrough title came at the Malaysian Open, in the early rounds of which he defeated Ryan Harrison and
Pablo Cuevas Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is a Uruguayan tennis coach and a former professional player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open – Men's doubles, 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna, and was especially noted t ...
. In the quarterfinals, Sousa defeated world No. 4 David Ferrer in straight set; Sousa's first career win over a top-10 player. Then, he qualified to his first ATP tour level final after getting past Jürgen Melzer in three sets. Sousa beat Frenchman
Julien Benneteau Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 25 and doubles ranking of No. 5 in November 2014. Benneteau did not win a singles ti ...
in three sets in the final after saving one match point, becoming the first Portuguese player to win an ATP World Tour singles tournament. He also became the highest ranked Portuguese ever, climbing from No. 77 to No. 51. The previous record holder was Rui Machado, who was world No. 59 in 2011. Sousa officially entered the top 50 for the first time on 7 October 2013. In October, Sousa had a first-round loss at the Kremlin Cup and a second round appearance at the Valencia Open. After beating Guillermo García López in the first round, Sousa lost to 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist
Jerzy Janowicz Jerzy Filip Janowicz Jr. (; born 13 November 1990) is a Polish inactive professional tennis player and padel player. Janowicz is best known for becoming the first Polish man to reach a Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major semifinal, at the 2013 ...
. Sousa finished his 2013 season by being eliminated from the
Paris Masters The Paris Masters (formerly known as the Paris Open, and currently called the Rolex Paris Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual indoor tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France at the Accor Arena, in the neighb ...
in the qualifying round. At world No. 49, he became the first Portuguese to finish the season in the top 50. In November, Sousa was nominated for the 2013 Portuguese Sportsman of the Year award, losing to cyclist Rui Costa. At the same ceremony, he was named Tennis Personality of the Year by the Portuguese Tennis Federation.


