Bautista Agut Makes Top 10 Debut

Good things come to those who wait. After 14 years on the ATP Tour, Roberto Bautista Agut has fulfilled his childhood dream by debuting in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings on Monday.

“It’s great to be there. There’s a lot of work behind that,” said Bautista Agut. “I’ve been dreaming of this since I was young, so I’m very happy.”

Bautista Agut has reached the highest levels of the sport by being consistently consistent, advancing to at least the quarter-finals in 11 of his 17 ATP Tour events this season. With those results as a base, the Spaniard also piled on outstanding results that include his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, defeating Novak Djokovic en route to the title in Doha (d. Berdych) and a quarter-final finish at the Australian Open.

“I’ve been close to the Top 10 for a few years now, but sometimes you need just one or two more good results than you had in the past years,” said Bautista Agut. “I fought really hard to get the Top 10 with every tournament.”

The 32-year-old’s tenacity has earned him the respect of his peers on Tour. Many of them celebrated the news of his Top 10 status as a testament to hard work paying off.

“I’m really happy for him. He’s such a nice guy and deserves to be in the Top 10 this year,” said David Goffin. “He’s played unbelievably in all of the big events this year. He’s a great fighter, is really strong physically and continues to improve his tennis.”

“He doesn’t miss, runs well and has no weakness in his game. He’s a tough competitor,” added Richard Gasquet. “It’s always a battle when you play against him. You need to play your best tennis to win against a guy like him.”

But typical to his character, Bautista Agut is already focused on knocking down his next goal. He now looks to make his debut at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held at The 02 in London from 10-17 November. The Spaniard is currently in seventh place in the ATP Race to London.

“It would be good news for me to have the opportunity to play the [year-end] Masters,” Bautista Agut told ATPTour.com in July. “But now, it’s still far. It’s still three or four months of the season [left] and I have to win a lot of matches and to play very good tennis if I want to be there.”