Munar, doctoral dreams long behind him, shining brighter than ever

ATP Tour

Munar, doctoral dreams long behind him, shining brighter than ever

The Spaniard is into the second week of the US Open

Ishika Samant/Getty Images Jaume Munar entered the US Open at a career-high No. 44 in the PIF ATP Rankings. By Andrew Eichenholz

Jaume Munar showed his potential at a young age, qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF in 2018 alongside the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev, Frances Tiafoe and Hubert Hurkacz, all of whom have since cracked the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

Although the Spaniard has not climbed quite as high as those stars, he is playing the best tennis of his life seven years later. The 28-year-old on Saturday reached the fourth round of a major for the first time at the US Open and will face 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti for a place in the quarter-finals.

What fans might not know is that there was a chance Munar would not have become a tennis player at all. His focus growing up was on becoming a doctor. Munar’s father, Blai, owned a small hotel and would work in it because it was a family business, but that was not his passion.

“The real dream of my dad a long time ago was to be a doctor,” Munar told ATPTour.com. “I’ve been growing up and I remember listening, listening and listening to that story because he had no chance to go to the university. I don’t know why, but I started to like these kinds of things.

“I like science a lot and two of my best friends are now doctors. One of them is a cardiologist and the other one is a maxillofacial surgeon, the one doing surgeries on the face.”

Munar’s favourite subject in school was biology and for a time, he was driven to follow a path towards medicine. But aged 17, he made the Roland Garros boys’ singles final and reached No. 3 in the ITF Junior Rankings.

“I was in the mood to try to invest time and money in my [tennis] career, which I did,” Munar said. “I remember talking to my mom and I said once, ‘Give me until 22. If when I am 22 I am not Top 100 and I don’t make money myself, I swear I will go back to studies’.

“Suddenly when I was 21, I became Top 100 and it was financially okay, so I decided to keep going.”

With the exception of a few brief stints outside the Top 100, Munar has remained in the elite group since first entering in June 2018 aged 21. He has earned 114 tour-level victories — including three against Top 10 opponents — and remained a consistent presence on the ATP Tour.

But earlier in his career, Munar also took online classes and still today he enjoys educating himself and speaking to his medical friends about their work.

“I’m a lot in touch with them and we like to talk about these things and I’m really open to listening to their stories,” Munar said. “But for sure I will not be a doctor, I am a tennis player now.”

The No. 37 player in the PIF ATP Rankings recently read a book by an Indian doctor about how people behave, how they handle fear and use it in their favour. The 10-time ATP Challenger Tour champion believes the concepts apply to tennis, too.

“I’ve been [a person] with a lot of fears during my career. I’ve been through some difficult moments the past couple of years, so I’ve really experienced a lot of time with fear and the natural thing is just to make it natural,” Munar said. “It’s part of the game, it’s part of life and it sounds so easy, but it’s difficult to put it to [practice].”

In the past two years, Munar has made a lot of changes both on and off the court. The new Andorra resident has put a major focus on playing more aggressive tennis.

“It took a couple of years — a long two years — to put everything in place,” said Munar, who is a member of the ATP Player Advisory Council. “Now we have a little bit the results that I want. I still have a long way [to go] and improvements to do, I feel, but it’s getting closer and closer.”

After beginning his Grand Slam career 0-11 in second-round matches, Munar reached the third round at Wimbledon and now the fourth round at the US Open. But there is still plenty of new ground to break, beginning with his clash against Musetti.

“I’m here to go for more,” Munar said. “I’m very glad and thankful for the opportunity I have on Monday. I’m looking forward to a huge match, but I will just rest, reset and try to restart because it’s a new week and a new chance.”

Did You Know?

Munar is close friends with Joan Mir, who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2020, and Enric Mas, the star cyclist.

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