WITH all the ATP Tour and WTA Tour tournaments on hiatus for the time being, Draft Central will take a look at various nations across the globe and analyse how the top players from that nation are performing. Our next nation is Brazil.

Top ATP player: Thiago Monteiro
Rank: 82 (as of March 16, 2020)
Age: 25
Points: 699
Tournaments played: 32

Brazil is an interesting nation on the ATP Tour side, with Thiago Monteiro a reliable top 100 player and has been a feature on the tour for the South American nation and the top ranked player since former top 100, Thomaz Bellucci slipped down the order. But despite the 25-year-old being the only ranked player inside the top 100, most people familiar with the nation are most excited about 20-year-old Thiago Seyboth Wild. While Monteiro is that reliable hitter who will knock over anyone below their game or potentially when he is at home on clay, Seyboth Wild screams as a future top 30 player if everything goes to plan.

Currently in that career-high ranking after a ripping start to the year, Seyboth Wild broke through for his first ATP Tour title in 2020, winning in Santiago by defeating the top two seeds, Cristian Garin and Casper Ruud along the way. While Garin was forced to retire, Seyboth Wild held off a determined Ruud in the final, dropping the second set by composing himself to win the third and deciding set and take out the title. The then 19-year-old showed he has a big future on the tour and before people begin to think ‘yeah alright, but there have been a lot of good Brazilian clay courters’, this guy has got it done on hard court as well. He won the 2018 US Open junior singles title, and then rattled the normally unflappable John Millman in Australia on his way to forcing a three-set match against the top 50 opponent at the Davis Cup. Watch out for Seyboth Wild when the Tour resumes because he is gold class quality.

Other notable Brazil ATP players: Thiago Seyboth Wild (#114), Joao Menezes (#185), Guilherme Clezar (#270), Thomaz Bellucci (#289), Pedro Sakamoto (#297)

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Top WTA player: Gabriela Ce
Rank: 231 (as of 23/03/2020)
Age: 27
Points: 256
Tournaments played: 34

The future is not as clear in Brazil with a lot of solid ITF Tour players, but none that massively jump out of the box as future Grand Slam winners. Gabriela Ce is the highest ranked female Brazilian, and is currently inside the top 250 in the world. She lost both her games at the Fed Cup Qualifiers on home soil, and while Brazil is in the top group for now, the nation lacks that top-end talent. Her form has been shaky to say the least in 2020, not breaking through for her first – and only win – of 2020 in Santa Fe for the most recent tournament played, when she knocked off 232nd ranked Romanian, Gabriela Talaba in three sets at an ITF 25K event.

Ce is one of a number of Brazilians like Beatriz Haddad Maria and Telia Pereira who are inside the top 500, but are not identified as consistent top 100 players at this stage. They will be tricky ITF Tour players, but the player with the most time on her side and potential upside is Thaisa Grana Pedretti, with the 20-year-old currently locked in at 384th in the world.

Other notable Brazil WTA players: Beatriz Haddad Maria (#285), Teliana Pereira (#367), Thiasa Grana Pedretti (#384), Carolina Alves (#407), Laura Pigossi (#423), Paula Cristina Goncalves (#450)

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Summary:

Brazil has a really exciting up-and-coming ATP star in Seyboth Wild, and it would not beyond the realms of possibility to call him a future top 20 player. If he can get consistency in his game and continue his upward scope, he will be one to watch in Brazilian tennis. The women’s side has a number of solid players across the board, but Seyboth Wild is the one across both tours that stands out as the clear top prospect for the future.