Today (14/04/2017) is Roberto Bautista Agut’s Birthday! The Spaniard, who is currently ranked at 18 in the world, turns 29. Below are 10 facts that you may not know about Roberto with regards to his childhood, hobbies/interests and facts about his tennis career!
The Spaniard started playing tennis at the age of five. This was due to the fact that his mother, Ester, signed him up to play at the weekends. Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero and compatriot David Ferrer were his main idols growing up. Roberto showed promise from an early age and now the rest is history!
Roberto is the son of the famous Spanish footballer Joaquin. Roberto also played a lot of football himself as a youngster. He played for Villarreal C.F. up until the age of 14 when he turned his attention to focus on pursuing his tennis career. Unsurprisingly, the Spaniard supports Villarreal, as well as CD Castellon, his home town club.
Roberto has a passion for horse riding and owns two horses himself. This is one of his favourite sporting activities alongside football and of course, tennis.
Roberto enjoyed a solid junior career, but nothing compared to his achievements on the pro circuit. He broke into the world’s top 50 in the junior rankings, peaking at number 47 in July 2006, but that was as good as it got for the Spaniard, finishing with a career 41-13 singles win/loss record.
Roberto won a gold medal in the men’s singles tennis at the 2009 Mediterranean Games. The games are like a mini version of the Olympics, where nations around or very close to the Mediterranean Sea compete against each other. The sea marks where Europe, Africa, and Asia meet. The Spaniard also claimed bronze in the men’s doubles that same year.
The Spaniard enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2014 which saw him receive the ATP’s Most Improved Player award. During that season Roberto reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time (Australian Open, US Open) and captured two ATP Tour 250 titles, the first of his career, at the Topshelf Open and the Mercedes Cup).
The Spaniard has only lost in the first round of a Grand Slam once. First round matches at Grand Slams can often be a nerve racking and testing experience, depending on the draw which the player receives. That being said, this has posed little problems for Roberto, who has only lost once in the first round of a Grand Slam. Perhaps more impressively that loss came on his main draw debut at a slam after coming through the qualifying, where he lost to Mello at the 2012 Australian Open. The Spaniard has not fallen at the first hurdle ever since!
The last 16 has so far proven to be his last stand at the Grand Slams. Reaching the latter stages of the big four majors has proven to be a stumbling block for Roberto in his career so far. The Spaniard has reached the last 16 at all four Grand Slams, seven times in all, but has never made the quarterfinals. The closest he came to reaching the elusive last eight was when he pushed Tomas Berdych to five sets at the Australian Open in 2016, eventually losing to the Czech 6-3 in the deciding set.
Roberto has one victory over a world number one in his career to date. The 29-year-old defeated Novak Djokovic at the Shanghai Rolex Masters in October 2016 to reach a Masters 1000 final for the first time in his career. The Spaniard stunned the defending champion 6-4, 6-4 before going on to lose to Andy Murray in the final in straight sets.
He has spent the past 55 weeks ranked inside the world’s top 20. The last time Roberto was outside of the top 20 was on the week beginning the 18th of January 2016. The Spaniard first reached this career milestone on the 14th July 2014.
