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Ricardo Acioly

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Ricardo Acioly
Full nameRicardo Augusto Amaral Acioly
Country (sports) Brazil
Born (1964-02-04) 4 February 1964 (age 60)
Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro1986
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$151,966
Singles
Career record3–6
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 228 (29 December 1986)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ1 (1992)
US Open1R (1986)
Doubles
Career record52–74
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 46 (27 October 1986)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (1992)
French Open1R (1989, 1992)
Wimbledon1R (1987, 1989, 1992)
US Open2R (1987)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open1R (1989)
Last updated on: 11 May 2022.

Ricardo Augusto Amaral Acioly (born 4 February 1964) is a former tennis player from Brazil. He has what is considered by many one of the most complete and successful careers in Brazilian tennis, having been recognized Internationally as a player, coach, executive, tournament promoter, and sports commentator.

He comes from a "tennis family". His father, Claudio, who died in 2012, played tennis until he was 82 years old. His mother, Teresinha, still plays daily, competes in official tournaments, and has reached the N1 position in the Ladies 85 and over ITF Seniors world ranking.[1]

As a player

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As a junior, Acioly was always one of the best Brazilian players of his age group, winning many national titles and was a finalist at the Orange Bowl, considered at the time the World Junior Championships. He then went on to play Division 1 college tennis and was team captain and the No. 1 player for the University of South Carolina, a top 20 team on the NCAA's Division 1 rankings.

After graduating with a Business Degree from South Carolina in 1985, Acioly went on to play the ATP Pro Tour for eight years and became a member of the Brazilian Davis Cup Team (87'/'88/'89) and the Brazilian Olympic Team (Seoul '88).

He was ranked No. 46 in the world ATP doubles rankings. A six-times finalist in tournaments at the highest level of the ATP Tour, he won titles in Vienna, Geneva, and Guarujá. He was a finalist in Washington, Brasília, and Maceio. He also played and represented Brazil in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

ATP career finals

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Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (3–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–1)
Clay (1–2)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–3)
Indoors (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 1986 Washington, United States Grand Prix Clay Brazil César Kist Chile Hans Gildemeister
Ecuador Andrés Gómez
3–6, 5–7
Win 1–1 Oct 1986 Vienna, Austria Grand Prix Hard Poland Wojtek Fibak United States Brad Gilbert
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Alexander Mronz
walkover
Win 2–1 Sep 1987 Geneva, Switzerland Grand Prix Clay Brazil Luiz Mattar Iran Mansour Bahrami
Uruguay Diego Pérez
3–6, 6–4, 6–2
Win 3–1 Feb 1989 Guarujá, Brazil Grand Prix Hard Brazil Dácio Campos Brazil César Kist
Brazil Mauro Menezes
7–6, 7–6
Loss 3–2 Sep 1991 Brasília, Brazil World Series Clay Brazil Mauro Menezes United States Kent Kinnear
The Bahamas Roger Smith
4–6, 3–6
Loss 3–3 Feb 1992 Maceió, Brazil World Series Hard Brazil Mauro Menezes Argentina Gabriel Markus
United States John Sobel
4–6, 6–1, 5–7

