Watch Hot Shots: 19-Year-Old Tirante On Fire In Reaching First Challenger Final
The ATP Tour season might be over, but dreams are still being realized on the ATP Challenger Tour.
One year ago, Thiago Tirante was in London as a Nitto ATP Finals sparring partner, hitting with the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. This week, making just his fourth Challenger appearance, Tirante celebrated a breakout campaign in Lima, Peru. The 19-year-old became the youngest player from Argentina to reach a Challenger final since Facundo Arguello in 2011.
The native of La Plata would eventually fall to Daniel Elahi Galan in Sunday’s final, but not before capturing all the headlines in Lima. Having entered the week with just one victory in his young career on the circuit, he left with an unforgettable run to the championship as a qualifier. Tirante, who rises 163 spots to a career-high No. 376 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, joins Carlos Alcaraz, Lorenzo Musetti, Brandon Nakashima and Tomas Machac as teenagers to reach a final in 2020.
Tirante, who worked for his mom at their hometown pharmacy during the tour’s COVID-19 hiatus, also trained at his uncle’s tennis club in La Plata. When the professional circuit resumed in August, he would capture his first pro title at an ITF event in Tunisia and later followed that up with his dream week in Lima.
The Argentine introduced himself with stunning shotmaking, amazing agility and dogged defence. A ‘Hot Shot’ machine, he submitted a pair of immediate contenders for our Top 5 Challenger Shots of November…