Colombia world No.65 Santiago Giraldo has confirmed that he has separated with his coach Felipe Beron after two years.
Working with Beron, Giraldo experienced his best year on the tour in 2014. He reached his second ATP final at the Barcelona Open before losing to Kei Nishikori. The 27-year-old also defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Madrid Open as he gradually climbed up the rankings to a career high of 28th.
During this season the Colombian has produced mixed results. Giraldo currently has a win-loss this season of 23-26 and has reached the semifinals at two ATP tournaments (Sao Paulo and Geneva). This year he has won three matches in Grand Slam tournaments (not counting retirements). Since reaching the last eight in the Geneva Open in July, Giraldo has won three matches.
This week Giraldo was playing in the Malaysian Open. He retired in the first round due to illness whilst trailing 1-6, 1-2, to 7th seed Nick Kyrgios. It was shortly after that the announcement was made. Giraldo’s former coach released this following statement.
I beg to inform you that by mutual agreement as of today, I will finish my job as coach Santiago’s Giraldo.
I was the personal coach of Santiago during the last two years (2014 and 2015 season), obtaining very significant and important results for my career and coaching achievements. These two years have been a very important race for both of us.
In November 2013 I started my work as a personal coach, however, being in the Colsanitas Team coach for nearly 20 years, I have been part of the process of formation Santiago since he was 14.
At the end of 2013, he had a ATP ranking of 70, in just a few months we managed to reach the 28th place, the best ranking to date for a Colombian player.
In the past two years we obtained very important results as the final of the ATP 500 Barcelona (2014); the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 Madrid (2014); the semifinals of the ATP of Vine and Shenzhen 250 (2014) and Sao Paulo and Geneva (2015); as well as the participation in the playoffs for the World Group Davis Cup in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Santiago I thank you for your confidence in me. It was two years of many experiences and great triumphs. I wished him luck in his career and I will always be there to advise him when needed.
Giraldo will keep working with two-time French Open finalist and world No.2 Alex Corretja. Corretja has been working with Giraldo since August as a consultant.
