Nicolás Pereira (born September 29, 1970) is a commentator for the Tennis Channel and former professional tennis player, who became the ITF Junior World Champion in 1988 after winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Nicolás Pereira
Country (sports) Venezuela
ResidenceCaracas, Venezuela
Born (1970-09-29) 29 September 1970 (age 54)
Salto, Uruguay
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1987
Retired1997
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,077,159
Singles
Career record81–125
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 74 (22 July 1996)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (1990, 1995)
French Open2R (1989)
Wimbledon2R (1994, 1996)
US Open3R (1995)
Doubles
Career record114–133
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 44 (19 November 1990)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (1991, 1996)
French Open3R (1990)
Wimbledon3R (1989)
US Open3R (1996)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open2R (1991)
Wimbledon1R (1990, 1993)
Last updated on: 11 December 2021.

Professional career

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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

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Singles: 2 (2 titles)

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Legend
Grand 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 surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–0)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Sep 1994 Bogotá, Colombia World Series Clay   Mauricio Hadad 6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Win 2–0 Jul 1996 Newport, United States World Series Grass   Grant Stafford 4–6, 6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand 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 surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–1)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (3–3)
Indoors (0–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jan 1990 Wellington, New Zealand World Series Hard   Kelly Evernden   Sergio Casal
  Emilio Sánchez Vicario
6–4, 7–6
Loss 1–1 Mar 1990 Rotterdam, Netherlands World Series Carpet   Diego Nargiso   Leonardo Lavalle
  Jorge Lozano
6–7, 4–6
Win 2–1 Jan 1991 Wellington, New Zealand World Series Hard   Luiz Mattar   John Letts
  Jaime Oncins
4–6, 7–6, 6–2
Loss 2–2 Apr 1991 Orlando, United States World Series Hard   Pete Sampras   Luke Jensen
  Scott Melville
7–6(7–5), 6–7(6–8), 3–6
Loss 2–3 Aug 1995 New Haven, United States Championship Series Hard   Leander Paes   Rick Leach
  Scott Melville
3–6, 7–5, 4–6
Loss 2–4 Mar 1996 Mexico City, Mexico World Series Clay   Emilio Sánchez   Donald Johnson
  Francisco Montana
2–6, 4–6
Win 3–4 Jan 1991 Bogotá, Colombia World Series Clay   David Rikl   Pablo Campana
  Nicolás Lapentti
6–3, 7–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

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Singles: 10 (5–5)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (5–5)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (3–3)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1991 Lins, Brazil Challenger Clay   Luis Lobo 2–6, 6–3, 7–6
Win 2–0 Aug 1991 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay   Martin Stringari 6–3, 6–2
Loss 2–1 Sep 1991 Madeira, Portugal Challenger Hard   Byron Black 3–6, 4–6
Loss 2–2 Aug 1992 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay   Martin Stringari 3–6, 6–3, 2–6
Win 3–2 Sep 1992 Guarujá, Brazil Challenger Hard   Roberto Jabali 6–4, 6–4
Loss 3–3 Sep 1993 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Hard   Fernando Meligeni 5–7, 2–6
Loss 3–4 Oct 1993 Cali, Colombia Challenger Clay   Mauricio Hadad 6–7, 6–7
Win 4–4 Apr 1994 San Luis Potosí, Mexico Challenger Clay   Luis Herrera 6–7, 6–2, 6–2
Win 5–4 Aug 1995 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Challenger Hard   João Cunha-Silva 7–5, 6–3
Loss 5–5 Nov 1995 Santiago, Chile Challenger Clay   Nicolás Lapentti 6–7, 3–6