2014: Consolidating presence in the ATP World Tour

Sousa began the 2014 season with a first-round loss at the 2014 Qatar Open. At the
Sydney International The Sydney International (formerly known as the Championship of New South Wales and New South Wales Open, with various title sponsors), formerly sponsored as the Apia International Sydney from 2012 to 2017, was a professional tennis tournament ...
's doubles competition, he partnered with
Lukáš Rosol Lukáš Rosol (; born 24 July 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 26, achieved on 22 September 2014. His first notable victory was against world No. 8, Jürgen Melzer, at the 2011 Fre ...
to defeat the Bryan brothers, the then-world No. 1 doubles team, en route to the semifinals. At the 2014 Australian Open, he was beaten by world No. 137 and future Grand Slam champion
Dominic Thiem Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in March 2020. Thiem won 17 ATP Tour-level s ...
in the first round. Partnering with Colombian Santiago Giraldo, Sousa was eliminated in the first round of the doubles competition by
Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...
and
Rajeev Ram Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Ram is a six-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian O ...
. Later in January, Sousa joined the Portugal Davis Cup team to face
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
for the Europe/Africa Group I 1st Round. He won his first singles match against Janez Semrajc, but then lost in the doubles match and his second singles match against Blaž Kavčič. Portugal eventually lost 3–2 and fell to a relegation playoff. In February, he started with early round losses at the
Open Sud de France The Open Occitanie (formerly known as the Open Sud de France and Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon) is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Indoor courts, indoor hardcourts. It is currently part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP ...
and ATP Buenos Aires. Sousa played at the Rio Open and reached the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by world No. 1
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
. Sousa ended February with a second-round defeat and exit to Andy Murray at the Mexican Open. During the North American hard court Masters swing in March, Sousa started the Indian Wells Masters with a win over Aleksandr Nedovyesov, followed with a second-round loss to 20th seed
Ernests Gulbis Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 10, making him the only male Latvian tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, a feat achieved in June 20 ...
. At the
2014 Sony Open Tennis The 2014 Sony Open Tennis (also known as 2014 Miami Masters) was a professional men and women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourt, hard courts. It was the 30th edition of the Miami Masters, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1 ...
in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, Sousa reached the third round. After beating 26th seed
Gilles Simon Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and won fourteen singles titles on the ATP Tour, and attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 6, on 5 January 2009. Personal li ...
in the second round, he lost to world No. 7
Tomáš Berdych Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in May 2015. Berdych won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, i ...
. Sousa began the spring clay court season at the
Grand Prix Hassan II The Grand Prix Hassan II is an annual men's tennis tournament on the ATP Tour and is currently part of the ATP Tour 250 series. The event is played on clay courts and was held annually at the Complexe Al Amal in Casablanca, Morocco through 2015 ...
in
Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
, where he was beaten by world No. 273 Roberto Carballés Baena in a second-round match lasting over three hours. This loss started an eight-match losing streak that lasted the remainder of the clay court season – it included losses at the
Monte-Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...
, at the Barcelona Open, at the Portugal Open, at the Madrid Masters, at the
Rome Masters The Italian Open () is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is played on clay courts at the Foro Italico, and is held during the second week of May. The tournament is part of the ATP 1000 events on the ATP Tour and ...
, and at the Düsseldorf Open. In the first round of the 2014 French Open, Sousa suffer his eighth consecutive loss against world No. 2 Novak Djokovic. During this run of losses, Sousa reached the semifinals of the Portugal Open's doubles competition and the third round at the 2014 French Open doubles competition, where he partnered with American Jack Sock and lost to Andrey Golubev and
Sam Groth Samuel Groth (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player. Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division), Liberal Par ...
. Sousa made his debut at an ATP grass tournament main draw at the Halle Open. In the first round, he beat German wild card Jan-Lennard Struff and snapped the eight match losing streak. Then, he faced former world No. 1 and 6-time Halle champion Roger Federer in the second round. After winning a close first set, Sousa ended up losing in three sets to the Swiss. At the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, Sousa became the first Portuguese player ever to reach the semifinal of an ATP tour level grass tournament. He beat in succession Paolo Lorenzi,
Mate Pavić Mate Pavić (; born 4 July 1993) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He is the current world No. 1 in doubles by the ATP. Pavić is one of only six men to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam champio ...
and
Thiemo de Bakker Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker (; born 19 September 1988) is a Dutch tennis coach and a former professional player. He has an ATP career-high ranking in singles of World No. 40 achieved on 19 July 2010. Career Considered a top prospect of hi ...
, losing in the semifinals to Benjamin Becker. To cap his grass court season, Sousa played his first ever
Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
main draw match at the 2014 edition, with a straight sets loss in the first round to world No. 3
Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved on 27 January 2014. Wawrinka has won 16 ATP T ...
. In the doubles competition, he partnered with Argentinian Carlos Berlocq to play a four-hour, five-set first round loss to Martin Kližan and Dominic Thiem. In July, Sousa reached his second-career ATP tour level final and his first of 2014 at the Swedish Open, defeating the defending champion Carlos Berlocq in the semifinals. He lost the final to the Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in straight sets. After losing in early rounds at the German Open and the Croatia Open, Sousa entered the Canada Masters, where he was defeated in the first round by 11th seed Gulbis. At the
Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
, Sousa was defeated by Andy Murray in the second round. Sousa was also eliminated in the second round of the
Winston-Salem Open The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional tennis tournament played on the ATP Tour at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in 2011 and is part of the ATP 250 tour ...
. At that tournament's doubles competition, Sousa reach his third semifinal of the season, teaming up with Romanian Florin Mergea. At the 2014 US Open, Sousa became the first Portuguese player to be seeded at a Grand Slam tournament, with the 32nd seed at the singles competition. He started with a five-set win over Canadian
Frank Dancevic Frank Russell Dancevic ( ; , ; born September 26, 1984) is a retired Canadian professional tennis player. He first became the country's top singles tennis, singles player, according to ATP rankings, on February 10, 2003, as an 18-year-old, and r ...
. In the second round, he lost to
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...
. In the doubles competition, Sousa partnered with Serbian
Dušan Lajović Dušan Lajović ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Лајовић; born 30 June 1990) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 29 April 2019, he reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 23. On 21 September 2020, he peaked at No. 82 in the doubl ...
and beat the Americans
Marcos Giron Marcos Andres Giron ( ; born July 24, 1993; ) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 37 achieved on August 5, 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 194 achieved on August 1, 2022. Giron won the s ...
and Kevin King in the first round. They eventually fell to 4th seed
Marcelo Melo Marcelo Pinheiro Davi de Melo (; born September 23, 1983) is a Brazilian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1, which he achieved in 2 November 2015. ...
and
Ivan Dodig Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 2 in September 2023. He is a seven-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's double ...
in the second round. In September, Sousa was selected to join Portugal Davis Cup team against
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
for the Europe/Africa's Group I Relegation Playoff. He lost both his singles and doubles matches, confirming the relegation of Portugal to Group II in
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
. Sousa rebounded at the 2014 Moselle Open with his second ATP singles final of the season, after defeating former ATP top-10
Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...
in the semifinals. He lost the final in straight sets to Goffin. Sousa followed this with a first-round loss to Benjamin Becker at the 2014 Malaysian Open, where Sousa was the defending champion, and dropped out of the Top-50 for the first time in 11 months. However, a quarterfinal appearance at the doubles tournament enabled him to enter the ATP doubles top-100 for the first time. He became the second Portuguese player to reach the top-100 of both ATP rankings, after Nuno Marques. It was the first time since January 1996 that a Portuguese player held a spot on the singles and doubles top-100s simultaneously. At the China Open, Sousa lost in the second round to reigning US Open champion Marin Čilić. He followed it with a debut at the Shanghai Masters, where he lost to
Juan Mónaco Juan Mónaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Singles, 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Sony ...
in the first round. Sousa also lost in the first round at the
Stockholm Open Stockholm Open (SO) is an annual tennis tournament in Sweden that is part of the ATP Tour's 250 Series. The tournament features both men's singles and doubles events and is organized by the Royal Lawn Tennis Club (KLTK), Stockholms Allmä ...
, but rebounded at the Valencia Open with his second career win over a top-10 doubles team, the defending champions
Alexander Peya Alexander Peya (born 27 June 1980) is an Austrian tennis coach and a former professional player. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 3, first achieved in August 2013. He also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 92 in April 200 ...
and
Bruno Soares Bruno Fraga Soares (; born 27 February 1982) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player who specialised in doubles. A doubles specialist, Soares won six Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles, the 2016 Australian Open – Men's d ...
, in the first round. Alongside Leonardo Mayer, he reached his fourth doubles semifinal that season, the first at ATP 500 level. At the
Paris Masters The Paris Masters (formerly known as the Paris Open, and currently called the Rolex Paris Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual indoor tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France at the Accor Arena, in the neighb ...
, Sousa suffered another early exit, ending his 2014 ATP tour campaign. Sousa ended 2014 as world No. 54, failing to keep his top-50 status from the previous season. He became the first Portuguese player to maintain top-100 status by playing exclusively on the ATP World Tour in a single season. In November, he was nominated for the 2014 Portuguese Sportsman of the Year award, again losing to cyclist Rui Costa.


