Toby Samuel (born 6 September 2002) is an English professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 95 achieved on 14 September 2026 and a doubles ranking of No. 242 achieved on 20 May 2025. He is the current British No. 5 in singles.
Early life Samuel was born in Winchester and raised in St Leonards, Dorset. He attended Castle Court Prep School and Bournemouth Collegiate School. He developed his tennis at West Hants Club, where he trained regularly with fellow Bournemouth Collegiate pupil Jack Pinnington Jones.
College Samuel studied sports management at the University of South Carolina. Alongside partner Connor Thomson he won the All American Doubles title, with the pair becoming the number one ranked doubles team in collegiate tennis.
Career 2019–2020: Juniors Samuel reached the semifinals of the Boys' doubles at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships alongside compatriot Arthur Fery. He peaked at world No. 56 in the ITF junior rankings on 27 January 2020.
2023–2024: Turned pro, Major doubles debut In June 2023, Samuel received a wildcard with his partner Connor Thomson for the Men's doubles at the 2023 Surbiton Trophy and the pair beat the second seeds Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan in straight sets before losing to eventual finalists Alexei Popyrin and Aleksandar Vukic in the quarterfinals. Samuel and Thomson reached the semifinals of the 2023 Nottingham Open. He and Thomson were subsequently awarded wildcards into the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. They won their opening match against Pedro Cachin and Yannick Hanfmann. In the second round their run ended with a 6-3, 7-6 defeat to experienced pair of Santiago González of Mexico and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. At the 2023 Calgary National Bank Challenger he secured his third win at that level with victory over Ryan Seggerman.
In 2024, Samuel received six main-draw spots in Challenger events as part of the ATP Accelerator Programme but suffered an arm injury which limited his availability.
2025: Maiden Challenger title, Top 300 In May, he recorded a win over Radu Albot on his way to the semifinals of the ATP Challenger event, the 2025 Moldova Open, and went on a run where he lost just five of 48 matches. He won the silver medal in the men's singles at the 2025 Summer World University Games in Germany, and also won a silver medal in the team competition at the Games.
In November, Samuel won his first Challenger singles title at the Soma Bay Open, defeating Jay Clarke in the final. The following week he made it back-to-back titles, overcoming Ilia Simakin in the final to claim the trophy at the Manama Challenger in Bahrain, leading up to a run of 18 consecutive wins. As a result he reached a new career high singles ranking of No. 267 on 1 December 2025.
2026: Major singles & top 125 debuts, First ATP wins & semifinal Samuel went on another winning streak from February 2026, including one Futures and two Challenger titles back-to-back titles in Greece, and improved his ranking to a career high No. 171 on 16 March 2026.
At the 2026 French Open Samuel qualified for the main draw, making his Grand Slam debut, after defeating former top-10 player David Goffin and Gonzalo Bueno. In doing so, he became only the fourth British man in 50 years to come through qualifying at Roland Garros. He was defeated in straight sets by eight seed Alex De Minaur in the opening round.
He received a main draw wildcard for the 2026 Queen's Club Championships, but lost to compatriot Arthur Fery. He also entered the main draw of the 2026 Eastbourne Open directly into the second round as a lucky loser, receiving a first-round bye, replacing Queen's Club champion Francisco Cerundolo. He recorded his first ATP wins over Argentines Thiago Agustín Tirante and eight seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo, his first top-50 win, to reach his first ATP semifinal. He fell to eventual champion Zizou Bergs but despite the loss he reached the top 125 in the ATP singles rankings at a career-high of No. 123 on 29 June 2026. He received a main draw wildcard for the 2026 Wimbledon Championships making his singles debut at his home Grand Slam event against world number fifteen Jakub Mensik in the first round, only losing on a fifth set tie-break. In August, he came through three rounds of qualifiers to reach the main draw at the 2026 US Open, before winning against Tomas Machac in straight sets for the loss of only seven games for his first grand slam singles match victory.
On 19 September, Samuel won on his Davis Cup debut for Great Britain, winning in three sets against Ecuador's Andy Andrade, part of a 4-0 win as Great Britain secured a place at the Davis Cup Finals.
Personal life Samuel is currently based in Bath and trains at the University of Bath as part of Team Bath Tennis. A keen football fan, he is a supporter of Southampton.
ATP Challenger Tour finals
Singles: 5 (5 titles) LegendATP Challenger Tour (5–0)Finals by surfaceHard (5–0)Clay (–)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Soma Bay Open, EgyptChallengerHard Jay Clarke4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–0Win2–0Manama Challenger, BahrainChallengerHard Ilia Simakin6–0, 6–2Win3–0Crete Challenger, GreeceChallengerHard Harry Wendelken6–3, 6–0Win4–0Crete Challenger II, GreeceChallengerHard Maxim Mrva6–2, 6–3Win5–0Winnipeg Challenger, CanadaChallengerHard Liam Draxl6–4, 6–2
Doubles: 1 (title) LegendATP Challenger Tour (1–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Challenger de Drummondville, CanadaChallengerHard (i) André Göransson Liam Draxl Giles Hussey6–7(2–7), 6–3, [10–8]
ITF World Tennis Tour finals
Singles: 11 (8 titles, 3 runner-ups) LegendITF WTT (8–3)Finals by surfaceHard (6–3)Clay (–)Grass (2–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0M25 Roehampton, UKWTTGrass Henry Patten6–4, 6–7(8–10), 6–4Win2–0M15 Fayetteville, USWTTHard Learner Tien6–3, 6–3Win3–0M15 Winston-Salem, USWTTHard Alex Michelsen6–1, 7–5Win4–0M25 Nottingham, UKWTTGrass Billy Harris6–4, 6–4Loss4–1M25 Aldershot, UKWTTHard Arthur Fery4–6, 4–6Loss4–2M25 Aldershot, UKWTTHard Paul Jubb6–7(4–7), 5–7Win5–2M15 Hurghada, EgyptWTTHard Péter Makk7–6(7–4), 6–1Win6–2M15 Hurghada, EgyptWTTHard Liam Broady6–1, 6–2Loss6–3M15 Marsa, MaltaWTTHard Arthur Nagel4–6, 5–7Win7–3M15 Sharm El Sheikh, EgyptWTTHard Michal Krajčí6–2, 6–4Win8–3M25 Vale Do Lobo, PortugalWTTHard Giles Hussey6–3, 6–4
Doubles: 1 (title) LegendITF WTT (1–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0M15 Winston-Salem, USWTTHard Ben Jones Robin Catry Luca Staeheli6–3, 6–1
References
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