Exclusive: Martín Landaluce, the Spanish tennis starlet continuing Rafael Nadal’s legacy - "I hope to be one of those who fill the gap"

When Rafael Nadal retired in November 2024, a new era of Spanish tennis began.

The nation's hopes in the sport appear to be in safe hands with four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz leading the charge to continue their powerful presence at the elite level of the game.

However, it is easy to forget that Alcaraz is just 21, and his astounding rise to the top is just a glimpse of what the future looks like for Spain’s tennis starlets.

One of those is Martín Landaluce, a 19-year-old from the capital, Madrid, who seized the US Open boys’ singles title in 2022, an accolade also achieved by future greats including Andy Murray and Andy Roddick.

“I was 16 at the time, I was starting to get very good results, and I ended up winning the US Open,” Landaluce tells Olympics.com in Spanish about the moment he knew he could seriously pursue professional tennis.

“That's when I realised that it was already more serious than we thought, and that we had to push on everything, because I was going to try to be professional.”

Landaluce is still in the early days of his career, one of the kids of the Spanish tennis setup affectionately nicknamed ‘Tintin’ for his likeness to the fictional character.

With plenty of promise, he is just getting started.

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