Pablo Llamas Ruiz

Pablo Llamas Ruiz came up on Andalusian clay, born in Jerez de la Frontera in October 2002 and developed first under Javier Martí in Javea before basing himself in Seville with Juan Pablo Cañas. His junior ranking peaked at No. 24, with boys' doubles quarterfinals at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2019, but the line that has followed him is a team one: he and Carlos Alcaraz clinched the 2018 junior Davis Cup for Spain past France in Budapest, in the decisive doubles rubber.

The game suits the surface he names as his favourite. He is a 1.88m right-hander who lists the two-handed backhand as his best shot and gives away almost nothing free, as evidenced by a career ace rate of 2.7 percent and a 70 percent hold rate. Federer was the idol; the method is a Challenger grinder's, and the 66-43 record on that circuit reads accordingly.

The breakthroughs have arrived in bursts. He won Segovia in 2023 as the youngest Spanish Challenger champion since Alcaraz in 2021, having saved three match points in the semifinals, added a second Challenger title at Alicante in 2026, and twice converted qualifying into something at tour level — a first ATP quarterfinal at Estoril in 2024, then a run through the qualifying draw to the third round of the 2026 Italian Open, where he beat the 30th-ranked Corentin Moutet 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4) and took the opening set off Daniil Medvedev.

As of September 2026 he stands ATP No. 126, up from 211th at the season's start and 158 places better than a year earlier, having touched a career-high No. 116 in July 2026. Still titleless at tour level, he has four Grand Slam main draws and four first-round exits, the nearest of them a four-setter against Thiago Agustin Tirante at Roland Garros in which he won the third set in a tiebreak and then lost the fourth 6-0.