2015: Second ATP title and quarterfinal at Grand Slam

Sousa began the 2015 season with an early round loss at the Auckland Open. At 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 de ...
, he started his campaign with wins over wild card Jordan Thompson and Martin Kližan. He progressed to a third round match-up with 6th seed Andy Murray, becoming the second Portuguese player to reach that stage. Sousa lost in straight sets to Murray. In the doubles competition, Sousa partnered with Santiago Giraldo to reach the second round, where they lost to 2nd seeds Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin. In February, Sousa participated at the
Open Sud de France The Open Occitanie (formerly known as the Open Sud de France and Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon) is a professional tennis tournament played on Tennis court#Indoor courts, indoor hardcourts. It is currently part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP ...
. After defeating
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 quarterfinals, he lost in the semifinals to Jerzy Janowicz in three sets. After early round losses at the Rotterdam Open and
Open 13 The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February. The number 13 is the INSEE code of ...
, Sousa reached the second round of the
Dubai Tennis Championships The Dubai Tennis Championships (also known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's and Women's Champ ...
, where he was beaten by Murray. Sousa was then called for the Davis Cup team to face
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
for the Europe/Africa Zone's Group II first round in early March. He won his singles rubber and partnered with Frederico Ferreira Silva to win the doubles rubber and close the tie in Portugal's favour. After injuring his knee and suffering breathing difficulties, Sousa was eliminated from both Indian Wells Masters and Miami Masters in the first round. He returned to Barcelona for recovery. Sousa returned in April at the
Monte-Carlo Masters The Monte-Carlo Masters (also known as the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for sponsorship reasons) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, which borders on Monaco. It is played on clay cour ...
, losing in the second round to Milos Raonic. At the Barcelona Open and Estoril Open, he lost in early rounds and then was eliminated from the Madrid Masters in the second round by Stan Wawrinka and from the
Rome Masters The Italian Open () is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is played on clay courts at the Foro Italico, and is held during the second week of May. The tournament is part of the ATP 1000 events on the ATP Tour and ...
in the first round by
John Isner John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was 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 ...
. At the Geneva Open, Sousa won a first round match over his Brazilian
homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...
João Souza João Olavo Soares de Souza (; born 27 May 1988) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. Before receiving a lifetime ban for match-fixing, Souza competed mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his hi ...
, which was notable for the umpire needing to refer to each player by their nationality to distinguish between them during the calls. Sousa proceeded to the final, his first of the season, where he lost to
Thomaz Bellucci Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê, São Paulo, Tietê) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010. Bellucci used a string of ATP Challeng ...
. At the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, Sousa beat Canadian
Vasek Pospisil Vasek Pospisil ( ; , ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 Wimbledon Champi ...
in straight sets in the first round, and was defeated by 3rd seed Andy Murray in the second round. In the men's doubles of the tournament, Sousa partnered with Bellucci and was knocked out in the first round by 11th seeds
Jamie Murray Jamie Robert Murray (born 13 February 1986) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam (tennis), major doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup winne ...
and
John Peers John William Peers (born 25 July 1988) is an Australian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 2 on 3 April 2017, and a singles ranking of No. 456 in June 2012. He has ...
. In June, Sousa did not have a strong grass court season; he was defeated in the early rounds at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, the Queen's Club Championships and the Nottingham Open. At
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
, Sousa was again eliminated in straight sets in the first round by French Open champion and 4th seed Stan Wawrinka. His results did not improve in the men's doubles competition, from which he was eliminated in the first round while partnering with Santiago Giraldo. At the Davis Cup Group II second round against
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
, Sousa rebounded with wins in his two singles rubbers and in the doubles rubber with Gastão Elias. At the Croatia Open, he beat in succession
Andreas Seppi Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces. Personal lif ...
,
Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is Clay court#Red clay, ...
and
Roberto Bautista Agut Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...
to reach his second final in 2015. Sousa lost the final to Dominic Thiem. After a quarterfinal exit at the Swiss Open, He suffered a first-round loss to
Bernard Tomic Bernard Tomic (; , ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Tomic has won four singles titles on the ATP To ...
at the Canada Masters and reached the second round at the
Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
, where he lost to
Marin Čilić Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 28 January 2018. Čilić has won 21 ATP Tour-level si ...
. Following a brief appearance at the
Winston-Salem Open The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional tennis tournament played on the ATP Tour at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in 2011 and is part of the ATP 250 tour ...
, Sousa was defeated at the US Open by
Ričardas Berankis Ričardas Berankis (; born June 21, 1990) is a Lithuanian professional tennis player. He is the first and only Lithuanian to enter the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP top 50 rankings, making him the highest ranked Lithuanian tennis play ...
in five sets in the first round. In the men's doubles competition, Sousa became the second Portuguese player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event after Nuno Marques, also in men's doubles at the 2000 Australian Open. Sousa and his partner Argentinian Leonardo Mayer were denied a presence in the semifinals by Americans
Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey ( ; born October 7, 1987) is an American professional pickleball player and former 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 ...
and Steve Johnson. Sousa returned to the Davis Cup in September to help Portugal defeat
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and gain promotion to Europe/Africa Zone's Group I in
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
. Despite losing his first singles rubber, he won the doubles rubber with Elias and the deciding singles rubber against Uladzimir Ignatik. At the St. Petersburg Open, Sousa reached his third final of the season. Following wins over Marcel Granollers, Simone Bolelli and Dominic Thiem, Sousa was runner-up to Milos Raonic in three sets. In October, Sousa entered on a 1–4 run with early round losses at the Malaysian Open, the Japan Open, the Shanghai Masters and the Kremlin Cup. At the Valencia Open, Sousa capped the season with his second career ATP title and the first of the season in four final attempts. After beating four higher-ranked players, including
Benoît Paire Benoît "Ben" Paire (; born 8 May 1989) is a French professional tennis player. His best result in a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam has been reaching the fourth round, which he has achieved on four occasions. He has won three singles titles, ...
, Sousa defeated 7th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the final in three sets. He reached a new career-high ranking in the following week at world No. 34. Sousa finished the season at career-high world No. 33 with 38 singles wins. In November, he received the award for Tennis Personality of the Year for the second time from the Portuguese Tennis Federation and the Confederação do Desporto de Portugal. During 2015, physiotherapist Carlos Costa, known for his work with
Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German–American former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017, and was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in May ...
, occasionally joined Sousa's entourage in selected tournaments; Sousa wanted to have a part-time member in his team responsible for that area. In 2016, Costa is expected to follow Sousa for at least 10 weeks but will remain focused on Haas' return until Wimbledon.


