Nicolás Pereira (born September 29, 1970) is a Venezuelan former professional tennis player and commentator. As a player, Pereira became the ITF Junior World Champion in 1988 after winning the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. He won two ATP Tour singles titles and three in doubles. Since retirement, he has been a commentator for the Tennis Channel.

Professional career In the fall of 1988, Pereira registered wins on the pro tour against Brad Gilbert and Amos Mansdorf. He finished 1988 ranked No. 151 in the world rankings.

In April 1989, Pereira reached the quarterfinals of the Japan Open, defeating No. 21 ranked Andrés Gómez before losing to No. 1 ranked Ivan Lendl. In June, he defeated world No. 3 Stefan Edberg in straight sets in the first round of the Queens Club grass-court tournament.

A few weeks later, in the first round of Wimbledon, he took eventual semifinalist Lendl to five sets before losing. Later that summer, he reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix event in Montreal, the Canadian Open. There he beat No. 10 ranked Tim Mayotte, then lost to No. 14 ranked Jay Berger. Pereira, at 19 years of age, finished 1989 ranked No. 121.

However, Pereira's progress stalled over the next three years. In 1990, he lost most of his matches in the first round of ATP level tournaments and finished the year ranked No. 238. In 1991, he won the Lins and São Paulo-4 Challengers in back-to-back weeks, and ended the year ranked No. 146. He won the Guarujá Brazil Challenger in September 1992 and was ranked No. 138 at the end of the year.

In 1993, Pereira defeated Aaron Krickstein in the first round at the Bermuda Challenger. At the end of 1993, Pereira was ranked No. 141.

1994 marked a resurgence for Pereira. In March, he won the San Luis Potosí Challenger. At Wimbledon, he reached the second round where he lost a thrilling five-set match to No. 18 Andre Agassi. In September, Pereira defeated Mauricio Hadad in the final of the Bancolombia Open to win his first ATP singles title. He closed out 1994 ranked No. 110. 1995 was a mixed year for Pereira. In July, he won the Rio Brazil Challenger title by defeating João Cunha e Silva in straight sets. The next week at New Haven, he defeated MaliVai Washington in the second round, then lost to No. 10 Marc Rosset.

At the U.S. Open, Pereira reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. At the end of the year, Nicolas was ranked No. 134.

1996 was another inconsistent year for Pereira. He started the year well in Doha by qualifying, then defeated world No. 5 Boris Becker 7–6, 6–7, 7–6 in the second round to reach the quarterfinals. In March, Pereira again caused an upset when he defeated world No. 1 Thomas Muster in straight sets at the Masters Series tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida. In July, Pereira won his second ATP title, defeating Grant Stafford on the grass courts at Newport, Rhode Island. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 74 the following week on July 22, 1996.

Pereira represented Venezuela at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, losing in the second round to eventual bronze medalist Leander Paes. He finished the year ranked No. 110.

Pereira retired in September 1997.

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–0)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (1–0)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (2–0)Indoors (0–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Bogotá, ColombiaWorld SeriesClay Mauricio Hadad6–3, 3–6, 6–4Win2–0Newport, United StatesWorld SeriesGrass Grant Stafford4–6, 6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–1)ATP World Series (3–3)Finals by surfaceHard (2–2)Clay (1–1)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–1)Finals by settingOutdoors (3–3)Indoors (0–1)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Wellington, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard Kelly Evernden Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez Vicario6–4, 7–6Loss1–1Rotterdam, NetherlandsWorld SeriesCarpet Diego Nargiso Leonardo Lavalle Jorge Lozano6–7, 4–6Win2–1Wellington, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard Luiz Mattar John Letts Jaime Oncins4–6, 7–6, 6–2Loss2–2Orlando, United StatesWorld SeriesHard Pete Sampras Luke Jensen Scott Melville7–6(7–5), 6–7(6–8), 3–6Loss2–3New Haven, United StatesChampionship SeriesHard Leander Paes Rick Leach Scott Melville3–6, 7–5, 4–6Loss2–4Mexico City, MexicoWorld SeriesClay Emilio Sánchez Donald Johnson Francisco Montana2–6, 4–6Win3–4Bogotá, ColombiaWorld SeriesClay David Rikl Pablo Campana Nicolás Lapentti6–3, 7–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 10 (5–5) LegendATP Challenger (5–5)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (2–2)Clay (3–3)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Lins, BrazilChallengerClay Luis Lobo2–6, 6–3, 7–6Win2–0São Paulo, BrazilChallengerClay Martin Stringari6–3, 6–2Loss2–1Madeira, PortugalChallengerHard Byron Black3–6, 4–6Loss2–2São Paulo, BrazilChallengerClay Martin Stringari3–6, 6–3, 2–6Win3–2Guarujá, BrazilChallengerHard Roberto Jabali6–4, 6–4Loss3–3São Paulo, BrazilChallengerHard Fernando Meligeni5–7, 2–6Loss3–4Cali, ColombiaChallengerClay Mauricio Hadad6–7, 6–7Win4–4San Luis Potosí, MexicoChallengerClay Luis Herrera6–7, 6–2, 6–2Win5–4Rio de Janeiro, BrazilChallengerHard João Cunha-Silva7–5, 6–3Loss5–5Santiago, ChileChallengerClay Nicolás Lapentti6–7, 3–6

