NEW YORK/STARNBERG, September 12, 2026
Luis Guto Miguel ended his junior career on Saturday as the most accomplished Brazilian tennis player in the history of the category. At just 17 years of age, the Goias native and member of Time Rede Tenis leaves the junior circuit as the world No. 1, a Roland Garros singles champion, a Wimbledon doubles champion and, now, a US Open singles runner-up.
His final match as a junior was fittingly a Grand Slam championship match at the US Open in New York. The top seed was involved in a dramatic two-hour and 46-minute battle against US-American Marcel Latak. After winning the opening set, the Brazilian was eventually edged in a deciding-set tiebreak, with Latak completing a comeback 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(13).
The deciding tiebreak produced extraordinary drama. Miguel saved four match points and also had three opportunities of his own to close out the match before Latak finally prevailed.
During the trophy ceremony, Miguel announced that the US Open had been his final tournament as a junior.
“It is very difficult to speak right now. It still hurts a lot inside. But I know everything that my team and I have done to get here, to be here and to compete until the very end. I just want to thank everyone who supported me today. You were incredible. In the first round, I was match point down and we kept fighting. And now we are here,” Miguel said.
“Today I am ending my junior career. My team and I decided that this would be my last tournament. Of course, we wanted to finish with the champion’s trophy, but today was not the day. And now the real journey begins. We will be ready.”
A historic season
Miguel had already enjoyed an outstanding 2025 season, when he won a J500 tournament and reached the semifinals of the US Open junior event. But it was in 2026 that he firmly established his place in Brazilian tennis history.
At the Australian Open, the first junior Grand Slam of the year, Miguel reached the quarterfinals before losing to Slovenia’s Ziga Sesko, who would go on to win the title and later become Miguel’s doubles partner.
Roland Garros proved to be a defining moment in his career. The Brazilian captured the singles title in Paris, defeating US-American Michael Antonius 6-3, 6-4 in the final. His run also saw him rise to the top of the junior world rankings.
Just one month later, Miguel added a second Grand Slam trophy to his collection. At Wimbledon, he and Sesko won the boys’ doubles title, defeating US-Americans Michael Antonius and Andrew Johnson 6-1, 6-4 in the final.
His run at the US Open completes a remarkable Grand Slam season: one singles title, one doubles title and a singles runner-up finish, alongside a quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open. It represents an unprecedented sequence of results for a Brazilian player on the junior Grand Slam circuit.
Now comes the “real journey”
Miguel’s departure from the junior ranks marks the beginning of a new chapter in his career. As he himself emphasized during the ceremony in New York, the professional circuit will now become his priority.
The 17-year-old has already shown that he can compete at a high level among the professionals. This season, he has reached three Challenger semifinals, including at the ATP Challenger 75 in Kingston, Jamaica, and the ATP Challenger 50 in Santos.
He also competed at the Rio Open, an ATP 500 event, where he faced Lithuania’s Vilius Gaubas and managed to win a set against the then-Top 100 player.
Born in Goiania, Goias, Miguel is a member of Time Rede Tenis and trains in Brasilia under coaches Santos Dumont and Kike Grangeiro.
At 17, he closes a historic chapter in Brazilian junior tennis. From now on, as Guto himself put it, “the real journey” begins – the challenge of building his career on the professional circuit.
