Tennis in Spain is thriving. The mixture of youth and experienced players is making for great competition amongst the Spanish Armada. Rafael Nadal has already shown his world-class abilities and David Ferrer had a fantastic 2007, finishing inside the top five in the world rankings. In 2008, Spain has a new star in 22-year-old Nicolas Almagro. 

It’s true, Almagro is not a new name on the tennis circuit and started winning 'futures' and 'challenger' tournaments as an 18-year-old. However, the little Spanish powerhouse has failed to make the strides he was expected to – until now. Almagro has played consistently for a top 50 player throughout the past two years and has defeated some of the best in the world, such as Thomas Berdych, Guilermo Coria, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Marat Safin. He had won two tournaments before this year, both of which where in his home country in Valencia. 

2008 has seen a new confidence in Almagro, as the youngster seems to be intent on making greater progress in the men’s game. He has a 15-3 singles record this year and is ranked at No.7 in the ATP race – a huge difference to his 52-week ranking of 25. Almagro has added two tournment victories to his Valencia collection, in Acapulco and Costa Do Sauipe, defeating players such as David Nalbandian, Nicolas Massu, Jose Acasuso and Carlos Moya.

‘He has a 15-3 singles record this year and is ranked at No.7 in the ATP race – a huge difference to his 52-week ranking of 25.’


He is the in-form player on clay this season and this looks set to continue into the European clay court season which starts in Estoril in April. Almagro, suprisingly, has very little points to defend from April to July, after disappointing in Monte Carlo, Rome and the French Open in 2007. 

These tournaments have big points on offer for Almagro to pick up and move into the world’s top 20 and even push for a top 10 place. If he can improve his game to mix it with the best on other surfaces then Almagro looks set to join Nadal and David Ferrer in the current world’s elite. The Murcia-born player has a big future in the game and, luckily, he has realised this sooner rather than later.

Almagro is here to stay – right at the very top.