Doubles: 14 (8–6) LegendATP Challenger (7–6)ITF Futures (1–0)Finals by surfaceHard (3–4)Clay (4–2)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–0)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Salerno, ItalyChallengerClay Marcos Ondruska Emilio Benfele Álvarez Pietro Pennisi6–4, 6–4Win2–0Lins, BrazilChallengerClay João Cunha-Silva Cássio Motta Fernando Roese6–3, 6–4Loss2–1São Paulo, BrazilChallengerClay João Cunha-Silva Pablo Albano Cássio MottawalkoverWin3–1Bogotá, ColombiaChallengerClay Mario Tabares William Kyriakos Fernando Meligeni7–6, 7–5Loss3–2Ponte Vedra, United StatesChallengerHard Daniel Vacek Jared Palmer Jim Pugh6–1, 3–6, 2–6Win4–2Belo Horizonte, BrazilChallengerHard Ricardo Acioly Fernando Roese Felipe Rivera7–6, 5–7, 6–3Loss4–3Caracas, VenezuelaChallengerHard Doug Flach Richard Matuszewski John Sullivan6–7, 5–7Loss4–4Paget, BermudaChallengerClay Maurice Ruah Mark Knowles Jared Palmer1–6, 3–6Win5–4Puerto Vallarta, MexicoChallengerHard Pablo Albano Paul Kilderry Simon Youl6–4, 3–6, 7–6Win6–4Annenheim, AustriaChallengerGrass Diego Nargiso Karsten Braasch Joern Renzenbrink6–7, 6–4, 7–6Win7–4Brasília, BrazilChallengerHard Jean-Philippe Fleurian Noam Behr Lior Mor7–6, 6–2Loss7–5Rio de Janeiro, BrazilChallengerHard Jean-Philippe Fleurian João Cunha-Silva Óscar Ortiz5–7, 6–4, 1–6Loss7–6Monterrey, MexicoChallengerHard David Rikl Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor6–3, 1–6, 4–6Win8–6USA F12, Hallandale BeachFuturesClay José de Armas Steve Berke Kyle Porter6–4, 2–6, 6–2

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (3 titles) ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1988French OpenClay Magnus Larsson7–6, 6–3Win1988WimbledonGrass Guillaume Raoux7–6, 6–2Win1988US OpenHard Nicklas Kulti6–1, 6–2

Performance timelines

Singles Tournament1988198919901991199219931994199519961997SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA2RQ3A1RA2RQ21R0 / 42–4French OpenA2R1RAAAAA1RQ20 / 31–3WimbledonQ11RAAQ21R2R1R2R1R0 / 62–6US OpenA1RAAQ12R1R3R1RQ20 / 53–5Win–loss0–01–31–20–00–01–31–23–31–30–20 / 188–18ATP Masters SeriesMiamiA1R1RAAA1RA3RA0 / 42–4RomeAQ1AAAAAAAA0 / 00–0CanadaAQFAAAA2RAAA0 / 24–2CincinnatiAA2RAAAQ1AAA0 / 11–1ParisAAAAAQ2AAAA0 / 00–0Win–loss0–03–21–20–00–00–01–20–02–10–00 / 77–7

Doubles Tournament1988198919901991199219931994199519961997SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA1R2RA1RA1R2R1R0 / 62–6French OpenA1R3R1RAAAA1R1R0 / 52–5WimbledonQ13R2RAQ12R1RA2R1R0 / 65–6US OpenA2R1RAA1R1R1R3R1R0 / 73–7Win–loss0–03–33–41–20–01–30–20–24–40–40 / 2412–24ATP Masters SeriesMiamiAA1R2R1RA2RA2RA0 / 53–5RomeA2RA2RAAAAAA0 / 22–2CanadaA1R2RAAA2RAAA0 / 32–3CincinnatiAA1RAAA1RAAA0 / 20–2Win–loss0–01–21–32–20–10–02–30–01–10–00 / 127–12

See also List of Grand Slam Boys' Singles champions

External links