Jaume Munar closes the year with a bang

Jaume Munar will finish his season for the second consecutive year among the elite of the ATP Tour circuit. The Spaniard won the title in his last scheduled event at the Uruguay Open , a Challenger-class tournament, where he managed to earn the necessary points to get closer to the Top 80 of the ATP Rankings, the same world ranking zone in which the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar player finished in 2018.

On the clay of Montevideo, and accompanied by Tomeu Salvà, the Spaniard overcame the five steps necessary to win his first trophy of the season and third of his career together with Prostejov 2018 and Caltanissetta 2018. The Brazilian Rafael Matos, the Slovak Jozef Kovalik, the Argentine Andrea Collarini and the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild proposed a difficult path to the final, in which he had to work each match until the final set and, even, in three of these matches he had to demonstrate his fighting ability by coming back after losing the first set.

In the final round against veteran Argentine Federico Delbonis, who has reached world No. 33, Munar displayed his best level of play to close out the match in two sets (7-5, 6-2) in one hour and 33 minutes.

In this way, he got the thorn out of the Copa Sevilla last September, where he came close to winning the title in the final. He also put in a strong performance at the Challengers in Barcelona and Biella (Italy), reaching the semifinals, but it was in Uruguay that he capped off another remarkable season.

And Munar has completed a 2019 with brilliant moments, reaching his highest position in the ATP Rankings. On May 20, he rose to No. 52 in the world, after reaching the round of 16 at the Conde de Godó Trophy in Barcelona . He also achieved his first victories in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments on the hard courts of Miami and on the clay of Monte Carlo, and the most prestigious of his career to date in the second round of Marrakech against then-World No. 3 Alexander Zverev.

Furthermore, the Mallorcan closes the year with five appearances in the quarterfinals of an ATP Tour tournament, thanks to his performances in Pune (India), Córdoba (Argentina), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Marrakech (Morocco). All on clay, except for his first on the Indian hard court. However, the player born in Santanyí 22 years ago has emerged primarily on clay, becoming one of the most successful players on the circuit on this surface.

With 14 wins on clay, he is in the Top 15 of rackets with the most victories in these conditions in 2019, tied in number of victories with the Italian Fabio Fognini and the Chilean Nicolás Jarry. Among the Spaniards, only Rafa Nadal (21) and Albert Ramos Viñolas (22) have won more matches on clay this year. All this data serves to make Munar one of the ten Spaniards who finish the season among the top 100 in the world, along with Nadal, Bautista, Carreño, Ramos, Verdasco, Andújar, Feliciano, Carballés and Davidovich.

These results were achieved through tremendous teamwork, thanks to Rafa Nadal Academy coaches Tomeu Salvá and Pedro Clar, the physical preparation coordinated by Domingo Rosselló, nutritionist Gemma Bes, and the silent but always effective work of Joan Suasi. And thanks to the constant support of an Academy that continues to shout in unison… Go Jaume!