Doubles: 14 (8–6)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (7–6)
ITF Futures (1–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (3–4)
Clay (4–2)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1991 Salerno, Italy Challenger Clay   Marcos Ondruska   Emilio Benfele Álvarez
  Pietro Pennisi
6–4, 6–4
Win 2–0 Aug 1992 Lins, Brazil Challenger Clay   João Cunha-Silva   Cássio Motta
  Fernando Roese
6–3, 6–4
Loss 2–1 Aug 1992 São Paulo, Brazil Challenger Clay   João Cunha-Silva   Pablo Albano
  Cássio Motta
walkover
Win 3–1 Sep 1992 Bogotá, Colombia Challenger Clay   Mario Tabares   William Kyriakos
  Fernando Meligeni
7–6, 7–5
Loss 3–2 Oct 1992 Ponte Vedra, United States Challenger Hard   Daniel Vacek   Jared Palmer
  Jim Pugh
6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Win 4–2 Jul 1993 Belo Horizonte, Brazil Challenger Hard   Ricardo Acioly   Fernando Roese
  Felipe Rivera
7–6, 5–7, 6–3
Loss 4–3 Sep 1993 Caracas, Venezuela Challenger Hard   Doug Flach   Richard Matuszewski
  John Sullivan
6–7, 5–7
Loss 4–4 Dec 1993 Paget, Bermuda Challenger Clay   Maurice Ruah   Mark Knowles
  Jared Palmer
1–6, 3–6
Win 5–4 Apr 1994 Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Challenger Hard   Pablo Albano   Paul Kilderry
  Simon Youl
6–4, 3–6, 7–6
Win 6–4 Jul 1995 Annenheim, Austria Challenger Grass   Diego Nargiso   Karsten Braasch
  Joern Renzenbrink
6–7, 6–4, 7–6
Win 7–4 Aug 1995 Brasília, Brazil Challenger Hard   Jean-Philippe Fleurian   Noam Behr
  Lior Mor
7–6, 6–2
Loss 7–5 Aug 1995 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Challenger Hard   Jean-Philippe Fleurian   João Cunha-Silva
  Óscar Ortiz
5–7, 6–4, 1–6
Loss 7–6 Oct 1995 Monterrey, Mexico Challenger Hard   David Rikl   Mark Knowles
  Daniel Nestor
6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win 8–6 May 2001 USA F12, Hallandale Beach Futures Clay   José de Armas   Steve Berke
  Kyle Porter
6–4, 2–6, 6–2

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 3 (3 titles)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1988 French Open Clay   Magnus Larsson 7–6, 6–3
Win 1988 Wimbledon Grass   Guillaume Raoux 7–6, 6–2
Win 1988 US Open Hard   Nicklas Kulti 6–1, 6–2

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 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 2R Q3 A 1R A 2R Q2 1R 0 / 4 2–4 33%
French Open A 2R 1R A A A A A 1R Q2 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Wimbledon Q1 1R A A Q2 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R 0 / 6 2–6 25%
US Open A 1R A A Q1 2R 1R 3R 1R Q2 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Win–loss 0–0 1–3 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–3 1–2 3–3 1–3 0–2 0 / 18 8–18 31%
ATP Masters Series
Miami A 1R 1R A A A 1R A 3R A 0 / 4 2–4 33%
Rome A Q1 A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Canada A QF A A A A 2R A A A 0 / 2 4–2 67%
Cincinnati A A 2R A A A Q1 A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Paris A A A A A Q2 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 3–2 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 2–1 0–0 0 / 7 7–7 50%

Doubles

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Tournament 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 1R 2R A 1R A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 6 2–6 25%
French Open A 1R 3R 1R A A A A 1R 1R 0 / 5 2–5 29%
Wimbledon Q1 3R 2R A Q1 2R 1R A 2R 1R 0 / 6 5–6 45%
US Open A 2R 1R A A 1R 1R 1R 3R 1R 0 / 7 3–7 30%
Win–loss 0–0 3–3 3–4 1–2 0–0 1–3 0–2 0–2 4–4 0–4 0 / 24 12–24 33%
ATP Masters Series
Miami A A 1R 2R 1R A 2R A 2R A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Rome A 2R A 2R A A A A A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Canada A 1R 2R A A A 2R A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Cincinnati A A 1R A A A 1R A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Win–loss 0–0 1–2 1–3 2–2 0–1 0–0 2–3 0–0 1–1 0–0 0 / 12 7–12 37%

See also

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List of Grand Slam Boys' Singles champions

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