Alejandro Falla

Began playing tennis at age six with father Jorge, a tennis coach who now lives in Naples, Florida...Mother, Elsa, is a housewife...Has a younger sister, Kelly, and a younger brother, Sebastian...Likes soccer and supports the Atletico Nacional team in Colombia...Favourite music is hip-hop and rock (especially U2)...Dream in tennis is to reach the Top 10...Finished high school in Cali in 2001 (Los Angeles de San Fernando)...Tennis idols were Boris Becker and Pete Sampras...Prefers to play on hard courts and best shot is the backhand...Most memorable experience was playing Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2004...Has a 27-7 career Davis Cup record (18-2 in singles) in 17 ties...Coached by Ricardo Sanchez.

2000 -- Played a pair of Colombian Futures events, reaching doubles final at one (w/ P. Gonzalez)...

2001 -- Made Davis Cup debut, winning dead rubber against Costa Rica (d. Camacho)...Also played doubles rubber against Uruguay (w/Quintero)...Claimed a Spanish Futures doubles title w/P. Gonzalez)...

2002 -- Reached consecutive Colombian Futures finals in June, losing to P. Gonzalez and Bohrer...Picked up Davis Cup win against Uruguay (d. Bianchi)...Reached three Futures finals in doubles, claiming one title (w/Salamanca)...

2003 -- Claimed three Challenger titles during year...Posted a record of 28-9 in Futures and 5-8 in Challengers...In doubles, reached four Futures finals, winning two titles...

2004 -- Reached three Challenger finals early in the year, claiming titles in Bogota (d. A. Garcia) and Salinas (d. Muller)...Made Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros and reached 2nd RD (d. Pless, l. to Nalbandian)...Also reached 2nd RD at Wimbledon (d. Knowle, l. to Federer)...Played three consecutive ATP summer events, and reached 2nd RD at all of them...Closed year with 5-7 ATP mark...Also had a 19-7 Challenger record...On grass, reached doubles final at Surbiton Challenger (w/Weiner)...

2005 -- Reached Challenger finals in Cordoba (l. to Baghdatis) and Binghampton (l. to Murray...Earned pair of Davis Cup singles wins in tie against Bahamas while also earning doubles point (w/ Salamanca)...

2006 -- The No. 1 Colombian became first player from his country to break Top 100 of ATP Rankings since Mauricio Hadad in July 1996...Qualified a career-high six times into main draw of ATP level tournaments, compiling an 8-8 record...Also went 12-7 in Challenger level play with one title...In second tournament of the season, reached final at Mexico City Challenger (l. to R. Delgado)...Earned three points for his country in April Davis Cup zonal tie against Paraguay...Later that month, claimed title at Bogota Challenger (d. Sa)...Reached 2nd RD at Roland Garros (d. Gimelstob, l. to Federer) and Wimbledon (d. Davydenko, l. to Kohlschreiber)...The victory over No. 6 Davydenko was his first career win over a Top 10 player and first ever by a Colombian man...Made ATP Masters Series debut as a qualifier in Toronto (l. to Lee)...Reached 2nd RD at US Open in his debut (d. del Potro, l. to Tursunov)...Earned win in singles and doubles in Davis Cup tie against Dominican Republic...

2007 -- The top Colombian became first player from his country to finish in Top 100 since Jairo Velasco (No. 47) in 1982...Won a personal-best 14 ATP level matches and led ATP circuit (along w/Gabashvili) by qualifying into main draw eight times, highlighted by first career ATP SF...In March, reached 2nd RD at AMS Indian Wells (l. to No. 8 Ljubicic) and 3rd RD at AMS Miami (d. No. 9 Haas, l. to Stepanek)...In limited Challenger action, reached QF at Surbiton (l. to Tsonga) and SF at Mons (l. to Gulbis)...Closed season by reaching SF in Lyon with wins over Andreev, Marach and No. 14 Ljubicic before losing to Gicquel in third set tie-break...Earned a career-high $216,115.

2008 -- The Colombian compiled an 8-11 record in ATP World Tour level play, highlighted by QF in Washington (d. Fish, Serra, l. to Haas)…Won five-set first round matches at Australian Open (d. Anderson) and Roland Garros (d. Karlovic) before losing in second round…In Challenger action, reached SF in Bogota in September and QF in same city in July…

2009

The top Colombian finished in Top 100 for second time in three years, highlighted by a 25-11 record in Challengers with three titles…Qualified into main draw an ATP World Tour-high eight times during season…In April, captured title at Pereira Challenger in Colombia (d. Zeballos)...Qualified into his first tour level tournament at Wimbledon (l. to Stepanek) and followed in Newport…Qualified in three straight events — Washington (l. to Gonzalez), Montreal* (l. to Simon) and US Open (l. to Haas)…In September, captured Challenger title in Cali on home soil (d. Zeballos)…One month later, won another title in Rennes (d. Ascione)…Qualified in final three ATP events — Vienna, Valencia and Paris*, falling in first round each time.