Nicolás Lapentti Gómez

Born: August 13, 1976 in Guayaquil (Guayas)
Height: 1.87 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

There is one particular thing about Lapentti – his extraordinary ability to close out matches once he had created a match point. I am not aware of any other player at the main-tour level with such a remarkable ratio of wins from match point down compared to losses after squandering one. His career record in these situations stands at 16-2 across fifteen years.
The first of those two defeats came at Key Biscayne 1998, where he lost to Slava Doseděl 6-3, 6-7, 4-6 despite holding six match points. Two months later in Prague, he lost to Doseděl again 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 after leading 3:1 in the second set. Later that year in Cincinnati, he was beaten by Scott Draper 4-6, 6-4, 5-7, having squandered one match point. Remarkably, from that point until the end of his career twelve years later, Lapentti won every match in which he reached match point – with one exception outside the main tour: the 2006 Montevideo Challenger, where Guillermo Cañas saved a match point and prevailed.
His resilience in seemingly hopeless situations bordered on the magical. There were occasions when defeat appeared inevitable, yet he found a way to win. Two examples stand out from 2003: in St. Pölten, he squandered a match point at 5:4 in the third set against Irakli Labadze, then trailed 2:6 in the deciding tie-break before surviving 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Weeks later at Wimbledon, he let slip a double match point in the third set against Jamie Delgado, then saved one match point at 3:5 in the fifth set and three more as a receiver in the next game, eventually taking the decider 7-5.
Like Wayne Ferreira, Lapentti had won five-setters in all possible close-call situations from a break down: being just a game or two from a straight-sets defeat, to nearly losing in the fourth set, to being on the verge of defeat in the fifth – a feat not many players can boast over hundreds of professional matches.
This was not always the case early in his career, as shown by his 6-8 fifth-set Davis Cup losses to Daniel Nestor and Marcelo Ríos. But at the 1999 Australian Open he rewrote the pattern, defeating Karol Kučera 8-6 in the fifth set after intentionally dropping the fourth from 3:0 down. That victory took him to the only Grand Slam semifinal of his career, and from then on he won seven of his next ten matches when the deciding set reached 5-all.
He belongs to the select group of players who have won at least 30 five-setters. Yet it would be wrong to assume he almost always prevailed in close contests. Lapentti lost plenty of tight matches of all kinds – his “magic” seemed to work specifically once he had a match point in hand.
Lapentti was a smart, all-round player. He lacked a definitive finishing stroke on either wing, did not possess a huge serve or outstanding volleys, but every shot in his arsenal was solid and adaptable. His on-court intelligence allowed him to read the match as it unfolded and choose the right shots at the right moments. That tactical awareness, combined with a measure of luck, went a long way toward explaining his success in dramatic matches. In his best ’99 season he claimed two ATP shields (Indianapolis – his biggest title, and Lyon) being on verge to be beaten there. Between those two events he survived one of the longest no-tie-break 3rd set in history, overcoming Fernando Meligeni in München. No doubt that among players born in the 70s Todd Martin is the best without a big title, I’d indicate Lapentti as a second/third best (pondering between him and Nicolas Kiefer) given his potential overall. As opposed to Martin, Lapentti never played a Mercedes Super 9/Masters 1K final, but during his prime the draws weren’t favorable, and he was eliminated in the latter stages either by the greatest players of his time (Miami ’00, Indian Wells ’01) or by the best player on a specific surface (Rome ’01).
The nephew of 1990 Roland Garros champion Andrés Gómez, Lapentti was most comfortable on clay, though he never advanced beyond the fourth round in Paris – losing on that occasion to his friend and former junior doubles partner Gustavo Kuerten. In 1994, Lapentti defeated Kuerten in the Orange Bowl singles final, and together they reached the doubles final.
When Lapentti’s younger brother Giovanni Lapentti (b. 1983) arrived on the tour, Nicolás publicly described him as the more talented of the two. That prediction never materialised, as Giovanni failed to win a match at Grand Slam level and remained stuck on the Challenger circuit.
Trivia: Lapentti is one of just four players in the Open Era to win his first ATP-level title in his debut event — Bogotá 1995 (others: Yahiya Doumbia, José Francisco Altur, Santiago Ventura) capitalizing on the extreme conditions at 2,640 m above sea level, having trained at similar altitude in his native Quito.

Career record: 317–287 [ 287 events ]
Career titles: 5
Highest ranking: No. 6
Best GS results:
Australian Open (semifinal 1999)
Wimbledon (quarterfinal 2002)