Guillermo Pérez Roldán (; born 20 October 1969) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Argentina. Pérez Roldán was known particularly as a strong

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...

player. He turned professional in 1986. Between 1987 and 1993, he won nine top-level singles titles. His best Grand Slam performance came at the 1988 French Open, where he reached the quarter-finals, beating

Alberto Mancini Alberto César Mancini (born 20 May 1969) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He won three top-level singles titles and four tour doubles titles. His career-high rankings were World No. 8 in singles and No. 79 in doubles (bot ...

, Tore Meinecke,

Patrik Kühnen Patrik Kühnen (; born 11 February 1966) is a German former professional tennis player, who turned professional in 1985. Kühnen had his biggest career singles win in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1988 when he beat Jimmy Connors en route to t ...

and

Stefan Edberg Jan Stefan Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), one of two players in the ...

on the way, before being knocked out by

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

Tennis career

Juniors

Pérez Roldán had an excellent junior career, winning the French Open Boys' Singles championship on his favored red clay in both 1986 and 1987 – since the

open era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

, he is the only individual to have captured the Boys' Singles championship at the French Open more than once. Junior Grand Slam results: Australian Open: -
French Open: W ( 1986,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

)
Wimbledon: 2R (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

)
US Open: 3R (

)

Pro tour

He burst onto the scene as a teenager in 1987, winning two tour titles at the age of seventeen. In 1988, already seeded 14 by age eighteen, he reached the final of the Italian Open, where he battled

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...

in five grueling sets. Later that year, he followed up his clay-court success at the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

, reaching the quarterfinals with wins over

, Tore Meinecke,

and

, before losing to

. He was named Rolex Rookie of the Year in 1988. At the 1988 US Open,

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

expressed outrage at being seeded lower than Pérez Roldán, who had not yet won a match on hard courts. However, Pérez Roldán silenced critics by progressing further in the tournament than McEnroe. Pérez Roldán's career-high singles ranking was World No. 13 (in 1988), and his career prize-money earnings totaled $1,686,341. Despite his teenage success, in the early 1990s, his career was hamstrung by injuries, and he finally retired from the professional tour in 1996. Pérez Roldán is currently tied for tenth on the list of most titles won by a teenager in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

(five).

Personal life

He has alleged suffering extensive physical, mental and financial abuse during his tennis career from his coach and father Raúl Pérez Roldán. A biopic based on his life was directed by Rodolfo Lamboglia and released on Star network.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 20 (9 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

Singles: 5 (4–1)

Doubles: 2 (1–1)

Performance timelines

Singles

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez Roldan, Guillermo Argentine male tennis players French Open junior champions Sportspeople from Tandil Tennis players from Buenos Aires Province 1969 births Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles 20th-century Argentine sportsmen