Víctor Estrella Burgos (; born August 2, 1980) is a Dominican 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. In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 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 ...
. He also became the first Dominican player to reach the semifinals in an ATP 250 tournament in Bogotá. In 2015, he also became the first tennis player from his country to participate in all four Grand Slams, playing in the Australian Open. In February 2015, he won his first career
ATP title at the
Ecuador Open, becoming the oldest first-time ATP tour winner in the
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, 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 a ...
. He successfully defended his title with a 100% winning record at the event in 2016 and 2017, but lost in the second round in 2018.
Estrella has been a member of the
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 ...
team from the Dominican Republic since 1998, posting a record of 41–17 in singles and 21–22 in doubles. Since 2014 he belongs to the Dominican olympic program
CRESO.
Estrella Burgos reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 43, achieved on July 13, 2015. He achieved a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 135, achieved on the same date.
Junior career
Estrella Burgos began playing tennis at the age of 8.
Estrella Burgos played his first junior match in July 1996 at the age of 15 at a grade 5 tournament in the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...
. He did not play much junior tennis as he play just six tournaments in singles and five tournaments in doubles. His best result was a semifinal appearance at a grade 4 tournament in
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
in singles and a final appearance at a grade 4 tournament in the Dominican Republic in doubles. He did not play in any junior Grand Slams or any major junior tournaments.
Estrella Burgos ended his junior career with a high ranking of 360 in singles and 292 in doubles. He had an overall win–loss record of 9–6 in singles and 10–5 in doubles.
Career
2002–2013: Slow rise
Although playing his first ITF event in 2000, Estrella Burgos officially turned pro in 2002 at the age of 22. He reportedly did not take his career seriously until he was 26 when he decided that a career on 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 ...
was the best option. For the first few years of his career, he played tournaments only located in
The Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
. It was not until 2011 where he started to play in other parts of the world. Throughout 2002–2013, he earned a handful of ITF titles while also improving his year-end ranking.
Highlights during this period include qualifying for his first ATP tournament, the
2008 Cincinnati Masters which he qualified for but lost to
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spaniards, Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He was ranked world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, achieved in April 2009, and w ...
in the first round, winning his first challenger title in 2011, and winning a gold medal at the
2010 Central American and Caribbean Games
The 21st Central American and Caribbean Games (Spanish: ''XXI Juegos Centroamericanos y del Caribe, Mayagüez 2010'') took place in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, from 18 July 2010 to 1 August 2010.
Bid
It was understood that Mayagüez was going to b ...
and a bronze medal at the
2011 Pan American Games
The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...
, both in singles.
In October 2012, Estrella Burgos suffered an elbow injury. He was contemplating retirement during this time but returned to tennis in April 2013.
At the age of 32, Estrella Burgos picked up his first ATP win at the
2013 Colombia Open defeating
Facundo Argüello in the first round.
2014: Breakout year
In early 2014, he became the first Dominican player to break into the top 100 and he started to qualify for ATP events and grand slams. His first grand slam was the
2014 French Open where he got an automatic qualification due to ranking but lost in the first round to 22nd seed
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 ...
in 4 sets.
At the
2014 Colombia Open, he went into the tournament as 8th seed and made the semifinals defeating the 1st seed and world number 14
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 ...
along the way. He lost to eventual champion
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
2014 US Open, he made the third round which remains as his best result in a slam. He lost to
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 straight sets which all went to tiebreaks.
At the
, Estrella Burgos repeated his gold medal feat from 2010 in singles and also won a bronze medal in mixed doubles.
Estrella Burgos would finish 2014 with a year-end ranking of 78 and a win–loss record of 9–10.
2015: Best year of career
At the
2015 Ecuador Open, Estrella Burgos made his first ATP final. In the final, he defeated top seed and world No. 14
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. ...
to win his first ATP title. Not only did he become the first Dominican to win an ATP title, but the oldest first-time ATP champion in
Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, 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 a ...
history. He also made the final of the doubles draw partnering
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 ...
but lost to
Gero Kretschmer and
Alexander Satschko in straight sets.
At the
2015 Barcelona Open, he recorded his only win over a top 10 player when he defeated world number 9
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 ...
. He also beat future world number 3
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 ...
during the tournament.
On July 13, 2015, he reach his career-high ranking of 43 and would finish 2015 with his best year-end rankings of 56 and a win–loss record of 20–20.
2016–2017: More success on tour
Estrella Burgos made his second final in doubles at the
2016 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship partnering
Santiago González but lost to the
Bryan brothers
The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are American former professional doubles tennis players. The most successful men's doubles team of all time, they won more professional matches, tournaments and Grand Slam (t ...
