By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Saturday, June 29, 2024
Alejandro Tabilo topped Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 in the Mallorca final becoming the first Chilean man to win an ATP title on grass.
Photo credit: Mallorca Championships Facebook
Man for all surfaces Alejandro Tabilo is now a Chilean trailblazer on turf.
Toronto-born Chilean Tabilo defeated Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4 in today’s Mallorca final becoming the first Chilean man to win an ATP title on grass.
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When you consider Chile’s celebrated tennis history—including standout Jaime Fillol, first South American No. 1 Marcelo Rios and Olympic gold-medal champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez—you can appreciate Tabilo’s awesome achievement.
Today, the left-handed Tabilo showed strong all-court skills, a sharp slider serve on the ad court—he won 31 of 36 first-serve points and saved all three break points he faced—and a flair for the kill strike at the right time.
On championship point, Tabilo threw down his fifth ace, searing his spot in Chilean history.
It is Tabilo’s second career title coming after he defeated Taro Daniel, 6-2, 7-5, on Auckland’s hard court to win his maiden ATP championship last January.
It’s a double celebration for the nation.
Tabilo is not only the first Chilean grass-court champion in Open Era history, he will join compatriot Nicolas Jarry in the Top 20 on Monday, marking the first time since March 2005 two Chileans will be in the Top 20. The last two Chileans to do that—Gonzalez and Massu—both had fantastic forehands.
Massu formerly coached Dominic Thiem.
World No. 54 Ofner was bidding to join Thiem as the second Austrian man in Open Era history to win a grass-court championship, but couldn’t crack the Chilean’s serve despite delivering some fine backhand returns.
The 2024 season has been commanded by world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz. Yet Tabilo has touched many fans as one of the feel-good stories of what feels like a generational shift in the sport.
At age 27, Tabilo is delivering the most dynamic tennis of his life.
After his Auckland title run, Tabilo thrilled home fans in Santiago fighting into the final on red clay where he fell in three physical sets to Sebastian Baez.
Together, Tabilo and Jarry made unforgettable history in the Eternal City last May.
The pair reached the Rome semifinals marking the first time in ATP history two Chileans contested the final four of a Masters 1000 event.
Along the way, Tabilo stunned then world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-3 in the Rome third round that was one of the most surprising setbacks of Djokovic’s Italian Open career.
"It's incredible," Tabilo said after that victory, his first against any player inside the Top 10, let alone a World No.1 with 24 major titles to his name. "I'm still trying to process everything.
"I was just trying to keep my nerves in - it's crazy, I can't believe what just happened."
With that shocking upset, Tabilo became the first man from Chile to defeat a World No.1 since 2007, when Fernando Gonzalez defeated Roger Federer at the season ending Masters Cup.
In his inspired run to the Mallorca title, Tabilo joined Taylor Fritz as the only men in 2024 to reach ATP finals on all three surfaces.
It’s Tabilo Time, but why now?
One reason is vastly improved fitness has empowered Tabilo to construct smarter points. Tabilo is toggling between defense and offense better than ever this season because he’s fit enough to defend. Whereas in the past he may have played lower-percentage drives down the line because he wasn’t fit enough to play extended points repeatedly, now Tabilo is playing shrewder tennis.
In fact, Tennis Channel analyst and former world No. 5 Jimmy Arias estimates Tabilo lost as much as 35 pounds from his younger years training at IMG Academy to now where he’s listed at 6’2”, 165 pounds on his ATP player page.
More than anything, Tabilo is letting his talent flow on court and he certainly has a stockpile of shots at his disposal.
The man who succeeds Christopher Eubanks as Mallorca champion has terrific touch and when he’s feeling it on the firehand he can fire rockets. We saw that in Rome were Tabilo launched a laser forehand down the line sealing a 3-0 double-break lead over Djokovic after just 13 minutes.
The Tabilo forehand was firing so ferociously that day, the Grand Slam king started resorting to bail-out drop shots to try to end points.
Next week at Wimbledon, Tabilo will play his first Grand Slam as a Top 20 seed.
Tabilo will be put to the test immediately facing Briton Dan Evans in his opener. If seeds hold true to form, Tabio could face the 13th-seeded Fritz in the third round.
Of course, there are considerable challenges. Tabilo’s second serve can sometimes go soft and shallow under stress and he’s yet to go deep in a Grand Slam. Tabilo owns just three major match wins and only one at Wimbledon.
Yet if you’ve seen Tabilo at his best this season, you know he’s a dangerous player and a fun watch, too.
We’ll enjoy seeing him try to create Tabilo Time in major matches.