STARNBERG, July 28, 2020

Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol has retired from professional tennis. This was announced by the 31-year-old Spaniard in an interview with Spanish tennis website Puntodebreak.com.

In 2013 Gutierrez-Ferrol had already stopped playing tennis in order to start running races in the mountains. He returned to the courts on a regular basis four years later and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 153 in August 2018.

“Now I can tell you that I have no desire to continue playing and that I want to pass the stage, but nobody knows what will happen, it is unpredictable,” Gutierrez-Ferrol said.

The Alicante native captured 19 ITF Pro Circuit singles titles in his career and lifted his maiden trophy on the ATP Challenger Tour by winning the 2019 Country 2001 Team Challenger clay-court event in Padova. Gutierrez-Ferrol battled past Italy’s Federico Gaio in the final. His best result at tour level was reaching the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca.

Is there anything Gutierrez-Ferrol would have liked to achieve and that for one thing or another did not happen? “To have been able to manage my nerves better throughout my career,” he responded.

Partnership with Alex de Minaur

Gutierrez-Ferrol has started to work with Australia’s Alex de Minaur. The World No. 26 practices at the Club 40-15 in Alicante, run by Sergio’s brother Adolfo Gutierrez, who is also de Minaur’s on-court coach.

“I am with Alex but also do a little sparring with the kids from the club. I play a bit with everyone, without actually having the responsibility of being the coach. I help, I lend a hand without any pressure,” Gutierrez-Ferrol described his role.

And what can we still expect from de Minaur in the medium term? “The goal that we set ourselves, especially my brother … is to become number one,” Gutierrez-Ferrol said.

“It is difficult, but it is not impossible. I think he has a chance to become number one. Obviously it is very complicated, but he is a player who has an impressive room for improvement. Being close to World No. 20 but there is still so much to improve … knowing that, I think he may be number one. Adolfo also thinks so.”