33 Facts About Santiago Giraldo

Santiago Giraldo Salazar is a retired Colombian professional tennis player.

Santiago Giraldo played on the ATP tour and represented Colombia in the Davis Cup competition.

Santiago Giraldo is the highest-ranked tennis singles player in Colombia's history, with a career-high singles ranking of 28th in the world, and 77th in doubles.

Santiago Giraldo has beaten golden-generation players from Argentinian tennis such as Gaston Gaudio, Guillermo Canas, Mariano Puerta, Juan Martin del Potro, and David Nalbandian.

In October 2003, at age 15, Giraldo became the youngest player in his country to be ranked by the ATP, getting his first point with the ITF Futures tournament in Medellin.

In March 2007, Santiago Giraldo won the Challenger de Bogota title, beating the Brazilian Flavio Saretta, and won the Challenger de Quite against Giovanni Lapentti.

Santiago Giraldo reached two finals in the same Challenger category.

Santiago Giraldo made it to final draws five times, including the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami.

Santiago Giraldo opened 2009 by winning the Challenger de Salinas title, defeating Michael Rusell in the final, and, in March, had his sole triumph at the ATP level in the Davis Cup match versus Uruguay.

One month later, Santiago Giraldo won the Challenger de San Luis Potosi's title against the Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Santiago Giraldo beat off-seed No 16 Tommy Robredo in the first round.

At the 2011 Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, Santiago Giraldo made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to David Ferrer.

At the 2011 US Open, Santiago Giraldo drew World No 3 Roger Federer in the first round, to whom he lost in straight sets.

At the 2013 French Open Santiago Giraldo lost in the first round to Grega Zemlja.

Santiago Giraldo's tournament ended in the second round, losing in a 3-setter against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Santiago Giraldo lost the tournament against Kei Nishikori in straight sets.

In May 2014, in the second round of the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open Santiago Giraldo beat 11th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets.

At the 2014 Wimbledon tournament, Santiago Giraldo defeated Marcel Granollers in the second round and lost to Roger Federer in the third round.

Santiago Giraldo reached the semi-finals at Shenzhen, where he lost to Tommy Robredo.

In 2016, Santiago Giraldo lost to 32nd-seed Joao Sousa in the second round of the 2016 Australian Open.

Santiago Giraldo lost in the first round of the 2016 French Open.

Santiago Giraldo won the Advantage Cars Prague Open, which included an impressive win in the quarter-finals against world number-26 Martin Klizan.

Santiago Giraldo beat Amir Weintraub in straight sets, then faced 4th seed Sam Querrey, whom he defeated in straight sets.

Santiago Giraldo lost to wild-card Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals.

Santiago Giraldo's forehand has been likened to that of Fernando Gonzalez, his coach.

Santiago Giraldo uses this technique to hit balls out wide at an acute angle, which is a signature shot of his.

Santiago Giraldo's forehand is known to reach speeds of up to 110 miles per hour.

Santiago Giraldo is known for his flair in shot-making with both his forehand and backhand, often hitting balls with extreme pace or angles.

Santiago Giraldo is adept at controlling serves, such that he can hit them at acute angles with speed to finish off the point early.

Santiago 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.

Santiago Giraldo's first serve can reach up to 120 miles per hour.

Santiago Giraldo's playing 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, and Rafael Nadal.

In 2014, Santiago Giraldo had a relationship with Romanian tennis player Sorana Cirstea, which ended in the summer of 2017.