Thiago Moura Monteiro (; born 31 May 1994) is a Brazilian professional tennis player, who competes on the ATP Challenger Tour. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 61, achieved on 17 October 2022 and a doubles ranking of No. 144, reached on 31 January 2022. He is currently the No. 5 Brazilian player. Monteiro has won nine Challenger singles titles – all on clay.
Early life and background Thiago Moura Monteiro was born on 31 May 1994 in Fortaleza, Brazil. His first introduction to tennis happened when he watched a Gustavo Kuerten match on TV with his brother. Monteiro used to train football at a sports academy where his brother played tennis. He played it for the first time when his brother invited him to a hitting session. Thiago soon started training and playing in local tournaments: in early 2004, he won his first tournament, being only nine years old. Thiago would leave his hometown, Fortaleza, in late 2008 to enter the Larri Passos Academy in Balneário Camboriú to improve his game. He later said on interviews that he would probably be a football player if he had not made that change.
Junior career Monteiro had a successful junior career, winning many tournaments. Monteiro peaked in the ITF Junior Circuit rankings at world No.2 in February 2012. He ended his junior career with a 77–31 win record on singles and 47–32 on doubles.
In 2004, being ten years old, Monteiro won the Paraíba Tour Tournament. In 2005, Monteiro won the Fortaleza Cup by beating Evandro Alencar in straight sets in the final. In 2006, he captured the first of three titles at the Banana Bowl, in the category u12. 2008 was a very successful year for Monteiro, both in singles and doubles. He won the South-America Tournament of Nations, the Torneio Brasileirão, the Guanabara Open de Tênis (4th and 5th stage), all singles tournaments; and the 1st and 2nd stage of Torneio Nacional Rota-do-Sol (both in singles and doubles). Monteiro also conquered his second Banana Bowl title, category u14. Later that year, Thiago was awarded with Troféu Jornalista Flávio Ponte, at the category Personalidade Esportiva do Ano (Sports Personality of the Year).
To focus on his tennis career, Monteiro moved from his hometown in Fortaleza, to Balneário Camboriú, in Santa Catarina. This change led Thiago to conquer multiple titles in 2009: Copa Claro (3rd stage) and Credicard MasterCard Junior Cup (2nd and 3rd stage), in singles tournaments, and the doubles titles at XIV Goodyear Junior Cup and the Eddie Herr Tennis Championship. Monteiro was also runner-up at the G1 tournament, Orange Bowl, playing in the singles draw. This same year, he won his first points on the ATP rankings by playing two Futures events in the doubles category.
Starting in 2010, Monteiro was number one in both CBT and COSAT ranking. He won his third and final title at the 40th edition of the Banana Bowl, this time in the u16 category, and also made his debut on the ATP Singles Rankings, with his participation in a Future in his birthplace, in Fortaleza. In 2011, Thiago started the year winning the Grade A Copa Gerdau in Porto Alegre, one of the most important tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit. At 17 years old, Monteiro also won three other clay tournaments: the Asuncion Bowl, the Astrid Bowl, and the Offenbach Tournament. In this last one, he defeated Matias Sborowitz on the final in straight sets.
The Brazilian didn't achieve much success in junior majors: his best results were reaching the third round at the Wimbledon Championships in 2011 and 2012 French Open. He had a better run at doubles: reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the semifinals at the French Open, both in 2012. Monteiro's last match as a junior was at the 2012 US Open.
Professional career
2011–2013: Early career
In late 2011, Monteiro won his first professional title, the Bahia Open, a Future tournament with US$10,000 in money prize. He battled past his training partner Alexandre Schnitman, winning in close, straight sets. This win led Thiago to receive a wildcard entry on the main draw of Aberto de São Paulo, but he was eliminated on the first round by compatriot André Ghem.
2012 was the last junior year for Monteiro. He played in all junior Grand Slams except Wimbledon and focused on Futures and Challengers tournaments. Monteiro managed to qualify at 2012 Aberto de Florianópolis, in late February, but he was eliminated in the first round by Thiago Alves. In late May, Thiago won his second Futures title, this time on clay, in Bauru. The final was a thrilling three-hour victory over Leonardo Kirche, with Monteiro winning despite losing the first set. The Brazilian was runner-up on two other Futures played in Brazil: at São José do Rio Preto in August and at Porto Alegre in October. Thiago ended the year with a career ranking of 439, after starting the year at the position 701.
Entering 2013 as the first year that Thiago would play a full season as a senior professional, he was invited a second time to enter Aberto de São Paulo main draw, but couldn't make it past the first round again, losing to countryman Guilherme Clezar in straight sets. Monteiro later played in consecutive Futures events in the United States without much success. He tried to break through the qualifiers of Brasil Open a month later, but lost to Thiago Alves in the first round. In March, Thiago did a very successful run in Turkey: he won two back-to-back Futures, with 15 consecutive victories over two weeks. His first title there was against Czech Jan Minar, winning in straight sets. A week later, he defeated the Dominican José Hernández also in straight sets. He also won his first Futures title in doubles, partnering Maximiliano Estévez, from Argentina, defeating in the finals the partnership of Kirill Dmitriev and Yaraslav Shyla in the super tiebreak.
