Francisco (Fran) Cerundolo is an Argentinian professional tennis player who was born in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, on August 13, 1998. Older brother to fellow professional tennis player Juan Manuel Cerundolo, their sibling rivalry fuelled a healthy yet competitive spirit from a very young age.
The sporting blood runs in their family too, with sister Maria, a hockey player, while both their parents enjoyed playing tennis in their heyday. After a tennis-packed childhood, Francisco turned pro in 2018, aged 20, keen to test his capabilities on the main tour with the world’s best.
His debut tournament came at the ATP Challenger tournament in his home city, Buenos Aires, but it was not the fairytale ending that he would have hoped for, with the Argentine falling to defeat. The next few seasons saw him carry on trying his luck on the ATP Challenger Tour while occasionally dabbling in selective 250s.
It was, in fact, at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires in 2021 where his luck started to turn. The youngster set up an all-Argentine final with compatriot Diego Schwartzman. Despite ultimately losing that match, it set the stage for a bright career in the years to follow.
2022 brought similar success for him, but on yet an even bigger stage – he reached the semi-final of the Miami Open, which is an ATP Masters 1000 event, propelling his ranking up even further. Later that season, his progress was put into real concrete silverware, with him managing to win his first ATP title at the Bastad Open, overcoming fellow Argentine Sebastian Baez in the final.
Despite stellar progress in ranking terms, Cerundolo is yet to have made in-roads on tennis’ biggest stage – the Grand Slams. In 2023, the Argentinian reached his career-best rounds in all four of the slams, the latest round being the fourth round in Australia.
2023 did bring success elsewhere for him, though, with him reaching his then career-high ranking of 19 in the world in June of that year. His victory on England’s south coast in Eastbourne would have gone a long way in helping him reach such heights, earning him valuable confidence on the lesser-used grass courts.
In his 20s, Cerundolo remains young and a fairly fresh face on the Tour. Providing he manages to escape the worst of injuries tennis can throw up, Cerundolo certainly has a bright career ahead in what is a generation of players that is very congested with big talent such as him.
