Nicolás Lapentti
Nicolás Alexander Lapentti Gómez is a former professional tennis player from Ecuador. His brothers, Giovanni and Leonardo, uncle Andrés, and cousins Roberto and Emilio also are or were on the pro circuit.
Beginnings
Lapentti began playing tennis at the age of six.He first came to the tennis world's attention an outstanding junior player who won the Orange Bowl in Florida in 1994, when he also captured the junior doubles titles at the French Open and the US Open.
Professional
Lapentti turned professional in 1995 and won his first top-level singles title later that year at Bogotá.In 1999, Lapentti was a semi-finalist at the Australian Open, defeating Thomas Johansson, Magnus Norman, Mikael Tillström, Andrew Ilie and Karol Kučera before losing to Thomas Enqvist. He also won two tour singles titles that year and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 that November.
In 2002, Lapentti won his fifth tour singles title at St. Pölten, beating Fernando Vicente in straight sets in the final. In the second round of that tournament, his rival, Irakli Labadze, faced four match points but was not able to convert any of them. Lapentti finally won that tough match 5–7, 7–6, 7–6.
His brother, Giovanni, also a professional tennis player, reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 110 in May 2005. In addition, another brother, Leonardo, has been active at the lower levels of professional tennis.
In the Cincinnati Open 2008, Lapentti defeated David Ferrer in second round, Fernando Verdasco in the third round and faced No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals where he lost in straight sets. With that victory over Lapentti, Nadal clinched the world No. 1 ranking for the first time.
In his last participation in a Grand Slam championship, he unfortunately had to retire against Novak Djokovic in the first round of the 2009 French Open.
In 2017, it was announced that Nicolás would compete in the Ecuador Open doubles draw alongside brother Giovanni, playing in the final event of his career.
Davis Cup
He has also been a member of the Ecuador Davis Cup team since 1993. Representing his country in Davis Cup since he was 17, and won the deciding rubber against Great Britain to put Ecuador in the World Group. Moreover, he owns the Davis Cup record for most matches won in five sets, with a total of 13 victories.Personal
He set up the Nicolás Lapentti Foundation in late 2000 to help bring tennis to the underprivileged, and develop future champions. Other interests include soccer and reading Robert Ludlum books.ATP career finals
Singles: 12 (5 wins, 7 losses)
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1–0 | Bogotá Open, Colombia | World Series | Clay |  Miguel Tobón | 2–6, 6–1, 6–4 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | 1996 Cerveza Club Colombia Open – Singles| | Bogotá Open, Colombia | World Series | Clay |  Thomas Muster | 7–6, 2–6, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1–2 | Bogotá Open, Colombia | World Series | Clay |  Francisco Clavet | 3–6, 3–6 | |
| Loss | 1–3 | 1999 Rado Swiss Open Gstaad – Singles| | Swiss Open, Switzerland | World Series | Clay | Albert Costa | 6–7, 3–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 2–3 | 1999 RCA Championships – Singles| | Indianapolis Tennis Championships, United States | Champ. Series | Hard |  Vince Spadea | 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
| Win | 3–3 | 1999 Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon – Singles| | Grand Prix de Lyon, France | World Series | Carpet |  Lleyton Hewitt | 6–3, 6–2 |
| Loss | 3–4 | Japan Open, Tokyo | Intl. Gold | Hard |  Sjeng Schalken | 4–6, 6–3, 1–6 | |
| Win | 4–4 | 2001 Generali Open – Singles| | Austrian Open Kitzbühel, Austria | Intl. Gold | Clay | Albert Costa | 1–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5 |
| Loss | 4–5 | 2002 BellSouth Open – Singles| | Santiago Open, Chile | International | Clay |  Fernando González | 3–6, 7–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 5–5 | 2002 International Raiffeisen Grand Prix – Singles| | St. Pölten, Austria | International | Clay | Fernando Vicente | 7–5, 6–4 |
| Loss | 5–6 | 2003 Synsam Swedish Open – Singles| | Swedish Open, Båstad | International | Clay |  Mariano Zabaleta | 3–6, 4–6 |
| Loss | 5–7 | 2006 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia – Singles| | Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, Italy | International | Clay |  Filippo Volandri | 7–5, 1–6, 3–6 |
Doubles: 7 (3 wins, 4 losses)
| Result | W/L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 0–1 | 1996 Cerveza Club Colombia Open – Doubles| | Bogotá Open, Colombia | World Series | Clay |  Pablo Campana |  Nicolás Pereira David Rikl | 3–6, 6–7 |
| Win | 1–1 | 1997 Dutch Open – Doubles| | Dutch Open, Amsterdam | World Series | Clay | Paul Kilderry | Andrew Kratzmann Libor Pimek | 3–6, 7–5, 7–6 |
| Win | 2–1 | 1997 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis – Doubles| | Mexican Open, Acapulco | World Series | Clay | Daniel Orsanic |  Luis Herrera Mariano Sánchez | 4–6, 6–3, 7–6 |
| Loss | 2–2 | 1997 Chevrolet Cup – Doubles| | Santiago Open, Chile | World Series | Clay | Julián Alonso | Hendrik Jan Davids Andrew Kratzmann | 6–7, 7–5, 4–6 |
| Win | 3–2 | 1999 AAPT Championships – Doubles| | Adelaide International, Australia | World Series | Hard |  Gustavo Kuerten | Jim Courier Patrick Galbraith | 6–4, 6–4 |
| Loss | 3–3 | 1999 Prague Open – Doubles| | Prague Open, Czech Republic | World Series | Clay | Mark Keil | Martin Damm Radek Štěpánek | 0–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 3–4 | 2004 BellSouth Open – Doubles| | Santiago Open, Chile | International | Clay | Martín Rodríguez | Juan Ignacio Chela Gastón Gaudio | 6–7, 6–7 |