Juan Monaco (; born 29 March 1984), nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world no. 10 in July 2012. He announced his retirement from professional tennis on 15 May 2017.
Life and career Monaco was born in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province, to Héctor, a businessman, and Cristina, an architect. He has two siblings. He enjoys spending time at home in Tandil with family and friends. His favourite sports to follow are football and basketball. His favourite teams are Estudiantes de La Plata and the San Antonio Spurs. His favourite surface is clay. He counts Andre Agassi and his countryman Mariano Zabaleta among his heroes. He also enjoys going to the cinema. His favourite films are Gladiator and 300. He is also a fan of The Lord of the Rings.
Monaco started playing tennis at the age of six. He was mentored by Luis Lobo of Argentina. Since the latter part of the 2010 season, Monaco has been coached by Mariano Zabaleta. He added Gastón Etlis to his coaching team in February 2011.
Career 2002–2003 In 2002, Monaco made his pro circuit debut. On 12 February, he won his first tournament in Jamaica F20, Montego Bay by defeating Francisco Rodríguez of Paraguay. He ended the year ranked no. 470 in singles.
In 2003, Monaco reached six finals, finishing as runner-up in two events in Jamaica F3, Montego Bay, losing to American Wayne Odesnik, and in Argentina F6, Buenos Aires losing to compatriot Diego Moyano. He however won four, all on clay, of his six finals. He won in Jamaica F4, Montego Bay, in Bolivia F1, La Paz, in Argentina F1, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay F2, Uruguay defeating Dmitri Sitak of Russia, and his compatriots Matias O'Neille, Carlos Berlocq, and Ignacio González King respectively. He ended the year ranked at no. 324 in singles.
2004–2006 Monaco started 2004 by winning in São Paulo–1, Brazil defeating Adrián García of Chile. He also made his ATP Debut in his home of Buenos Aires, Argentina in the 2004 Argentina Open, where he reached the quarterfinals (l. Guillermo Coria). He followed this up with a third-round result in his first Master Series event in the 2004 NASDAQ-100 Open, losing to Paradorn Srichaphan. He made his Grand Slam debut in the 2004 French Open as a qualifier, losing in the second round to eventual finalist and compatriot Guillermo Coria. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 Swedish Open, losing to Chilean Fernando González. He got his best result of the year reaching his first semifinal in 2004 Idea Prokom Open in Sopot (l. to José Acasuso) and 2004 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia in Paloma (l. to Filippo Volandri). He also made his 2004 US Open debut, but lost to compatriot Gastón Gaudio in the first round. He ended the year in the top 100 for the first time, ranked at no. 73 in singles.
In 2005, Monaco made his 2005 Australian Open debut, losing in the first round to American Mardy Fish. He reached the second round of the 2005 Pacific Life Open and the quarterfinals in 2005 BMW Open, both times losing to compatriot David Nalbandian. He reached his first ATP finals in Casablanca at the 2005 Grand Prix Hassan II, but lost to compatriot Mariano Puerta. He reached the second round of 2005 Internazionali BNL d'Italia and the 2005 Hamburg Masters, losing to Guillermo Cañas and Jiří Novák, respectively. He lost in the first round of the 2005 French Open to Sébastien Grosjean. He made his Wimbledon debut, losing to Novak Djokovic. However, he got his first top-20 win, defeating Spaniard David Ferrer, but lost the next round to Tomáš Zíb in the 2005 Mercedes Cup Open. He reached the quarterfinals in the Vietnam Open, losing to Radek Štěpánek. He ended the year 12 places lower than the previous year, at no. 85.
In 2006, Monaco recorded three first-round exits in the first two months in Buenos Aires, Santiago, Chile, and Adelaide and second-round exits at the Australian Open and the 2006 Medibank International. However, he rebounded by reaching the semifinals in the Brasil Open, losing to Nicolás Massú of Chile. Following the semifinal appearance, he lost four straight matches in Acapulco, the 2006 NASDAQ-100 Open, the 2006 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, and Morocco. He also lost in the first round of the 2006 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, losing to veteran French player Fabrice Santoro, and lost in the second round of the 2006 Hamburg Masters to Robin Söderling.
Following these losses, Monaco achieved great results in the next four weeks, reaching the quarterfinals in Poertschach (l. to Luis Horna), the third round of Roland Garros (l. to Ivan Ljubičić), and the semifinals of the 2006 Mercedes Cup (l. to José Acasuso). Following this semifinal appearance, he lost four matches in a row again a second-round loss in the Orange Warsaw Open (l. to Nikolay Davydenko) and a first-round loss at the US Open, BCR Open Romania, and the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open. He reached the third round of the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, losing to Jarkko Nieminen. He ended the year ranked number no. 69 in singles.
In doubles, he made two semifinal appearance in the 2007 Brasil Open partnering compatriot Agustín Calleri, and in the 2007 Mercedes Cup partnering José Acasuso.
2007
2007 was Monaco's most successful year. Monaco started the year with a quarterfinal appearance at the 2007 Heineken Open, losing to compatriot Agustín Calleri. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Brasil Open losing to another compatriot Juan Ignacio Chela. Monaco entered his home tournament of 2007 Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires ranked at no. 66, and exited with his first ATP title dominating Alessio di Mauro in the final in straight sets.