(
Bob and
Mike) in three sets.
He defended his title the Ecuador Open two more times 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 ...
and
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
. He also played in the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
but lost in the first 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, ...
in three sets.
He won his last challenger title in August 2017 against
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 ...
at the
2017 Santo Domingo Open in his home country of the Dominican Republic.
2018: Downfall
At the
2018 Australian Open
The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, double ...
, he played his last grand slam match against world number 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 ...
. He lost in straight sets.
His win streak at the
Ecuador Open ended at the
2018 edition with a second round loss to
Gerald Melzer
Gerald Melzer (born 13 July 1990) is an Austrian professional inactive tennis player who competed mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 68 in November 2016.
Gerald is also part of Austrian Da ...
.
He played his last ATP match after qualifying for the
2018 Hall of Fame Open after qualifying for the main draw where he lost in the first round against eventual finalist
Ramkumar Ramanathan
Ramanathan Ramkumar (born 8 November 1994) is an Indian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 111 in singles by the ATP, which he achieved in July 2018, and in doubles at No. 58, achieved in August 2022. Ramkuma ...
in straight sets.
At the
2018 Central American and Caribbean Games, Estrella Burgos won three gold medals for singles, doubles, and team event. It would be the last time he attended the games.
At the
2018 US Open qualifying, Estrella Burgos defeated 2nd seed
Jürgen Zopp
Jürgen Zopp (born 29 March 1988) is an Estonian retired tennis player. He is Estonia's all-time highest ranked male tennis player with a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in 2012.
Career
Zopp started playing tennis at the age of 6 a ...
and
Bjorn Fratangelo
Bjorn Fratangelo ( ; born July 19, 1993) is an American tennis coach and former professional player.
In 2011, he won the boys' singles title at the French Open defeating Dominic Thiem. Fratangelo was only the second American to win the event, f ...
to make the qualifying competition. He lost to
Stefano Travaglia
Stefano Travaglia (born 18 December 1991 in Ascoli Piceno) is an Italian tennis player.
He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 60, which he reached on 8 February 2021. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 224 achieved on ...
in straight sets.
Estrella Burgos' ranking dropped to a low of 326 in November and he ended the year with a win–loss record of 2–9 and a year-end ranking of 278. A severe dip from his win–loss record of 9–10 and year-end ranking of 83 in 2017.
2019: Retirement
On 5 August 2019, after playing in a few more challenger events and his ranking having dropped to 665 in the world, Estrella Burgos announced that he will retire from professional tennis. His last tournament was the
Santo Domingo Open, which was played in October.
On October 7, he won his last match against
Marcelo Arévalo. On October 8, Estrella Burgos played his last match against
Thiago Monteiro. He was honored as one of the biggest retirees in 2019.
Davis Cup
Estrella Burgos made his
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 ...
debut in 1998 at the age of 17. During his time with the
Dominican Davis Cup team, he posted a win–loss record of 43–17 in singles, 22–23 in doubles, and 65–40 overall.
In 2015, the Dominican Republic entered the world group playoff for the first time in their history and were paired up against
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Estrella Burgos won the opening match in the series when he defeated
Dustin Brown in four sets. He would lose his second singles match against
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 straight sets and the Dominican Republic would lose the series 4–1.
Personal life
Estrella Burgos was born in
Santiago de los Caballeros
Santiago de los Caballeros ("James, son of Zebedee, Saint James of the Knights"), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of ...
to father Elgio Felix and mother Ana. He also has three brothers; Hector, Henry and Felix.
Estrella Burgos' nickname is "Viti"
Estrella Burgos is also a big baseball fan and likes to go to many games.
Singles performance timeline
ATP career finals
Singles: 3 (3 titles)
Doubles: 2 (2 runners-up)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 39 (28–11)
Doubles: 24 (9–15)
Record against top 10 players
Estrella Burgos's match record against players who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who are active in boldface.
Only ATP Tour and Challenger main draw matches are considered.
Wins over top 10 players
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrella Burgos, Victor
1980 births
Living people
Dominican Republic male tennis players
Sportspeople from Santiago de los Caballeros
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players for the Dominican Republic
Tennis players at the 2007 Pan American Games
Tennis players at the 2011 Pan American Games
Pan American Games bronze medalists for the Dominican Republic
Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis
Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for the Dominican Republic
Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for the Dominican Republic
Competitors at the 2002 Central American and Caribbean Games
Competitors at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games
Competitors at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games
Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games
Tennis players at the 2019 Pan American Games
Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in tennis
Tennis players at the 2003 Pan American Games
Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games
21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen