Prado Angelo to become fourth Bolivian to contest Grand Slam in Paris

Juan Carlos Prado Angelo will become only the fourth Bolivian player to contest a Grand Slam singles main draw in the Open Era when Roland Garros gets underway. 

This follows Prado Angelo navigating the third of three rounds of qualifying against Coleman Wong of Hong Kong, winning 6-4 3-6 6-3.

The 21-year-old, who is ranked a career-high No. 178 in the ATP Rankings, will now make his Grand Slam main draw debut having lost in qualifying at the Australian Open in January.

Should Hugo Dellien emerge victorious from qualifying today, it will be the first time in the Open Era that two Bolivian players will contest the same Grand Slam singles main draw.

In 2023, Prado Angelo became the first player from his nation to reach No. 1 in the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings since the combined rankings were introduced in 2004. In short, he secured a little piece of history that can never be taken away.

Incidentally, it was during the 2023 Junior Championships at Wimbledon that Prado Angelo learned he had become No,1, while he was also asked for a selfie by Bolivian technology entrepreneur Marcelo Claure.

He has made great progress since, winning pro events on the ITF World Tennis Tour – at M15 and M25 level – before last year winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Lima.

Focus now turns to Roland Garros and he has history there. In 2023, he reached the final of the Roland Garros Junior Championships, losing to now-world No. 71 Dino Prizmic. 

Prado Angelo is another player to have received financial assistance through the ITF-operated Grand Slam Player Development Programme, which aims to provide players from underrepresented nations with greater access to competitive pathways.

The Grand Slam Player Grants which are awarded to players as part of this programme are financed by the Grand Slams, but it is the ITF’s modelling which determines the players selected for support. Since their introduction in 2017, more than $8.6m has been awarded through Grand Slam Player Grants.