Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo is now the talk of the town in Madrid! Cerundolo witnessed one of the biggest wins of his career Tuesday at the Mutua Madrid Open. He defeated the world number 5, Alexander Zverev by 6-3,6-4 in just around 90 minutes to reach his fourth ATP Masters 1000 QF. This victory against German tennis was his third victory against the Top 5 in his career. Sports runs in his blood they say! Francisco Cerundolo’s family is a “locker room”.

His father Alejandro “Toto” Cerundolo is a former professional tennis player and a coach. His mother, Maria Luz Rodrigues, is a sports therapist, and she has done her post-graduate studies in sports psychology. She was also a tennis player in her earlier days. Francisco Cerundolo has a sister, Maria Constanza Cerundolo (23) and a younger brother Juan Manuel Cerundolo (22). 

Constanza is an Argentine field hockey player. She plays as a defender for the Argentine amateur sports club, Belgrano Athletic Club. She has represented her nation in both U18 and senior teams. Constanza Cerundolo even won a gold medal representing her national team at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. A year later, she got a call from the senior national team for her incredible performance in 2018. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business administration from the Universidad de ‘San Andres‘ and also playing her role as an intern at the Galicia Bank in Buenos Aires.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo, a 22-year-old lad, has already won a title at the Cordoba Open in 2021. After winning his first title he said, “I never in my life imagined that I could win the tournament.” Both the brothers are quite young in their tennis careers and have already achieved quite a few astonishing feats in their careers. Speaking to ATPTour.com the proud father once said, “Our house is a locker room.“

He further went on to add, “We talk about sport, tennis, all day. As parents, we never pushed them to be athletes or forced them to be good. We brought them up with a sporting foundation and each of them went their own way. Today that makes us very proud.” His daughter has chosen a completely different sport, but his two sons are now on the verge of becoming top tennis players for Argentina. How do the Cerundolo brothers support each other on the tour?

“I learned to be disciplined from him“ – Francisco Cerundolo recalling the contributions of his younger brother in his career

According to the 25-year-old tennis player, it was Juan Manuel Cerundolo who taught him to be “more professional” in his career. During an interview, Fran said, “He always wanted to do everything perfectly, ever since he was very small, and I learned a lot, from nutrition to how to train better. When I was young I found it difficult, I was pretty lazy and I learned to be disciplined from him. Now I see it in my daily work.“

In 2021, they became the first brothers to reach consecutive finals on the ATP Tour since Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev in 2017. Then a year later, they again chased down the German brothers, becoming the first brothers to be ranked inside the Top 100 in singles since 2019. Currently ranked 179 in the world, Juan is now looking forward to yet again joining his elder brother among the list of elites in the game.