Toby Samuel

Toby Samuel reached the ATP's top 110 by a route most British prospects skip. Born in Winchester in September 2002 and raised in Dorset, he came up at the West Hants Club (AFC Bournemouth's academy had him at 11 before tennis won out) and reached the 2019 Wimbledon boys' doubles semifinals with Arthur Fery, then spent four years at South Carolina, finishing as an ITA singles All-American with a spell atop the NCAA doubles rankings.

He is 6-foot-3, right-handed off a two-handed backhand, and has been clocked around 135 mph on serve; his college coach, Josh Goffi, points to the movement and the backhand as the separators. That serve shortens points, so grass suits him, as his 2026 grass numbers bear out: 76.5 percent of service games held, 64.4 percent of break points saved.

The rise came fast and late. Outside the top 1,800 entering 2025, Samuel posted the biggest ranking climb of any man that season, winning back-to-back Challengers at Soma Bay and Manama in November before three titles in three weeks in early 2026, a 15-match streak that carried him inside the top 200. He qualified for his tour-level debut at Roland Garros, beating David Goffin on the way in, and made a first ATP semifinal at Eastbourne in June, past Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the quarters before eventual champion Zizou Bergs stopped him in three.

Wimbledon cost him five sets and a deciding tiebreak against Jakub Mensik; at the US Open he qualified again and beat Tomas Machac in straight sets for a first Slam main-draw win, then fell to Jiri Lehecka. As of September 2026, three days past his 24th birthday, he sits at ATP No. 110, one place off the career high he first reached on Aug. 4, with no tour title yet and a tour-level record of 3-5: all three wins over opponents ranked 45 to 58.