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Doubles: 9 (7–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (7–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–1)
Clay (3–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1-0 Apr 1989 Brasília, Brazil Challenger Hard Brazil Dácio Campos Brazil Marcelo Hennemann
Brazil Edvaldo Oliveira
7–6, 6–3
Loss 1-1 Aug 1990 Brasília, Brazil Challenger Carpet Brazil Nelson Aerts Brazil Luiz Mattar
Brazil Fernando Roese
6–4, 3–6, 6–7
Loss 1-2 Oct 1990 Manaus, Brazil Challenger Hard Brazil Mauro Menezes United States Shelby Cannon
Venezuela Alfonso Gonzalez-Mora
6–7, 4–6
Win 2-2 Apr 1991 Mexico City, Mexico Challenger Clay Argentina Pablo Albano United States Francisco Montana
United States Leif Shiras
6–3, 6–3
Win 3-2 May 1991 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Hard Brazil Mauro Menezes Brazil Nelson Aerts
Brazil Fernando Roese
6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Win 4-2 May 1991 Ribeirão Preto, Brazil Challenger Clay Brazil Mauro Menezes United States Steve Bryan
United States T. J. Middleton
6–3, 6–4
Win 5-2 Jun 1991 Itu, Brazil Challenger Hard Brazil Mauro Menezes Brazil Jose Daher
Japan Eduardo Furusho
7–6, 6–3
Win 6-2 Aug 1991 Lins, Brazil Challenger Clay Brazil Mauro Menezes Japan Eduardo Furusho
Brazil João Zwetsch
2–6, 7–5, 7–5
Win 7-2 Jul 1993 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Challenger Hard Venezuela Nicolás Pereira Chile Felipe Rivera
Brazil Fernando Roese
7–6, 5–7, 6–3

Performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Doubles

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Tournament 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1 0%
French Open A A A 1R A A 1R 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Wimbledon A 1R A 1R Q3 A 1R 0 / 3 0–3 0%
US Open 1R 2R 1R 1R A 1R 1R 0 / 6 1–6 14%
Win–loss 0–1 1–2 0–1 0–3 0–0 0–1 0–4 0 / 12 1–12 8%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics NH 2R Not Held A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
ATP Masters Series
Miami A A 2R A A A 1R 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Rome A A A 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Cincinnati A A 2R A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Paris QF A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Win–loss 1–1 0–0 2–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 0 / 5 3–5 38%

As a coach

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As a full-time ATP travelling coach Acioly worked with several top players in the world like former ATP No. 1 Marcelo Ríos, WTA's N0. 2 Gabriela Sabatini, Fernando Meligeni (ATP 24), who he coached for 7 years and quite a few other players in the ATP Top 100 like Nicolás Pereira, Andre Sá, Javier Frana, Hernán Gumy and Alexandre Simoni. The results of the work with his players are significant having achieved a semifinal in the French Open, a semifinal and a quarterfinal in the Australian Open, a 4th place showing in the Atlanta Olympic Games and more than 10 titles on ATP Tour level tournaments in Singles and Doubles.

He was also Davis Cup captain for Brazil for six years and during his tenure as captain Brazil reached 1 semifinal and 2 quarter finals in the World Group. The list of team members coached during this period included world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, Fernando Meligeni, Jaime Oncins, Andre Sá, Flávio Saretta, Alexandre Simoni, Ricardo Mello and Márcio Carlsson. Up until today Brazil's biggest win in Davis Cup came under his leadership when in 1999 they defeated Spain in Lerida, Spain, against a team that had at the time four Top 10 players: Carlos Moyá, Àlex Corretja, Albert Costa and Félix Mantilla.

Acioly also worked and developed a number of top juniors that went on to have a successful careers on the ATP Tour like Marcelo Melo (world No. 1 in Doubles), João Souza (ATP No. 69), Franco Ferreiro (ATP top 50), Colombian Alejandro González (ATP No. 70) and quite a few others that had significant results in the ATP and ITF junior circuits.

Off court

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As a tennis executive Acioly is the only South American in history to have served as a director on the ATP Board of Directors. He is also a two time member of the ATP Player Council which has had players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as members. He has organized and promoted a number of professional events on the ATP's Challenger Tour, Champions Tour and currently serves as Director of Relations on the organizing committee of the Rio Open ATP 500, the biggest professional tennis tournament in South America.

Acioly is a tennis commentator for Globo Brazilian TV, SPORTV Channel and does the play by play for matches during the US Open Tennis, Wimbledon Championships, Davis Cup and all ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.

References

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  1. ^ "Ricardo Acioly olympics".
Davis Cup Coaching
Davis Cup Brazil