Diego Ayala (tennis)

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Diego Ayala
Diego Ayala (2025 DC Open) 015 (cropped).jpg
Ayala in 2025
Full nameDiego Ayala
Country (sports)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Born (1979-04-29) April 29, 1979 (age 46)
Córdoba, Argentina
Prize money$72,482
Singles
Career record0–1
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 431 (August 28, 2000)
Doubles
Career record4–6
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 100 (July 28, 2003)
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon 1R (2004)

Diego Ayala (born April 29, 1979) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Born in Argentina, Ayala grew up in southern Florida and competed for the University of Miami in college tennis.

As a young player on the junior circuit he had a win over Roger Federer, at the 1997 Coffee Bowl competition. [1]

Professional career

Ayala turned professional in 1998 and played most of his top level tennis in the doubles format, in which he reached as high as 100 in the world.

At the 2003 RCA Championships in Indianapolis he made the first and only final of his ATP Tour career. He and Robby Ginepri defeated the second and third seeded pairings en route to the final, where they faced Mario Ančić and Andy Ram. Ayala and Ginepri took the first set, then lost the second in a tiebreak, before losing a close final 5–7 in the third set. [2] He also made it into the singles main draw, as a qualifier.

In 2004 he featured in the men's doubles at the Wimbledon Championships with Brian Vahaly, as lucky losers. The pair were beaten in the first round by David Škoch and Álex López Morón. [3]

He won a total of three Challenger titles, all in doubles.

Coaching

Ayala has coached Robby Ginepri and Jelena Janković. [4] He worked with Eugenie Bouchard at the 2005 Australian Open where she reached the quarter-finals. His association with Bouchard had begun when she was a junior and Ayala coached her at the Saviano Academy. [5]

ATP Tour career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Result   Date   TournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentScore
Runner-up July 27, 2003 Indianapolis, U.S. International Series Hard Flag of the United States.svg Robby Ginepri Flag of Croatia.svg Mario Ančić
Flag of Israel.svg Andy Ram
6–2, 6–7(3), 5–7

Challenger titles

Doubles: (3)

No.YearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
1.2002 San Antonio, U.S.A.Hard Flag of the United States.svg Robert Kendrick Flag of the United States.svg Hugo Armando
Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg Dušan Vemić
6–2, 6–4
2.2003 Waikoloa, U.S.A.Hard Flag of the United States.svg Robert Kendrick Flag of the United States.svg Levar Harper-Griffith
Flag of the United States.svg Alex Kim
4–6, 7–6(2), 6–2
3.2003 Fresno, U.S.A.Hard Flag of the United States.svg Travis Parrott Flag of the United States.svg Paul Goldstein
Flag of the United States.svg Jeff Morrison
7–5, 4–6, 6–3

References

  1. "Beat Federer? a) Be Serious. b) You Cannot Be Serious". The New York Times . August 27, 2007. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  2. "Ancic and Ram rally to win doubles title". The Indianapolis Star . July 28, 2003. p. 26. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  3. "Players Archive - Diego Ayala". Official website of the Wimbledon Championships . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  4. Cronin, Matt (July 10, 2012). "Coaching changes for Jankovic, Cibulkova". Tennis . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  5. Myles, Stephanie (August 7, 2015). "Another coaching split for tennis star Eugenie Bouchard, as the Rogers Cup draws near". Yahoo! . Retrieved April 26, 2017.