Santiago Giraldo

ATP Tour

Professional Career 2003 By this year Giraldo becomes the youngest player in his country to join ATP’s ranking, getting his first point with the “future” tournament in Medellín in October being just 15 years old. 2005 He wins his first professional tournament in Medellín, within “ITF Future” category with 15.000 dollars at stake. 2006 Being 18 years old he manages to get the “Challenger de bogotá” title and reaching the “Challenger de Medellín” final. 2007 In March of this years he does it again with the Challenger de Bogotá title, beating the Brazilian Flávio Saretta; plus, he wins the Challenger de Quite against the local Giovanni Lapentti. Besides, he managed to reach two finals from the same Challenger category. Although he lost against the Spanish Fernando Vicente in the Challenger de San Luis Potosí, he gets so close to the Top-100 reaching position 115. In October of the same year he got to Challenger de Bogotá’s final losing facing Marcos Daniel. He also classifies to Roland Garros’ main draw and at the same time by the first time in his career joins ATP ranking Top-150. The only ATP triumph this year was beating the Venezuelan Yohny Romero in Copa Davis, winning the series for Colombia 3-1 versus Venezuela. 2008 He completed a record of 19-17 Challenger tournaments, he got to Challenger de Furth’s final (losing against Daniel Kollerer) and Challenger de Cali’s semifinals. He classified to final draws five times, including the tournaments ATP World Tour Masters 1000 from Indian Wells and Miami. Moreover, by second consecutive time he joins Roland Garros’ main draw, he lost the first round facing Florent Serra. 2009 By this time the number 2 behind Alejandro Falla, finished his best year out of the top-100 (105) where three Challengers titles and a 38-14 record highlighted. He opened this year with the Challenger de Salinas title (defeating Michael Rusell in the finals) and his sole triumph at ATP level in March with the Copa Davis match versus Uruguay. Then, Giraldo classifies to Indian Wells-Masters 1000’s main draw and lost the first round to Nicolás Lapentti. One month later he won Challenger de San Luis Potosí’s title to the Italian Paolo Lorenzi. By third consecutive year Giraldo classifies to Roland Garros’ main draw losing to Denis Istomin by five sets in first round. Also, by the final stretch of the season Giraldo won 19 out of his 26 last matches, where can be highlighted the Challenger de Cali and Quito semifinals as well as the Sacramento title (defeating the Canadian Jesse Levine in the finals) and lost again to Nicolas Lapentti in Guayaquil’s final, he could join Australian Open’s main draw for the first time in regards to the previous results. US$96,412 were gathered in prizes this year.

At the 2010 Australian Open, he saw off Seed No. 16 Tommy Robredo 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 in the first round. However, he lost in the second round to Łukasz Kubot 4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 1–6.

At the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, a Masters 1000 event, he produced a heavy ground game to crush down 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–0, 6–3 in the first round, followed by a 6–3, 6–2 win over Michaël Llodra in the second round. However his run was ended at the hands of World No. 10 and 7th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3–6, 4–6 in the third round.

At the 2011 Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, Giraldo made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to David Ferrer 3–6, 5–7. At the 2011 Australian Open, he reached second round where he lost to Marin Čilić 3–6, 6–7, 1–6. He also reached the final of the 2011 Movistar Open where he lost to Tommy Robredo 2–6, 6–2, 6–7 despite serving for the championship at 5–3.

At the 2011 US Open, Giraldo was drawn against World No. 3 Roger Federer in the first round to whom he lost in straight sets, 4–6, 3–6, 2–6.

At the French Open he lost first round to Grega Zemlja 4–6, 1–6, 4–6.

In the first round of 2014 Heineken Open, Giraldo beat Spaniard Albert Montañés in straight sets 6-1, 7-6. His Tournament ended in the second round, losing in a thrilling 3-setter against Guillermo García-López losing 7-6(7), 2-6, 3-6. He beat Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at Viña del Mar to reach semi-finals, where he was defeated by Leonardo Mayer. The Colombian upset Tommy Robredo at the 2014 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships and reached semi-finals, after which he lost to Fernando Verdasco.

At the 2014 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, he reached his second ATP final, and the first one of an ATP World Tour 500 series. On the way, he defeated 3rd seeded Fabio Fognini, 10th seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber and 6th seeded Nicolas Almagro. He lost the tournament against Kei Nishikori in straight sets 2-6, 2-6.

In May 2014, Giraldo surprised Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round of the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open beating the 11th seeded Frenchman in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. Then he achieved his first win against a top 10, after defeating the World No. 8 and two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. He advanced to the quarterfinals but lost to Roberto Bautista-Agut.

At Wimbledon, the Colombian defeated Granollers in second round and lost to Roger Federer in third round. At Washington he was defeated by Vasek Pospisil in quarter-finals. At the US Open he was beaten by Teymuraz Gabashvili in first round. The player reached semi-finals at Shenzhen, where he lost to Tommy Robredo.

Giraldo lost to 32 seed Joao Sousa in the second round of the 2016 Australian Open. Giraldo lost in the first round of the 2016 French Open. Giraldo lost in the first round of 2016 Wimbledon Championships to Gilles Muller a match that went to 5 sets eventually Muller prevailed 15-13 in the last set. Giraldo won the Advantage Cars Prague Open, which included an impressive win in the quarter-finals against world number 26 Martin Klizan.

Giraldo entered the new tournament 2016 Los Cabos Open and he brushed past Amir Weintraub in straight sets, he then faced 4th seed Sam Querrey who he beat in straight sets. He will face wild card Pablo Carreño Busta in the quarter finals.

Playing style

Ground strokes Giraldo is known to have an extremely powerful and devastating forehand that he uses to move his opponents around and end points quickly. His forehand has been likened to that of Fernando González's (incidentally his coach), with a huge back swing, coming into contact with the ball with extreme speed while flattening it out. Giraldo also uses this technique to hit balls out wide at an acute angle, which is a signature shot of his. His forehand is known to reach speeds of up to 110 mph. While his backhand is generally his weaker shot in terms of pace, he uses an identical technique, which makes his backhand flat and low. He is known for his flair in shot-making with both his forehand and backhand, often hitting balls with extreme pace or angles. His best shot is the running forehand.

Serve Giraldo's serve is not one of his strengths, but he possesses a decent flat and strong first serve and a top-spin second serve. His first serves can reach up to 120 mph.

Specialty - Return of Serves Giraldo has one of the most powerful and extreme returns of serve in the tour. Unlike traditional good returners such as Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic or Andre Agassi who use anticipation and footwork to take serves early and efficiently, Giraldo uses a different style. He usually stands further behind the base line, especially on second serves, and winds up a huge back swing on either wing and takes the ball later, injecting a sudden amount of pace. He is also adept at controlling serves such that he can hit them at acute angles with speed to finish off the point early. This makes his return of serve especially devastating to his opponents.

Weaknesses Giraldo's weaknesses include his consistency and agility. Because of his shot-making and hyper-aggressive style of play, he is more than prone to making unforced errors on his ground stroke rallies(surprisingly more often than his returns of serve). Also, because he often goes for hard, flat shots, he hits the ball into the net more often than other players. His play-style relies on dictating points and winning quickly, so he is affected by quick counter-punchers who can move him around and return his shots consistently, such as David Ferrer, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. Giraldo occasionally exhibits clumsy footwork as well, and sometimes is simply not fast enough to retrieve directed or drop shots.

Singles performance timeline

Current till 2017 US Open.

Doubles performance timeline

This table is current through Australian Open 2016.

Personal life

In 2014 Giraldo started dating Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea the relationship ends at 2017 summer.