1. Guillermo Vilas (Argentina)
Considered one of the greatest South American tennis players ever. In tennis' golden era, with stylish FILA outfits, there was the stoic Björn Borg, the combative Jimmy Connors, the “nasty” Ilie Năstase, cerebral Arthur Ashe...and then there was Vilas, the 'bull of the pampas' who charged his way onto US Open’s centre court to defeat Jimmy Connors in 1977. In a tension-filled 3 ½ hour final, Vilas dramatically altered his playing strategy. Instead of pounding away from the baseline with his looping, heavy topspin forehand drives, he took to net frequently, and the tactic had Connors on his heels. Vilas was so athletically and intellectually intriguing that he was hard to resist as one of the most popular and celebrated players on tour. His left-handed strokes were graceful and poetic. He captured 62 ATP championships and four major singles titles, the Australian Open in 1978 and 1979 and the French and US Opens, both in 1977.
2. Maria Bueno (Brazil)
Maria Bueno is Latin America’s most successful tennis player, world No. 1, winning 19 Grand Slam titles, including three Wimbledon singles crowns. Recognised as one of the most graceful champions to step on to a tennis court, the Paulista exuded charm that effectively camouflaged her fiercely competitive spirit. She might have moved with balletic grace, but her ease of movement only helped her get to the net with sufficient speed to strike like a cobra with her trademark volleys. She claimed she was a totally instinctive play “The moment I have to think about my tennis, I cannot play,” she explained. In 2015 the Brazilian Olympic tennis stadium was named after her.
3. Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina)
Any girl growing up playing tennis in the 1980s wanted to be Gabriela Sabatini. We her stunning good looks and Latin flair on court, she took us away from the stuffy elitism of the world. The Argentine beauty was like a thoroughbred race horse that blasts through the gate and storms past the field with immense power and speed. At 13 became, the youngest player to win the prestigious Orange Bowl, and by In 1984 was the world’s No. 1 ranked junior. At 14 she became the youngest female semifinalist in history at Roland Garros. Along with Steffi Graf, Gaby went on to become one of the leading players on the women's pro circuit from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, earned her first grand slam when she beat Stefi Graf to win the US Open in 1990. She won the WTA Finals in 1988 and 1994, and was runner-up at Wimbledon in 1991 and the US Open in 1988. In doubles, she won Wimbledon in 1988 with Steffi Graf, and reached three French Open finals (1986, 1988 and 1989).
4. Pancho Segura (Ecuador)
Back in the 1950s when tennis was straddling from amateur to professional, a dashing Guayaquileño came out of nowhere in 1956 to snatch the world number one, with what was regarded as “the single greatest shot in the history of tennis…a lethal double handed forehand.” Unusually for a tennis player, Segura did not come form a rich background, but overcame poverty and rickets (a calcium deficiency in the bones of children) with shere talent and determination. Discovered by the head coach at the University of Miami on a trip to South America, Segura was offered a scholarship and the 5-foot-6 hitting dynamo repaid the gesture by winning the NCAA Singles Championship three straight years (1943-45). four consecutive trips to the U.S. National semifinals (1942, 1943, 1944, 1945) and the third round at Wimbledon and the French Championships After retirement, he later went on to nurture and coach Jimmy Connors.
5. Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil)
His beaming smile, engaging personality, and his high-energy style of tennis betrayed an absolute determination and technical brilliance that won this Brazilian three French Open titles (1997, 2000, 2001). These achievmets alone place ‘Kuga’ well and truly in tennis’ hall of fame: only Björn Borg (1974-75, 1978-81), and Rafael Nadal (2005-2008, 2010-2014) have more titles at Roland Garros.
6. Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
‘Delpo’ became an instant Argentine national hero when, at the age of 21, he became the youngest winner of the US open in 2009, and at the same time the first to defeat both Federer and Nadal during the same major. At 6 ft 6 , the ‘Tower of Tandil’ is probably the best ever ground stoke player for someone of his height, with an unbelievable forehand that he literally slaps down to annihilate his opponents. The cost, however, has been a career beset with wrist injury, but despite this Delpo reached the 2018 US Open final, Wimbledon semi-final, won bronze medal in men's singles at the 2102 Olympics, the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Indian Wells Masters in 2018, and helped take his country to Davis Cup victory.
7. Marcelo Rios (Chile)
Before the likes of Nick Kyrgious there was Marcelo Rios, grumpy, controversial, with the difference that the Chilean boy with striking native features, actually reach World no.1. He was the only Latin American to ever be so in the Open era (although Vilas also claimed the No. 1 spot, but for a technical error that officially deprived him of it). Rios was the first player to win all three clay-court tournaments (Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg) and the third male in history (after Michael Chang and Pete Sampras) to complete the Sunshine Double (winning Indian Wells and Miami Masters in 1998). He retired prematurely at the age of 27 in July 2004, after being overtaken by a back injury, but provided much excitement and controversy in his short career.
8. David Nalbadlian (Argentina)
No tennis player played the way David Nalbandian did in the 2007 Madrid Open as he beat Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djocovic in that tournament. He was the player everyone feared, and he himself reached world No. 3. Nalbandian was runner-up at 2002 Wimbledon and won 11 singles titles, including the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and two Masters 1000 tournaments. Nalbandian is the only Argentine player in history who ever reached the semifinals or better at all four Grand Slam tournaments.
9. Alex Olmedo (Peru)
In 1959, Alex Olmedo made a pilgrimage to Centre Court at the All England Club and achieved a feat that no Peruvian player had accomplished before or since: He won the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Championship. That year his fast and aggressive game rocked the tennis world, winning both the Australian and Wimbledon titles. Olmedo was introduced to tennis by his father, a resident pro at a local club in Arequipa, Peru and worked his way up to become the No. 2 ranked amateur. He retired from the pro tour in 1965, and became the teaching pro at the Beverly Hills Hotel, working with Hollywood elites such as Katharine Hepburn, Robert Duvall, and Chevy Chase. and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
10. Gastón Gaudio (Argentina)
At the French Open of 2014, there were so many Argentines in the draw that it could very well have been an all-Argentine semi-final, if only Nalbaldian hadn’t lost to Tim Henman in the quarters. As it was, there were three Argentines in the semi-finals, leading to an all Argentine final. Guillermo Coria was the greatest clay court player in the world at the time, having won in Rome, Monaco and Madrid and was the all out favourite to beat his compatriot Gastón Gaudio. Coria was leading by 2 sets, and at 4-2 was crusing for an easy win when the Parisian crowd decided to spur on the underdog with a prolongued Mexican wave. After that, something happened, Gaudio began to turn the game around, and Coria began to doubt. The match was on.
Even though Coria had two match points on the 5th set, the tide had turned and Gaudio became perhaps the most unexpected Argentine ever to win a Grand Slam. Coria was never able to come back from the humilitation and the boy who was set to be the greatest Argentine player ever virtually disappeared into obscurity. For Gastón it would be his greatest achievement, but winning just one Grand Slam is something most tennis players can only dream of, and in the process he give us one of the most dramatic come-backs of all time.
