João Pedro Coelho Marinho de Sousa (born 30 March 1989), known as João Sousa (), is a Portuguese former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 28 on 16 May 2016, making him the highest-ranked Portuguese player in history. He has a best doubles ranking of No. 26 achieved in May 2019.
He is nicknamed Conquistador (Portuguese for "Conqueror") for sharing his birthplace of Guimarães with Afonso I, the country's first king. Continuously ranked in the world's top-100 between July 2013 and March 2021, and with four ATP Tour singles titles, Sousa is often regarded as the best Portuguese tennis player of all time.
Sousa began playing tennis at the age of seven. After winning national youth titles, he decided at the age of fifteen to invest in his career by moving to Barcelona. After an unimpressive junior career, Sousa turned professional in 2008 and won his first singles tournament in 2009. He started playing in the ATP Challenger Tour in 2008, winning his first tournament at this level in 2011. Sousa debuted in the top-level ATP World Tour in 2008, and rose to prominence at the 2013 Malaysian Open, where he became the first Portuguese player to win a World Tour-level singles tournament. Sousa holds several Portuguese men's tennis records. In October 2013, he ranked 49th in the world after his victory at the Malaysian Open, becoming the first Portuguese player to break into the singles top 50. In November 2015, Sousa reached a career-high and Portuguese-best ranking of World 33, following his second ATP World Tour singles title at the Valencia Open. In May 2016, he improved his personal ranking best, becoming the first Portuguese player to enter the top 30 at World No. 28, as a result of reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Madrid. In 2014, he was the first Portuguese player to compete exclusively at the ATP World Tour in a single season; the first to be seeded in a Grand Slam tournament (2014 US Open); and the second to reach the quarterfinals in a Grand Slam event (2015 US Open doubles). Sousa is the fourth Portuguese player to reach the singles top 100, and the second to do so in both singles and doubles rankings, after Nuno Marques. He is also the Portuguese player with the largest career prize money, and the most wins at Grand Slam singles tournaments.
Early and personal life João Sousa was born on 30 March 1989 in Guimarães, Portugal, to Armando Marinho de Sousa, a judge and amateur tennis player, and Adelaide Coelho Sousa, a bank clerk. Sousa has a younger brother named Luís Carlos. At age seven, Sousa began playing tennis with his father at a local club. In 2001, he won the national under-12 singles title, beating future Davis Cup partner Gastão Elias in the semifinals, and was runner-up in doubles. In 2003, he partnered with Elias to win the national under-14 doubles title. Sousa also played football at local clubs Vitória de Guimarães – of which he is a keen supporter – and Os Sandinenses until the age of 14, when he decided to give up on football and the goal of studying medicine to pursue a professional tennis career. He briefly joined the National Tennis Training Center in Maia until he was forced to leave after its closure.
In September 2004, aged 15, Sousa moved to Barcelona, Spain, to attend a boarding school and join the Catalan Tennis Federation. A year later, he joined the BTT Tennis Academy, which was recommended to him by former member and countryman Rui Machado. He was first coached by Álvaro Margets, under the supervision of one of his mentors, Francisco Roig. At the academy, he met and shared a flat with his future coach, Frederico Marques. Sousa continues to practice at BTT, even after joining the ATP Tour.
During his youth, Sousa's idols were Pete Sampras, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Roger Federer. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, as well as English, French and Italian. Since 2008, Sousa has been dating Júlia Villanueva, whom he met during his training in Barcelona.
Sousa and his family manage the Conquistador Palace hotel in his hometown of Guimarães. The hotel opened on November 13, 2021.
Tennis career Pre-2008: Junior years Sousa made his debut in a junior tournament in August 2004 at the Grade 4 Taça Diogo Nápoles in Porto, reaching the semifinals. His first junior doubles title came in April 2005 at a Grade 4 tournament in Guadeloupe, where he also reached his first junior singles final. Though he never won a singles title on the junior circuit, Sousa reached three singles finals and won five doubles titles, including a Grade 2 tournament in France. In 2005 Sousa was runner-up at the Portugal under-16 National Championship, losing in the final to Gastão Elias. He had previously won the doubles title at the 2004 edition in the same age category.
Sousa peaked at number 61 in the world junior rankings in early 2007, shortly after entering the main draw of the 2006 Orange Bowl. His only participation at a junior Grand Slam was short-lived; he lost in the first qualifying round of the 2007 French Open Boys' Singles tournament. Sousa's last junior tournament was the European Junior Championships in Austria in July 2007.
Despite not having turned professional before 2008, Sousa made his debut at a senior tournament in October 2005 after entering as a wild card in the main draw of a Futures doubles tournament in Barcelona. His first win as a senior came at a Futures doubles tournament, in August 2006 in Oviedo, and his debut singles tournament participation and win both came in May 2007 at a Futures tournament in Lleida, Spain. Sousa would not go beyond quarterfinals at any Futures event until 2008.