2016: Top 30 and first Masters 1000 quarterfinals

After training at Rafael Nadal's home ground in the pre-season, Sousa began the 2016 season with a first-round loss to Fabio Fognini at the Auckland Open. Due to
Richard Gasquet Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
's absence by injury, he became the first Portuguese ever to be seeded at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, entering the singles main draw as the 32nd seed. Following wins over Mikhail Kukushkin and Santiago Giraldo, Sousa lost in the third round to world No. 2 Andy Murray for the second successive year. In the doubles event, Sousa partnered with Leonardo Mayer but the pair were eliminated in the first round. In April, Sousa reached his first Masters 1000 quarterfinals at the Mutua Madrid Open 2016, after beating
Nicolas Mahut Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at th ...
, lucky loser
Marcel Granollers Marcel Granollers Pujol (; ; born 12 April 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 6 May 2024, becoming the second Spanish man to achieve the feat (after Emilio Sánchez Vicari ...
and Jack Sock. He lost to
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
in three sets. His clay season ended with a second-round exit at the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, where he lost to
Ernests Gulbis Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 10, making him the only male Latvian tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, a feat achieved in June 20 ...
in four sets. In June, Sousa entered
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
as 31st seed. After beating
Dmitry Tursunov Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov (; born 12 December 1982) is a Russian tennis coach and former player. At age 12, he moved to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player. His career-high singles ranking is w ...
in five sets and Dennis Novikov in four sets, he lost to
Jiří Veselý Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 35 on 27 April 2015. Youth career Veselý reached the No. 1 junior combined world ranking in January 2011, co ...
in the third round, making for his best run ever at Wimbledon. Sousa entered the 2016 Rogers Cup where he lost in the 1st round 6–3, 6–3 to semi-finalist
Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in November 2016. Mon ...
. At the 2016 Olympic Games in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, Sousa won his first match but lost in the next round in three sets to eventual silver medalist
Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...
. Three weeks later at the 2016 US Open, he inflicted the heaviest defeat of the Men's singles draw, defeating Víctor Estrella Burgos in the first round conceding only 2 games in 3 sets. He went on to defeat
Feliciano López Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
in 4 sets but his run ended losing to a resurgent
Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov Dimitrov (, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, making him the highest-ranked Bulgari ...
. After dropping the points from the 2015 Valencia Open in late October, Sousa finished the season at 43rd in the
ATP rankings The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...
, with just over 1,000 points.


2017: Two ATP finals

João Sousa trained with Rafael Nadal in the offseason for the second year running. He started the 2017 season at the 2017 Auckland Open once again, where he reached the final after beating
Albert Ramos Viñolas Albert Ramos Viñolas (; born 17 January 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved in May 2017 after reaching the final of the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters. Career Juniors R ...
, Brydan Klein,
Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012 and his highest doubles ranking of world No. 29 in May 2023 ...
and
Marcos Baghdatis Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...
. He lost in three sets to Jack Sock, but the result allowed him to re-enter the Top 40 in the ATP Singles Rankings. Sousa's January ended with a first-round exit at the
Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, having lost in five sets to Jordan Thompson, his worst result at this Grand Slam since 2014. Sousa started the South American swing at the Argentina Open, having lost in the quarter-finals to eventual finalist
Kei Nishikori is a Japanese professional tennis player. He is the only Japanese man in the Open Era to have been ranked in the top five in singles, reaching his career-high ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015, and the second man in history to do so after ...
. At the Rio Open, Sousa crashed out in the first round, losing in two sets to Roberto Carballés Baena, in a match that lasted just under an hour. His last clay tournament in South America was the Brasil Open, where he lost in the semi-finals to
Albert Ramos Viñolas Albert Ramos Viñolas (; born 17 January 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved in May 2017 after reaching the final of the 2017 Monte Carlo Masters. Career Juniors R ...
in three sets. In March, Sousa entered the first two Masters 1000 tournaments of the season. At the BNP Paribas Open, he lost to
Mischa Zverev Mikhail "Mischa" Alexandrovich Zverev. (born 22 August 1987) is a German retired professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25 on 24 July 2017. At the 2017 Australian Open, Zverev defeated world No. 1 An ...
in the second round. At the Miami Open, Sousa entered as 30th seed, receiving a bye for the first round, but lost in the second round to
Fabio Fognini Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is Clay court#Red clay, ...
. Sousa's late May ended with second round at the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
, having lost to three sets to Serbian number 2's
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
by 6–1, 6–4, 6–3. But, Sousa already won at first round with Serbia's Janko Tipsarević, having won by four sets by 4–6, 7–6 (7–3), 6–2, 6–2. After the clay court season was over, he continued a streak of consecutive losses, losing matches 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 ...
, Radu Albot and Dustin Brown at the Gerry Weber Open, Antalya Open and
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
respectively. Sousa's streak remained active in Croatia Open Umag, losing in 3 sets to
Aljaž Bedene Aljaž Bedene (born 18 July 1989) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2018. He reached four singles finals ...
. However, he would eventually turn it around winning by reaching the quarterfinals in Swiss Open Gstaad and reaching the final in Generali Open Kitzbühel. He would go on to have more losses in the remainder of the year and not many more wins. One of these includes two crucial defeats in the Davis Cup where Portugal could have qualified for the World Group for the first time in its history, specially considering the absence of the Zverev brothers and Kohlschreiber.


