by Matteo Beltrami, translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye
After 25 seasons on the Tour, Tommy Robredo has decided to retire. The announcement was made in a press conference held at RCT Barcellona 1989. The Spaniard has been awarded a wild card into the ATP 500 event in Barcelona (18-24 April) will be his last tournament.
Robredo has enjoyed an eternal career. Born in Hostalric, Catalunya, on 1st May 1982, he has won 12 singles titles and 5 doubles titles. His most prestigious crown was at the ATP Masters Hamburg which he won in 2006, annihilating Radek Stepanek in the final with an emphatic 6-1 6-3 6-3 win. 2006 was his golden year: thanks to his victories in Hamburg and Bastad he reached the 5th position in the ATP Rankings, his career-best.
In 2004 he won the Davis Cup, along with Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero and a young Rafael Nadal, defeating the United States in the final. In the Majors, Robredo reached the quarterfinals 7 times (5 Roland Garros, the last in 2013, 1 Australian Open, 1 US Open). In doubles he played three US Open semifinals. In 2018 at the US Open he played his last match in a Major, losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. In recent years he has played on the Challenger Tour with his best result in 2021 being a run to the semi-finals in Antalya.
NOT ONLY TENNIS – Robredo has always said that his greatest achievement is the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award he received in 2018. The Tommy Robredo Foundation has been helping disabled children for many years. The former No. 5 launched his foundation in 2009, to honour the memory of his close friend, Santi Silvas, who was left in a wheelchair after an accident and died in 2008. Robredo was driven to set up the Santi Silvas Memorial, an International Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, in the name of the promise he had made to his friend. A great jest by a great man.
