Ariel Behar

Ariel Behar (; born November 12, 1989) is a Uruguayan professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. His career-high doubles ranking is World No. 34 achieved on 6 May 2024. He has won three ATP titles with Ecuadorian partner Gonzalo Escobar.
He has taken part of the Uruguay Davis Cup team since 2009.

Personal life

Behar played tennis for the first time at 3 years old and began playing seriously aged 10. Growing up, he admired Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. He is from a Jewish family but is "not a big fan" of religion.

Professional career

2012–2017: ATP and Grand Slam singles debut

Since the mid 2010s till 2017, Behar competed primarily on the ATP Challenger Tour, where he won 7 doubles titles.

Partnering with Aliaksandr Bury, he was a semifinalist at the 2017 Estoril Open.

He entered the main draw at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, his first appearance at a Grand Slam.

2018–2022: Three doubles titles, 15 Challenger titles, top 40

Partnering with Ecuadorian Gonzalo Escobar, Behar won two ATP titles at the 2021 Delray Beach Open and the 2021 Andalucía Open and reached three other finals on the ATP tour in 2021 after winning two ATP Challenger Tour titles together in 2020. The pair won a total of eight Challenger titles between 2018 and 2020.
Behar entered the top 50 following the final at the 2021 Serbia Open on 26 April 2021.
He finished the year 2021 ranked No. 41, a career-high year-end doubles ranking and reached his career-high doubles ranking of No. 39 on 31 January 2022 following the 2022 Australian Open.
Also in 2022, he reached a fourth final and won his third ATP 250 title with Escobar at the 2022 Serbia Open defeating top seeds Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić.

2023: Wimbledon quarterfinal, two ATP finals, back to top 50

At the 2023 Córdoba Open he reached the quarterfinals with Nicolas Barrientos. At the next Golden swing tournament he reached the final at the 2023 Argentina Open also with Barrientos where they lost to Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini.

At the 2023 French Open he won his first round match with new partner Adam Pavlásek over Albert Ramos Viñolas and Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
At the 2023 Wimbledon Championships he reached the quarterfinals of a Major for the first time with Adam Pavlásek defeating former Wimbledon champions, ninth seeded pair of Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić before losing to eventual champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski. As a result he returned to the top 50 on 17 July 2023.

He reached his tenth ATP final and second of the season with Pavlasek at the 2023 European Open but lost to the Tsitsipas brothers.

2024: Australian Open quarterfinal and Madrid final, top 35

At the 2024 Australian Open he made the quarterfinals with Pavlasek. The Uruguayan-Czech team upset fifth seeds Santiago González and Neal Skupski in three sets to advance and face next, first time doubles quarterfinalists newly formed Chinese-Czech duo of Zhang Zhizhen and Tomáš Macháč. As a result he returned the top 40 in the rankings on 29 January 2024.

Ranked No. 39 at the 2024 Mutua Madrid Open, he reached his first Masters final with Pavlasek, defeating tenth seeds Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavić, third seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, 15th seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow and second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos by walkover. As a result he reached the top 35 in the rankings on 6 May 2024. They lost in the final to Sebastian Korda and Jordan Thompson.

Partnering with Robert Galloway, he was runner-up at the Japan Open, losing to British duo, Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, in the final.

Significant finals

Masters 1000 Finals

Doubles: (1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Doubles: 14 (3 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Challenger and Futures finals

Doubles: 56 (27–29)

Best Grand Slam results details

Doubles

Because of a delay in schedule due to rain, the first two rounds of the competition were played best-of-three sets instead of the usual best-of-five format.

Wins over top 10 players

Doubles

*Behar has a record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Behar, Ariel
1989 births
Living people
Uruguayan male tennis players
Tennis players from Montevideo
Tennis players at the 2015 Pan American Games
Tennis players at the 2011 Pan American Games
Pan American Games competitors for Uruguay
Uruguayan people of Jewish descent