Martín Alund (; ; born 26 December 1985) is a retired Argentine 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. He reached the semifinals of the 2013 Brasil Open; has won seven

ATP Challenger The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...

events in doubles; and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 84 in March 2013.

Tennis career

Juniors

As a junior, Alund reached as high as No. 45 in the world singles rankings in March 2003 (and No. 62 in doubles the same year). He gained victories over promising junior prospects such as

Eduardo Schwank Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastián Cabal and of the US O ...

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and

Scoville Jenkins Scoville Jenkins (born September 23, 1986, in Atlanta, Georgia) is a former professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He is sometimes referred to by his nickname "Sco". He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 187 in April 20 ...

Pro tour

2013

As a lucky loser, Alund reached the semifinals of the 2013 Brasil Open, defeating World No. 25

Jérémy Chardy Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best major performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 ...

(fresh off of his career-best

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

quarterfinal run) and experienced claycourter

Filippo Volandri Filippo Volandri (; born 5 September 1981) is an Italian tennis coach and former professional player. Volandri reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 25 in July 2007. He turned professional in 1997 and earned almost $4 million in priz ...

en route. In the semis he valiantly took a set off top seed

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

before losing in 3 sets. In

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

a few weeks later, Alund defeated former World No. 1 and multiple grand slam champion

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian 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) fo ...

."Alund beats Hewitt at rainy US Men's Clay Court"
''NDTV Sports'', 11 April 2013. Alund gained direct entry into both 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 ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, winning a set against World No. 4

David Ferrer David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in July 2013. Ferrer won 27 ATP Tour singles titles, including a ...

in the first round of the latter before eventually losing in four sets."Ferrer outlasts Alund to reach Round 2 at Wimbledon"
''Tennis Earth'', 25 June 2013. In preparation for the grass courts, he won the Liverpool International exhibition tournament, etching his name alongside esteemed former champions

Marat Safin Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...

Ivan Ljubičić Ivan Ljubičić (; born 19 March 1979) is a Croatian former professional tennis player, coach and Tennis TV commentator. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking on 1 May 2006. His career high ...

and

Fernando González Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career, he reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments. He contested hi ...

."Martin Alund warms up for Wimbledon by winning the Liverpool International"
''Liverpool Echo'', 24 June 2013. Together with

João Souza João Olavo Soares de Souza (; born 27 May 1988) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player. Before receiving a lifetime ban for match-fixing, Souza competed mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his hi ...

, Alund reached the quarterfinals of the men's doubles at

Båstad Båstad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Båstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden, with approximately 5,000 permanent residents. It is however one of Sweden's most typical summer resorts. The population is presumably mor ...

2014-2017: Retirement

After qualifying for both

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...

and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Alund defeated clay specialist

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in straights and took a set off both World No. 18 Nicolas Almagro and No. 46

Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012 and his highest doubles ranking of world No. 29 in May 2023 ...

. After a year and a half of injuries, Alund announced he had decided to retire from the pro tour in January 2017.

Coaching

After his retirement, he initially lended his world class skills to the coaching team at Advantage Tennis in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

."Martín Alund y una nueva vida siempre ligada al tenis"
, ''Ovación'', 8 January 2017.Advantage Tennis - World Class Coaches
/ref> Alund is now head of pros at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a pri ...

and is currently coaching former junior World No. 1 "Jerry"

Shang The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dyn ...

, guiding him to the ATP top 100 and his first ATP Tour title in Chengdu.

Playing style

Alund is a natural claycourter, though intersperses his defensive skills with clean hitting, a powerful first serve and deft dropshots. He possesses a heavy, hard-hitting forehand and a flashy one-handed backhand, both of which are capable of reeling off winners, but are also often error-prone.

Career finals

Challenger singles: 3 (0–3)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alund, Martin Argentine male tennis players Argentine people of Swedish descent Sportspeople from Mendoza, Argentina 1985 births Living people South American Games bronze medalists for Argentina South American Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 2002 South American Games 21st-century Argentine sportsmen