2008–2012: Early career In 2008, Sousa began the season by winning his first professional title at the final of a Futures doubles tournament in Murcia. He reached two more doubles finals that year, winning a second title in August in Bakio. The biggest achievement in his 2008 campaign came at the Estoril Open. Entering through qualifying rounds, Sousa made his debut at the main draw of an ATP Tour-level tournament. He had his first ATP win over Austrian Oliver Marach, losing to Frederico Gil in the second round. Sousa also started playing at the ATP Challenger Tour and for the Portugal Davis Cup team in 2008. He played two singles dead rubbers, winning over Cyprus' Eleftherios Christou in July and losing to Ukraine's Illya Marchenko in September.
Besides winning two more Futures doubles titles in three finals in Irun and Espinho, Sousa reached his first four singles finals at the same level in 2009. He won the title in the La Palma final. At the Estoril Open, Sousa was granted a wild card to participate in his first doubles ATP World Tour level tournament, but lost in the first round. During 2009, Sousa was twice called to the Portugal Davis Cup team, winning both singles dead rubbers he took part in – over Philippos Tsangaridis from Cyprus in March and Algeria's Sid-Ali Akkal in July. In 2010, Sousa won his first Challenger title at the Tampere's doubles tournament in August. In the 2010 season, Sousa did not enter any ATP tournament; he began shifting his schedule increasingly from the Futures circuit to the Challenger tour. He was more successful in the Futures, winning three singles titles in four finals at Valldoreix, Tenerife and Lanzarote, and doubles titles in Lanzarote, Córdoba and two in Tenerife. At the Davis Cup, Sousa played two more dead rubbers, winning for the second time in three seasons over Cyprus' Christou and losing to Bosnian Damir Džumhur.
Sousa reached several milestones in 2011. At the Challenger Tour, he won his first singles title at that level in Fürth in June. At the ATP World Tour, Sousa participated as a wildcard in the singles and doubles events in Estoril, losing in the second round of the former to Canadian Milos Raonic. He also made his first attempt at entering the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, but fell in the qualifying rounds at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. In October, Sousa's participation at the Sabadell Futures was his last presence in the main draw of a tournament in that category. He won three more singles and one doubles Futures titles, making his career titles at this level seven singles and nine doubles titles. Once again, Sousa was called for two dead rubbers at Davis Cup, winning over Martin Kližan from Slovakia and losing to Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli. In October 2011, he hired Frederico Marques as a coach when he was ranked world No. 220.
At the 2012 Estoril Open, Sousa reached the quarterfinals of an ATP tour tournament for the first time, losing to Albert Ramos. At the 2012 French Open, he made his debut as a qualifier in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. He would lose in the first round to 20th seed Marcel Granollers in four sets. He did not progress past the qualifying rounds at the other three Grand Slam tournaments. He also entered main draw events at the Barcelona Open (lost to Frederico Gil in the 2nd round) and the Croatia Open (lost to Matthias Bachinger in the 1st round). At Challenger tournaments, Sousa won two singles titles out of three finals – Mersin and Tampere – and one doubles title at Fürth.
His role at the 2012 Davis Cup rose in importance. Sousa played his first doubles rubber against Israel, partnering with Gastão Elias in a loss against Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich. Ram also beat Sousa in a dead rubber – his last as of 2016. In September, Sousa played three rubbers against Slovakia. He won the first singles match over Lukáš Lacko but lost the doubles with Elias and his second singles match to Martin Kližan, meaning Portugal's relegation from Europe/Africa Zone Group I to Group II in 2013. In this same month, Sousa became the top-ranked Portuguese tennis player for the first time, at No. 107. In October, his world ranking rose to No. 99, and Sousa became the fourth Portuguese player to enter the ATP top-100 singles ranking after Nuno Marques, Frederico Gil and Rui Machado.
2013: Breakthrough in the ATP Sousa started the 2013 season with his first participation in ATP tour level hardcourt tournaments at the Chennai Open and the Sydney International. Despite being knocked out of both tournaments in the first round, he returned to the top-100 world rankings. At the Australian Open, Sousa won his first Grand Slam on his second attempt, following a first-round win over wildcard John-Patrick Smith. He lost to world number three Andy Murray in straight sets in the second round. In February, Sousa participated in the Portugal Davis Cup team in their Europe/Africa Zone Group II tie against Benin. He won his singles match against Loic Didavi and the doubles match partnering with Pedro Sousa. Portugal won the tie 5–0 and progressed to the second round. Sousa then played his first clay court tournaments of the season at the Chile Open and ATP Buenos Aires, where he again lost in the first round. At the Mexican Open, he defeated former top 10 Jürgen Melzer in the first round, but lost in the second round to Santiago Giraldo.
Despite failing to qualify for the Indian Wells Masters, Sousa entered for the first time in his career in the main draw of a Masters event at the Miami Masters. He lost in the first round to former world number 1 Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets. Sousa did not play in April after fracturing his left foot during a Davis Cup training session. He was scheduled to return as a wild card at the Portugal Open. His invitation was given to world number 4 David Ferrer instead, which stirred some controversy in Portuguese media. Later in the season, Sousa showed uncertainties about his future Portugal Open participation, which prompted tournament director João Lagos to comment on the contention. Ahead of the 2014 edition, the controversy was no longer an issue.