Ricardo Acioly
Ricardo Augusto Amaral Acioly (born February 4, 1964 in Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro) is a former tennis player from Brazil. He has what is considered by many one of the most complete and successful careers in Brazilian tennis having been recognized Internationally as a Player, Coach, Executive, Tournament Promoter and Sports Commentator.
He comes from a "tennis family". His Father Claudio, who died in 2012, played tennis until he was 82 years old. His mother Teresinha still plays daily, competes in official tournaments and has reached the N1 position in the Ladies 85 and over ITF Seniors World Ranking. His Brother Claudio Jr, seven years older and who was a well ranked Brazilian junior player, played an important role in Ricardo's development as he actually coached him in the very early stages.
As a Player
As a Junior Ricardo was always one of the best Brazilian Players of his age group winning many national titles and was a finalist at the Orange Bowl, considered at the time the World Junior Championships. He then went on to play Division 1 College Tennis and was Team Captain and the N1 Player for the University of South Carolina, a top 20 team on the NCAA's Division 1 rankings.
After graduating with a Business Degree from South Carolina in 1985, Ricardo went on to play the ATP Pro Tour for 8 years and became a member of the Brazilian Davis Cup Team (87'/'88/'89) and the Brazilian Olympic Team (Seoul '88). During his career he played against some of Top Players in Tennis like John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Mats WIlander and Yannick Noah just to mention a few.
He was ranked 46 in the World ATP doubles rankings. A 6 times finalist in Tournaments at the highest level of the ATP Tour he won titles in Vienna, Geneva and Guaruja and was a finalist in Washington, Brasilia and Maceio. He also played and represented Brazil in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea and played quite a few times in all Grand Slams tournaments: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon Tennis Championships and US Open Tennis.
Doubles titles (3)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 1. | 1986 | Washington D.C., U.S. | Clay | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} |
  |
3–6, 5–7 |
| Winner | 1. | 1986 | Vienna, Austria | Hard (i) |  |
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W/O |
| Winner | 2. | 1987 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | |
  |
3–6, 6–4, 6–2 |
| Winner | 3. | 1989 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | |
|
7–6, 7–6 |
| Runner-up | 2. | 1991 | Brasília, Brazil | Clay | |
 |
4–6, 3–6 |
| Runner-up | 3. | 1992 | Maceió, Brazil | Hard | |
 |
4–6, 6–1, 5–7 |
As a Coach
As a full-time ATP travelling Coach Ricardo worked with several Top Players in the World like former ATP N1 Marcelo Rios, WTA's N2 Gabriela Sabatini, Fernando Meligeni (ATP 24), who he coached for 7 years and quite a few other players in the ATP Top 100 like Nicolas Pereira, Andre Sá, Javier Frana, Hernan Gumy and Alexandre Simoni just to mention a few. The results of the work with his players are very significant having achieved a Semifinal in the French Open, a Semifinal and a Quarterfinal in the Australian Open, a 4th place showing in the Atlanta Olympic Games and more than 10 titles on ATP Tour level Tournaments in Singles and Doubles.
He was also Davis Cup Captain for Brazil for 6 years and during his tenure as Captain Brazil reached 1 semifinal and 2 quarter finals in the World Group. The list of Team members coached during this period is quite long and included World's Number 1 Gustavo Kuerten, Guga, Fernando Meligeni, Jaime Oncins, Andre Sá, Flavio Saretta, Alexandre Simoni, Ricardo Mello and Marcio Carlsson to mention a few. Up until today Brazil's biggest win in Davis Cup came under his leadership when in 1999 they defeated Spain in Lerida, Spain, against a team that had at the time 4 Top 10 Players: Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja, Albert Costa and Felix Mantilla.
Ricardo also worked and developed a number of Top Juniors that went on to have a successful careers on the ATP Tour like Marcelo Melo (World N1 in Doubles), João Souza (ATP N.69), Franco Ferreiro (ATP top 50), Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez (ATP N.70) and quite a few others that had significant results in the ATP and ITF JR circuits.
Off Court
As a Tennis Executive Ricardo is the only South American in history to have served as a Director on the ATP Board of Directors. He is also a two time member of the ATP Player Council which has had players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as members. He has organized and promoted a number of professional events on the ATP's Challenger Tour, Champions Tour and currently serves as Director of Relations on the organizing committee of the Rio Open ATP 500, the biggest professional tennis tournament in South America.
Ricardo is also known worldwide as a Tennis Commentator for Globo Brazilian TV, SPORTV Channel and does the play by play for matches during the US Open Tennis, Wimbledon Championships, Davis Cup and all ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments.
References
- Ricardo Acioly at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Ricardo Acioly at the International Tennis Federation
- Ricardo Acioly at the Davis Cup
