Roberto Bautista Agut

Born: April 14, 1988 in Castellón de la Plana (Valencia)
Height: 1.83 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

… a late bloomer. Until 25 he was playing mainly in Challengers, so when he finally became an ATP player per se, it would have been difficult to expect so many titles he has gathered, because usually players stop developing their skills around 23-24.
Surprisingly, he claimed his first title on grass (‘s-Hertogenbosch 2014, a month after a sensational advancement to the semifinal in Madrid), the surface on which he’d be least expected to lift a trophy. From a player of his height, one would certainly expect a better serve. In my opinion his biggest asset was his footwork, generally very important in tennis, and perhaps most important on grass, where the ball bounces lower and you need to think more about how to bend your knees; therefore Bautista’s semifinal at Wimbledon 2019 was less unexpected than his maiden title (his second best major result comes from the Aussie Open the same year). Every time I watched Bautista I had the impression that he moved so smoothly around the court that he must have trained in dance as a kid. His timing was perfect; he always seemed to be in the right position to play the ball off both wings. His forehand was the more dangerous stroke (inside-out!), especially when he had more time to play it, since with the same swing he was able to place the ball in any direction, but his backhand was more consistent, mainly cross-court – you can imagine that with this consistency he could trade “backhand vs backhand” forever.
For a few years he was very predictable in terms of results – good against the majority of Top 100 players, but helpless facing the Big 4. When he finally defeated one of them (Novak Đoković in Shanghai 2016 which helped to reach the biggest final of his life), he had an 0:13 record against them, without playing a decider even once (0:5 vs Roger Federer & Đoković, 0:2 vs Andy Murray, 0:1 vs Rafael Nadal). After overcoming that mental barrier, he became one of the Serb’s toughest opponents, defeating him twice in similar matches in 2019 (Doha & Miami). That same year he helped Nadal capture the Davis Cup for Spain in a new format that broke with the tournament’s centennial tradition. As a player who didn’t rely on his serve, Bautista lost too many matches by blowing match points (two such matches he lost to Gilles Simon, blowing six and three match points respectively). Ten out of his twelve titles come from hardcourts, the biggest one (the lone ATP 500) he claimed in Dubai ’18, but Doha ’19 could be more satisfying. “There comes a time when your body and mind say ‘enough’,” Bautista told ATPTour.com about his decision to retire at age of 38. “You have to know how to listen to yourself and step away from the Tour when the time is right. I don’t think I’m physically in the same shape as I used to be either. Given the state my body is in, I can’t cope with four or five matches a week. It’s time.”

Career record: 436 – 302 [ 305 events ]
Career titles: 12
Highest ranking: No. 9
Best GS results:
Australian Open (quarterfinal 2019)
Wimbledon (semifinal 2019)
Davis Cup champion 2019… the first edition in a new format