Bernabe Zapata Miralles was born on January 12, 1997, in Valencia, Spain, to Wilfredo and Lucia Zapata Miralles. He was inspired to play tennis as a five-year-old by his older brother David. Zapata Miralles’ tennis idol growing up was countryman Pablo Andujar.
The Spaniard claimed his first ATP Tour main draw win at the 2018 Geneva Open against Florian Mayer in straight sets. However, he did not register another victory at that level for three years. Instead, Zapata Miralles spent the vast majority of that period competing on the ATP Challenger Tour. He won three titles by the end of 2021. All three of these were on his favored clay in Cordenons, Heilbronn, and Poznan.
After claiming a first Grand Slam main draw triumph at the US Open against his countryman Feliciano Lopez, Zapata Miralles had an excellent run at the 2022 Roland Garros. He began by comfortably getting past the wild card Michael Mmoh in the opening round. However, his next two victories were far more impressive.
Zapata Miralles upset the 13th seed Taylor Fritz in four sets despite losing the first set. But he was not done there. The Spaniard came through an epic five-set battle with John Isner to progress to the fourth round. Alexander Zverev then ended his tournament at that stage.
Zapata Miralles’ best successes during 2023 were during the ATP Masters 1000 events on clay. He had a strong run to the fourth round of his home event in Madrid. This was achieved with triumphs against Mackenzie McDonald, Dan Evans, and Roman Safiullin. The fourth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, defeated Zapata Miralles in straight sets in the fourth round.
That success was immediately followed by making it to the third round of the Italian Open. Zapata Miralles also came very close to reaching the fourth round for a second consecutive tournament. But he lost in three sets to Daniil Medvedev, who caused a shock by going on to win the event, as he isn't known for liking the red dirt.