Thiago would also reach the finals of another Futures event, this time in the Netherlands, in June, but he couldn't win his 5th title. He lost in the final to Bjorn Fratangelo in three sets. Thiago broke through multiple Challenger qualifiers later in the year, including Sport 1 Open in Netherlands, the Poznań Open in Poland, the Oberstaufen Cup in Germany, and the Uruguay Open. His best results were in the quarterfinals in Germany and Netherlands, a performance he also achieved in IS Open and Aberto Rio Preto, but he didn't need to play the qualifiers in the latter. In doubles, Thiago reached the finals of Tetra Pak Tennis Cup partnering Thiago Alves, but they lost in straight sets against the Argentinian team of Guido Andreozzi and Máximo González. He also reached the semifinals of IS Open and Aberto Rio Preto, partnering Thiago Alves in the first and Rogério Dutra Silva in the latter, achieving his career high in the doubles ranking: 449th. He ended in the 276th position in the singles ranking.
2014–2015: Injuries, second doubles title Thiago's year started only in late February due to an injury on his left knee. He attempted to qualify to Brasil Open, but lost in the second round to Dušan Lajović in straight sets. In March, Thiago qualified to Visit Panamá Cup, defeating Alexander Zverev on his way, but Monteiro lost in the first round. Thiago's 5th Futures title came in late June, in the Netherlands, where he defeated Boy Westerhof in three sets. Thiago was not able to repeat his runs in the Challenger Tour as he did in 2013. His rank dropped down to 563rd by the end of the year. In doubles, Thiago reached the finals of two Futures (one in Netherlands, one in Dominican Republic), but wasn't able to win his 2nd title in either.
Trying to recover his positions in the ATP rankings, Thiago tried to break through multiple qualifiers of ATP World Tour tournaments. He attempted to do so in clay events, reaching the final qualifying round in the Argentina Open and the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, losing respectively to Facundo Bagnis and Rogério Dutra Silva. While his run on qualifiers wasn't much successful on the ATP World Tour, Thiago had better success at the ATP Challenger Tour. Over the year, Thiago entered 11 qualifier draws, breaking through 5 of them. Monteiro's also played his last Futures event to date, playing two weeks in Georgia in both singles and doubles. Partnering with the Italian Marco Bortolotti, the left-hander won his 2nd Futures title by defeating the Russian partnership of Victor Badula and Ivan Kalinin in straight sets.
Almost a month later, playing in the qualifiers of Poprad-Tatry ATP Challenger Tour, Thiago badly injured his left knee while holding a match point against Czech Robin Stanek and was forced to retire. He stayed away from the courts for three months, returning in the Campeonato Internacional de Tênis de Campinas qualifiers. Monteiro lost in the final qualifying round to Tiago Lopes in three sets. The Brazilian best run at a Challenger event was in November, at the Challenger Ciudad de Guayaquil, passing through the qualifiers and reaching the quarter-finals, where he had to retire against the eventual runner-up, Guido Pella. Thiago ended in the 470th position in the singles ranking.
2016: ATP Tour and top 100 debut, first Challenger title
Ranked at the beginning of the year at No. 463, Thiago started strong, qualifying to Torneo de Mendoza main draw and reaching the quarterfinals, where Monteiro lost to eventual champion Gerald Melzer in straight sets. The left-hander received a wildcard invite to Vivo Tennis Cup main draw, where he reached the semifinals of a Challenger event for the first time, losing again to the 'would-be' champion of the tournament, this time to Facundo Bagnis.
This performance led him to receive a wildcard into Rio Open main draw where he would face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the third seed and world No. 9 at the time. Thiago (ranked No. 338) stunned Tsonga in three sets, to set a meeting with Pablo Cuevas. Monteiro lost in straight sets, and his opponent won the tournament, defeating Guido Pella in the final. The surprise performance led Monteiro to receive a second wildcard, this time to play into Brasil Open main draw. Thiago started strong, defeating two Spaniards, Nicolás Almagro in the first round and Daniel Muñoz de la Nava in the second, to reach the third round and set another battle against Pablo Cuevas. Thiago triumphed in the first set this time, but Cuevas turned the game and won the match. Cuevas also won this tournament, beating Pablo Carreño Busta in the final.
After rising 98 positions in the rankings, Thiago returned to play on Challenger events, this time all over America. Playing in four tournaments, he reached the semifinals in two of them. The first one was the Challenger ATP Cachantún Cup, where he lost to countryman Rogério Dutra Silva, in March. The other semifinal was his second Challenger event in Brazil in 2016, the São Paulo Challenger de Tênis, where seeded third, he lost to Gonzalo Lama in three sets.
Returning to Europe, Thiago entered the Open du Pays d'Aix draw unseeded, and with a strong performance, he conquered the title by beating Carlos Berlocq in the final. Thiago played two other tournaments without the same success, before entering the French Open qualifying draw as the 30th seed. Monteiro was beaten in straight sets by Ruben Bemelmans. A week later, Monteiro had a rematch with Bemelmans in the first round of the Franken Challenge, defeating him in straight sets. Thiago later lost in the quarterfinals to Tobias Kamke. Playing in another clay tournament in France, Monteiro reached a second Challenger final, this time at the Open Sopra Steria de Lyon. Seeded 5th, he faced another Belgian this time, Steve Darcis. The left-hander took the first set, but the Belgian grew in the match, turning it into three sets.