However, he exited in the first round of his next three tournaments in the Acapulco, Indian Wells, and a Challenger event. He reached the second round of the 2007 Miami Masters, losing to David Ferrer. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, losing to American James Blake and at the 2007 Estoril Open (l. to Paul-Henri Mathieu). He qualified for the Hamburg Masters, but lost to top seed and eventual champion Roger Federer in the second round in three tight sets. Following his good performance against Federer, he went on to compete in the 2007 Hypo Group Tennis International in Pörtschach and won the title against Gaël Monfils. In the 2007 Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
He won his third title of the year in the 2007 Austrian Open in Kitzbühel after defeating the top seed Tommy Robredo in the quarterfinals and Potito Starace in the final. In the 2007 Cincinnati Masters, he defeated a player in the top 5 for the first time and the highest-ranked player he has defeated the world no. 2 at the time Rafael Nadal, when Nadal retired. Monaco lost to Sam Querrey in the third round. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 2007 Stockholm Open, where he lost to Tommy Haas, and the third round of the 2007 Madrid Masters, after avenging his lost against Tommy Haas in the second round.
In the Grand Slams, Monaco lost in the first round of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, losing to Nicolas Mahut and Kristof Vliegen, respectively. However, he reached the fourth round of the French Open and the US Open, losing to former French Open Champion Guillermo Cañas and Novak Djokovic. These results are the farthest he has gone at Grand Slams. He ended the year ranked no. 23, his highest year-end rank.
2008
In 2008, Monaco started the year with a semifinal appearance at the 2008 Heineken Open, losing to German Philipp Kohlschreiber. He also reached the third round of the 2008 Australian Open, the furthest he has reached so far, losing to Tomáš Berdych. In his first tournament after the Australian Open, he reached the final of the 2008 Movistar Open. He was scheduled to play Fernando González in the final, but Gonzalez was granted a walkover due to a left ankle injury sustained by Monaco during the doubles final. Despite this, his performance during the week elevated Monaco to a career-high ranking of world no. 14.
At the 2008 Copa Telmex as the defending champion, Monaco lost in the first round. Shortly afterwards, he lost in the second round of the 2008 Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. He also reached the third round of both the 2008 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, losing to Guillermo Cañas, and the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, losing to Mario Ančić. He represented Argentina in the Davis Cup quarterfinal clash against Sweden and won his only match against Thomas Johansson.
He reached the quarterfinals in Valencia and the second round of the 2008 Monte Carlo Masters and 2008 Rome Masters losing to Nicolás Almagro and Igor Andreev, respectively. He also reached the third round of the 2008 Hamburg Masters, losing to Andreas Seppi and the final, of 2008 Hypo Group Tennis International losing to top seed Nikolay Davydenko. He reached the semifinals of the 2008 Orange Warsaw Open, losing to Tommy Robredo. At the Beijing Olympics, Monaco lost to Marin Čilić in three tight sets 4–6, 7–6(7–5), 3–6, followed by successive defeats at the 2008 Pilot Pen Tennis and the 2008 US Open. He fell in the first round of the 2008 Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid, losing to Radek Štěpánek, and the 2008 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon to Gilles Simon. He reached the second round of both the 2008 Stockholm Open and the 2008 BNP Paribas Masters after qualifying for both tournaments. Monaco ended the year ranked no. 46 in the world, 23 places lower than his year-end ranking in 2007.
In doubles, Monaco started the year with a win in the 2008 Heineken Open partnering Luis Horna. He reached the semifinals of 2008 US Open, losing to Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes. He also reached the final of the 2008 Movistar Open and won the 2008 Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, all partnering fellow Argentine Máximo González.
2009 In 2009, Monaco started the year in 2009 Heineken Open losing to Serbian Viktor Troicki in the second round and a quarterfinal appearance in the 2009 Movistar Open. He lost in the first round of 2009 Brasil Open, the 2009 Australian Open, and Acapulco. He reached his first final of the year in Buenos Aires at the 2009 Copa Telmex, losing to Tommy Robredo in a tight three-setter. In doubles, he reached the third round of the 2009 Australian Open and the final of 2009 Brasil Open, both partnering Lucas Arnold Ker
He represented Argentina in the Davis Cup, defeating Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands. He also reached the second round of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, losing to Andy Murray after winning the first set. He also reached the third round of the 2009 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, losing to German Andreas Beck, after defeating Tommy Robredo in the second round, and the 2009 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell losing to Fernando González after defeating Marat Safin in the first round. He reached his first Masters quarterfinal at the 2009 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, entering as a qualifier and beating Andy Murray in the second round, Marin Čilić in the third round, but losing to Fernando González. He also reached the round of 16 at the 2009 Estoril Open and the 2009 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where he faced three Spaniards losing to Fernando Verdasco after defeating Feliciano López and David Ferrer. He also represented Argentina along with Juan Martín del Potro and Máximo González at the 2009 ARAG World Team Cup, where he won his only singles match against Serbian Janko Tipsarević. He reached the second round of Roland Garros, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.