2018–2019: Historic home title, Grand Slam fourth rounds

In 2018, Sousa made the third round of the Indian Wells Masters and the fourth round of the Miami Masters. At Indian Wells, he defeated 4th seed and world number 5
Alexander Zverev Alexander "Sascha" Zverev (; born 20 April 1997) is a German professional tennis player and the current world No. 3. He has won 24 ATP Tour titles in singles and two in doubles, and has been runner-up at three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, ma ...
in the second round before losing to 32nd seed
Milos Raonic Milos Raonic ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP ...
in three sets. At Miami, he defeated 7th seed and world number 9
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...
in the second round only losing one game in the process before losing to 19th seed Chung Hyeon in straight sets. Sousa became the first Portuguese player to win his home title in
Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
, after beating Daniil Medvedev, countryman Pedro Sousa,
Kyle Edmund Kyle Steven Edmund (born 8 January 1995) is a British professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 14 and was the top-ranked male British tennis player from March 2018 to October 2019. Edmund is an ...
,
Stefanos Tsitsipas Stefanos Tsitsipas (, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved in August 2021 – mak ...
and Frances Tiafoe. He reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the 2018 US Open for the first time in his career, losing to eventual champion
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
. Sousa failed to defend his title at the following 2019 Estoril, losing to
David Goffin David Goffin (; born 7 December 1990) is a Belgian professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 7, making him the highest ranked male player from Belgium in tennis history. He is also the first ...
in the second round. He reached the fourth round at 2019 Wimbledon for the first time at this Major, losing to
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
.


2020–2021: Dip in form and rankings, out of top 150, 200th ATP career win

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Sousa showed a severe dip in form. Since the beginning of 2020, Sousa posted a win–loss record of 1–20 on the ATP tour and his ranking plummeted from No. 58 at the beginning of 2020 to No. 147 as of July 26, 2021. It was the first time since 2013 that Sousa had fallen outside the top 100 in singles rankings. At the 2020 Davis Cup Sousa defeated Romanian Filip Cristian Jianu to record his 200th career win.


2022: First ATP title and a final since 2018, back to top 60

At the 2022 Australian Open, Sousa participated in the qualifications to enter the men's singles main draw as a qualifier. He fell short of doing so, as he lost to Radu Albot in the final round of qualifying. Sousa would still end up entering the main draw as a
lucky loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...
, facing
Jannik Sinner Jannik Sinner (born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the ATP, the first Italian to reach the top ranking. Sinner has won 19 singles titles on the ATP Tour ...
and losing in straight sets. After being in a serious slump for more than 2 years, Sousa finally earned one of his best results in recent years, winning his 4th career singles title in
Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...
. He defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in the final to win his first tour-level title since 2018. As a result, he moved 51 positions up, returning into the top 100 to No. 86 on 7 February 2022. Later he returned to the top 65 at World No. 63 on 23 May 2022 by moving 16 spots up, after reaching his second final of the season at the 2022 Geneva Open without dropping a set, earning his biggest win in three years over World No. 25 and fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili en route. He lost to top seed
Casper Ruud Casper Ruud (; born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in September 2022, making him t ...
serving for the match in the third set. It was the longest championship match of the season in both time (3 hours 4 minutes) and games (36). At the
2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), 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. J ...
, he played another long match five sets match (4 hours 23 minutes) against debutant Tseng Chun-hsin in the first round, this time coming up as a winner. Using a protected ranking at the US Open, he reached the quarterfinals for the third time at this Major with his partner
Marcelo Demoliner Marcelo Fedrizzi Demoliner (born 18 January 1989) is a Brazilian professional tennis player, who specializes in doubles. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 34 in November 2017. Demoliner has won five doubles titles. He won hi ...
. He ended the season with a first round loss in the qualifications for the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters to second seed
Lorenzo Sonego Lorenzo Sonego (; born 11 May 1995) is an Italian professional tennis player. Sonego has won four singles titles on the ATP Tour, and two doubles titles. He has a career high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ATP rankings, ranking o ...
.


