Joao Sousa

Joao Sousa is the best tennis player Portugal has ever produced and currently one of the 100 greatest players in the world. A regular at the world’s biggest Grand Slam events, he has reached two US Open quarter-finals, the semi-final of the Australian Open, and made it into the top 25 of the world rankings (the first Portuguese player to do so). He has competed everywhere, from Wimbledon to the Olympic Games, becoming the first player to represent Portugal at several events.

Sousa was born in the historic town of Guimaraes in 1989 and began playing tennis aged seven. He also pursued a parallel career in football, at one point being on the books of his local Primeira Liga club. Trained by his tennis-coach father, however, he quickly built a reputation as an exceedingly promising tennis player, winning the national U-12 singles title and the U-14 doubles title. Age 15, he committed to the sport and relocated to Barcelona in Spain, joining the Catalan Tennis Federation and training at the BTT Academy. He won his first professional title aged 19 and was soon entering ATP Tour competitions. By 2011, he had won 16 singles and doubles tournaments and competed in his first Grand Slam tournaments. By the end of the following year, he had enter the World Top 100 rankings for the first time, only the fourth Portuguese player to do so.

At the end of 2013, Sousa had entered the World Top 50, named Portuguese Tennis Player of the Year, and shortlisted for the Portuguese Sports Personality of the Year Award. And still the successes keep coming! His Grand Slam doubles quarter and semi-final appearances in 2019 suggest that, despite his record-breaking achievements, the best is yet to come for Joao Sousa.