Galo Blanco (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡalo ˈβlaŋko];[a] born 8 October 1976) is a retired professional tennis player from Oviedo, Spain. After many years as a professional tennis coach Blanco joined the Davis Cup steering committee in 2018.[1]

Galo Blanco
Country (sports) Spain
ResidenceBarcelona, Spain
Born (1976-10-08) 8 October 1976 (age 48)
Oviedo, Spain
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Turned pro1995
Retired2006
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,832,691
Singles
Career record122–175
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 40 (25 May 1998)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (2004)
French OpenQF (1997)
Wimbledon2R (1999)
US Open2R (1999, 2000)
Doubles
Career record3–15
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 338 (8 March 2004)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open1R (2004)
Last updated on: 18 November 2021.
Galo Blanco
Career record122–175
Career record3–15
Coaching career (2006–)
Coaching achievements
Coachee singles titles total4 (Raonic), 1 (Melzer), 1 (Khachanov)
Coachee(s) doubles titles total1 (Melzer)
List of notable tournaments
(with champion)

Spain 2008 Davis Cup champion (Lopez)

Tennis career

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Blanco came closest to winning a Grand Slam title in 1997, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open by defeating Neville Godwin, Magnus Gustafsson, Chris Woodruff and Petr Korda before losing to Pat Rafter. He won his only title in 1999 San Marino GO&FUN Open to his countryman Albert Portas and reached the final (2001 Mexican Open) and the semifinals in 2000 Majorca Open losing to eventual champion Marat Safin.

Blanco had two high-profile wins in majors, beating former 2-time US Open Champion, Patrick Rafter, in the first round of the 2000 US Open, and in beating Pete Sampras in the second round of the 2001 French Open.

Blanco lost in the second round of the 2004 Australian Open. He announced his retirement after the 2006 Torneo Godó.[2]

Coaching career

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Blanco is a prominent tennis coach.[3] He has previously coached the rising Canadian star Milos Raonic. This partnership ended in May 2013. He coached Canadian Filip Peliwo.[4] He coached Karen Khachanov until November 2017.[5] He coached Dominic Thiem from December 2017 until November 2018.[6]

Life after tennis

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Since the beginning of 2019 Blanco has been working on the new format Davis Cup event.[6] In June 2021, Kosmos announced the launch of an athlete management agency to be headed up by Blanco.[7]

ATP career finals

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Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (0–1)
ATP 250 Series (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–1)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1999 San Marino, San Marino World Series Clay   Albert Portas 4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1–1 Mar 2001 Acapulco, Mexico Championship Series Clay   Gustavo Kuerten 4–6, 2–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 9 (4–5)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (4–5)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (4–5)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1995 Tampere, Finland Challenger Clay   Christian Bergström 6–3, 6–1
Win 2–0 Apr 1996 Prague, Czech Republic Challenger Clay   Gustavo Kuerten 6–1, 6–2
Loss 2–1 May 1996 Dresden, Germany Challenger Clay   Patrik Fredriksson 4–6, 4–6
Loss 2–2 Sep 1996 Oporto, Portugal Challenger Clay   Richard Fromberg 3–6, 6–7
Loss 2–3 Nov 1996 Campinas, Brazil Challenger Clay   Gustavo Kuerten 6–7, 3–6
Win 3–3 Aug 1999 Poznań, Poland Challenger Clay   Fredrik Jonsson 6–4, 6–2
Loss 3–4 Nov 1999 Montevideo, Uruguay Challenger Clay   Karim Alami 3–6, 1–6
Loss 3–5 Aug 2002 Geneva, Switzerland Challenger Clay   Kristof Vliegen 2–6, 2–6
Win 4–5 Aug 2003 Brindisi, Italy Challenger Clay   Francisco Fogués 7–5, 1–6, 7–5


Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.


Singles

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Tournament 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R 1R A 2R A 0 / 7 1–7 13%
French Open 1R QF 1R 1R 1R 4R 1R 3R 3R Q1 0 / 9 11–9 55%
Wimbledon A A 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R A 1R A 0 / 6 1–6 14%
US Open 1R 1R 1R 2R 2R 1R A A A A 0 / 6 2–6 25%
Win–loss 0–2 4–3 0–4 2–4 1–4 3–4 0–3 2–1 3–3 0–0 0 / 28 15–28 35%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A Q1 Q1 Q2 A A 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Miami A 1R 3R 1R 1R A 1R A A A 0 / 5 2–5 29%
Monte Carlo A Q2 2R A A 3R Q2 Q2 Q1 A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Hamburg A A 1R A Q1 A Q2 A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Rome A A 1R Q1 A Q1 1R Q1 A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Stuttgart A A A A A Q1 Not Masters Series 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Madrid Not Held A Q2 A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–1 3–4 0–1 0–1 2–1 0–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 11 5–11 31%


Wins over top 10 ranked players

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Season 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Total
Wins 2 0 0 0 2 4

Wins over Top 10s per season

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# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score
1997
1.   Carlos Moyá 10 Stuttgart, Germany Clay 2R 4–6, 7–6(7–3), 7–5
2.   Àlex Corretja 4 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay 3R 7–6(7–4), 7–5
2001
3.   Juan Carlos Ferrero 9 Monte-Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 6–2, 7–6(7–3)
4.   Pete Sampras 5 French Open, Paris, France Clay 2R 7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–2

Notes

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  1. ^ In isolation, Blanco is pronounced [ˈblaŋko].

References

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  1. ^ "Argentina and Britain Gain Berths Into New Davis Cup Finals". nytimes.com.
  2. ^ "Galo Blanco: "Estoy un poco quemado de esta vida"". 20 minutos (in Spanish). 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  3. ^ "Galo Blanco". atptour.com.
  4. ^ "Filip Peliwo to be coached by Galo Blanco". Tennis Canada. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  5. ^ Eccleshare, Charlie (2016-10-28). "Rising stars of tennis - Karen Khachanov: 'The next Marat Safin? I have my own character and charisma'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  6. ^ a b "Galo Blanco part ways with Dominic Thiem to embrace new Davis Cup role". Tennis World USA. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
  7. ^ "Gerard Piqué's Kosmos signs up Dominic Thiem as it moves into athlete management". www.sportspromedia.com.
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