Welcome to "Next Up," where USOpen.org will showcase rising stars on the ATP and WTA tours who could be in line to make a splash to remember at the 2022 US Open. In this installment, we're highlighting Argentine Sebastian Baez, who packs a punch as a David amongst Goliaths on the ATP Tour.
Fans of legendary Argentine Juan Martin del Potro are no doubt heartbroken that the 2009 US Open champion elected to end his career earlier this season. All the more reason to get behind the next generation of players from the country that has long been an integral part of the fabric and lore of the New York fortnight.
Argentina has produced US Open icons such as 1977 men’s singles champion Guillermo Vilas and 1990 women’s singles champion Gabriela Sabatini, as well as the aforementioned, universally-adored del Potro. At 21, and rising quickly up the rankings, Sebastian Baez could be the next formidable Argentine to win the hearts of New York fans. A punchy, muscular Buenos Aires native whose game packs pure menace off of both wings, the former junior World No. 1 has all the makings of a future star.
Even better? Fans will like the person as much as they like the player.
“It’s impossible to be a good player if you are not a good person,” soft-spoken Baez declared in an interview earlier this season in Estoril, Portugal.
The 5-foot-7 powerhouse has been more than simply good on the court in 2022. He entered the season with three career wins to his name, but has swiftly obliterated that standard: He's racked up 25 victories against 17 losses through mid-July and earned his first three main draw wins at the majors, along with his first eight Top 50 wins.
There have been some eye-popping milestones along the way.
After reaching his maiden ATP final in Santiago in February, Baez one-upped himself by claiming his maiden title at Estoril in April. After each victory on the way to the title, the Argentine celebrated by signing the camera lens with the words “Why not me?”
When he knocked off American Frances Tiafoe on the final Sunday, Baez switched gears, signing: “Yes, it’s me!”
More recently, Baez reached his third final of 2022 in Bastad, Sweden, where he was defeated in the final by Francisco Cerundolo.
Full credit to Baez’s coach, Sebastian Gutierez, for helping facilitate the achievement unlocked. He noticed Tiafoe wearing a bracelet that employed the same slogan and encouraged his charge to embrace the empowering words himself. Gutierez, who formerly worked with the Argentine Tennis Association's department of player development, has forged quite a connection over the seven years that he has spent with Baez.
But he knows the road is just beginning for the speedy baseliner.
“We're still a long way from achieving what we want,” he told the ATP's Alvaro Ramo last year in Milan. “We understand that Seba's career is very long and the road is long. He will have to do things very well for a long time to have a chance of being very good.”
The road is long, but Baez has been speeding past every intersection of late.
Ranked No. 155 when he was bumped out of the US Open in the final round of qualifying last year, Baez is now knocking on the door of the Top 30. That he has risen well over 100 ranking spots in 52 weeks is a testament to his work ethic and ability to adapt to the power and pace of the pro game.
Baez picked up his first ATP win last July at Hamburg, but did most of his damage on the challenger circuit in 2021. He went 56-16 across all levels last season and earned himself a spot in the prestigious NextGen ATP Finals, where he was able to rub elbows with up-and-coming talents like Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, Sebastian Korda of the United States and Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.
Impressively, Baez reached the semifinals before falling to Alcaraz, but he says he gained a lot from the experience.
“That tournament was very important to me because I began to play at a high level with players like Alcaraz and the best teenage tennis players in the world,” he said. “I worked a lot to be there. I played challengers, the matches were very difficult.”
Newer and bigger challenges await for the hard-hitting, well-balanced Baez on the hard courts in Flushing this summer. Though he is relatively inexperienced on the surface, if we've learned anything about this rising force over the last year and half, it is that he is a fast learner.
