Peralta Reinvents His Career In Challengers

At an age when many of his peers have either retired or are winding down their tennis careers, Julio Peralta is at the peak of his.

Under the watchful eye of coach Dan Grossman, who he credits as an integral part of his newfound success, the 34-year-old from Chile has transformed himself into a doubles specialist over the past 12 months and currently sits at a career-high Emirates ATP Doubles Ranking of No. 65. In addition to winning his first ATP World Tour doubles title this February in Sao Paulo with Horacio Zeballos, he has also won three ATP Challenger Tour doubles title this year with three different partners. At last week’s $50,000 event in Tallahassee, Florida, he successfully defended his title with Dennis Novikov.

“Doubles is completely different. I know I can play good tennis, but it involves different strategy,” said Peralta during last month’s ATP Challenger Tour event in Sarasota, Florida. “I’m still learning a lot and feeling great right now.”

Not even Peralta himself could have anticipated the path his tennis career would take. He turned pro in 1999 and won his first and only ATP Challenger Tour singles title in 2003 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Just as his career was making inroads, injuries forced him off the tour at just 23 years old in 2004.

“I thought I had a decent level to do well in singles,” he admitted. “My injuries prevented me from playing three months a year for the first four years on tour. That was very tough for me, so I decided to step aside.”

Peralta went back to school and began taking civil engineering classes in Chile, but stopped to dabble in money tournaments and on the pro tour in 2007 and 2008. He then moved to the U.S. to finish his degree in business and economics at USC Upstate, while also serving as an assistant coach. After graduating, he took a job with a startup business selling organic paint for baby rooms.

Despite being years removed from being a full-time pro, Peralta never lost his game. In 2011, he decided on a whim to enter the prestigious ATP Challenger Tour tournament in Braunschweig, Germany, where he defeated David Goffin on his way to qualifying and reaching the second round.

“My fiancée said that she’s never seen me play a big event. We were in Europe and Braunschweig was only 90 minutes away,” said Peralta. “I was totally out of the circuit at the time, but could still beat some good players.”

Peralta moved away from baby rooms and back to the tennis court shortly after, coaching junior players at an academy in California for nearly two years. After signing Grossman on as his coach, he decided to give pro tennis another try as a doubles specialist in September 2014 and immediately began having success, winning four Futures doubles titles in his first three months back. In April 2015, he won his first ATP Challenger Tour doubles title in Tallahassee with Novikov and went on to win three more that year.

Perhaps most importantly, Peralta has remained injury-free apart from the minor aches and pains that simply come with the job. As he continues to achieve new milestones like his Davis Cup debut in March, and looks forward to new ones that will include playing all the remaining Grand Slams this year, he has no plans to hang up his racquets again anytime soon.

“At this point, it’s all about the level of my game more than my age,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you play if you really love the game?”