Thiago Monteiro has arguably established himself as the most improved player of the year, but he isn’t done creating new memories in 2016.
The 22 year old from Brazil is looking for his ATP Challenger Tour on home soil at the $40,000 ATP Challenger Tour in Campinas. Monteiro is the second seed and will play his opening match against fellow Brazilian Andre Ghem on Wednesday.
“I like to perform at home,” said Santos. “The energy of the people and their support is very good for me and I really do feel it in the tough matches.”
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After starting the year ranked No. 463 n the Emirates ATP Rankings, Monteiro is now inside the Top 100 at No. 90. In addition to winning the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event this May in Aix-en-Provence, France, and finishing as runner-up in two other Challengers, Monteiro reached ATP World Tour quarter-finals in February at the Brasil Open and in July at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open.
Monteiro is also responsible for one of the biggest upsets of the season. As a wild card ranked No. 338, he shocked then-World No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this February at the Rio Open presented by Claro.
“It’s been a fantastic year for me,” said Monteiro. “Reaching the Top 100 has been my dream ever since I was a kid. I had to work very hard with my team, but I’ve had some really good matches this year.”
Based on his run of form, it doesn’t appear those good matches will dry up anytime soon. But while he was initially surprised by his inspired tennis in 2016, it’s now something he has come to expect.
“I’d say this year has both matched and exceeded my expectations,” said Monteiro. “I didn’t expect to have the win over Tsonga or reach my first ATP World Tour quarter-final. But after that, I started to believe in my game more and work harder. That gave me a lot of motivation and now I’m starting to consistently have these good results.”