2023–2024: Retirement

He lost in the first round at the 2023 ASB Classic and at the
2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament ...
. At the 2023 Córdoba Open he reached the quarterfinals defeating Tomas Martin Etcheverry and
Cristian Garín Cristian Ignacio Garín Medone (; born 30 May 1996) is a Chilean professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 17 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 13 September 2021. He ...
. He lost in the first rounds in the next Golden Swing tournaments at the 2023 Argentina Open, 2023 Rio Open and 2023 Chile Open. In February 2024, Sousa announced that he would retire from professional tennis. His final appearance was at the 2024 Estoril Open.


Playing style

Sousa's game is strongly based on his serve and forehand. He is right-handed and plays with a two-handed backhand. Sousa has said the forehand is his favourite shot and that he prefers playing on clay courts. He is known for expressing his emotions on court at times, often focusing on his coach or the umpire. Andy Murray described Sousa as a tough opponent who never backs down from a fight, while Novak Djokovic called him a "tough" and mentally strong player who "takes the best out of the opponent". Jamie Murray said Sousa has a "good forehand" and "likes playing on clay", despite his better results on hard courts. He has been described as having the potential of becoming a top-20 player. Sousa's game pattern has become more offensive-minded and consistent, and his game has evolved in recent years from playing on clay to becoming more proficient on other surfaces. He won his first Challenger title on hard courts in July 2013 in his hometown Guimarães. Later in September, Sousa went on an 8–1 run to cap his semifinal run at the 2013 St. Petersburg Open and win the title at the 2013 Proton Malaysian Open, both ATP tour hard-court indoor tournaments. He continued his form on faster courts in 2014, with deep runs on grass courts at the 2014 Gerry Weber Open and Topshelf Open, and a final appearance in a hard court indoor tournament at the 2014 Moselle Open. Despite a results slump on clay earlier in the season, he still achieved his first ATP tour-level final on clay at the 2014 Swedish Open, and, eventually triumphing in home turf at the 2018 Estoril Open.


Equipment and endorsements

As of October 2013, Sousa has been represented by Polaris Sports, a subsidiary of Jorge Mendes's Gestifute, which manages the career of other major Portuguese sportspeople, including
Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...
. Sousa uses a Wilson racquet, and is endorsed by Lotto Sport Italia since January 2014, in a two-year partnership which covers the supply of footwear, clothing and accessories. In May 2015, Sousa started a partnership with sports supplements company Gold Nutrition. Sousa's endorsement of sporting attires was switched to Joma in 2020. Portuguese clothing brand Mike Davis announced an agreement with Sousa to associate him with the brand's casual sportswear during 2014. Portuguese private bank BES was another endorser of Sousa's career before its bailout in August 2014. In February 2015, private bank Millennium BCP announced a sponsorship agreement with Sousa. Earlier in his career, Sousa said he struggled to find local endorsements and also lamented the financial struggles of the Portuguese Tennis Federation, which prevented support for his growing participation in the ATP Tour. He criticized local government for lack of support of sports other than football. During his junior and early professional career, Sousa's expenses were supported mainly by his parents and through bank loans.


Career statistics


Grand Slam tournament performance timelines


Singles

''Current through the 2023 French Open.''


Doubles


ATP Masters 1000 finals


Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)


Awards

*2013 – CDP Portuguese Tennis Personality of the Year *2014 – CNID Portuguese Athlete of the Year *2015 – CDP Portuguese Tennis Personality of the Year


Notes


References


External links

* . . * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sousa, Joao 1989 births Living people Sportspeople from Guimarães Portuguese male tennis players Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players for Portugal 21st-century Portuguese sportsmen