Galo Blanco

Galo Blanco was born on October 8, 1976. This Spanish tennis player was born in Oviedo, Spain and started playing tennis at age 5 with his father who was a radiology doctor in Spain. After finishing formal tennis education in Barcelona, Blanco joined the men’s pro tour in 1995 and spent most of his early years on the tour qualifying for tournaments. Blanco announced his retirement in 2006 while on Torneo Godo. He was coached by Jordil Vilaro.

Blanco played at the Fairmonts tournament in Arizona in 1996. Early in his career he earned the right to play by playing before the tournaments themselves so he could fill the last tournament spot but later on managed to get into the tours purely for his playing skills. Blanco has been in the ATP for ten years, ranking as low as 90 and as high as 40, a career best.

He almost won a 1997 Grand Slam title in 1997 as well as reached the quarterfinals at the French Open. However, he lost in the second round of 2004 at the Australian Open. All in all Galo has under his belt 1 ATP tour title and 5 Challenger titles. He has defeated such players as Sampras, Rafters, Kuerten, Moya, Ferrero, Safin and Henman.

He now has a tennis academy in Barcelona, Spain, where he teaches young tennis players the basics of the game, from tactical skills to court strategies. He serves as one of the coaches at the academy along with Jairo Velasco and Charly Rexach.