Marcelo Fedrizzi Demoliner (born 18 January 1989) is a Brazilian professional tennis player, who specializes in doubles. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 34 in November 2017. Demoliner has won five doubles titles.
Demoliner turned professional in 2006, playing smaller tournaments (Futures).
In 2007, he played his first Challenger. At this time, he was considered one of the promises of the sport in Brazil.[1]
2009-2012: First singles Challenger title, new partnership with Souza
In 2009, he entered the top 300 and won his first Challenger title in Blumenau. In 2011, again achieved good results in Blumenau Challenger, being runner-up. These were the two best results in singles thus far.[1]
In doubles, Demoliner won two Challenger titles in 2009. However, only in 2012 formed a fixed partnership with João Souza, aiming to become an ATP-level doubles player. The partnership began in September and quickly obtained good results: five Challenger finals in a row, with two runners-up (Cali and Quito) and three titles (Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, and Porto Alegre). With this, Demoliner was approaching the top 100 at doubles.[1]
2013-2016: Top 100 & Major debut and two third rounds, doping suspension
In February 2013, Demoliner first entered the doubles top 100. In the first half of 2013, he won four Challengers in doubles. In June 2013, he participated for the first time in a Grand Slam at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships with compatriot André Sá, losing in the first round to the Bryan brothers, the No. 1 duo in the world. He also reached the semifinals of the ATP 250 Newport in July.[1]
In 2014 he had, as campaign highlights, the semifinals of the ATP 250 Zagreb and two Challenger titles in Quito and Cordoba.[1]
In 2015, he won two more Challengers (Cali and Ilkley).
He reached the third round at Wimbledon, the second round of the US Open, and began to participate in more ATP tournaments.[1]
In 2016, Demoliner was given a doping ban for testing positive for a prohibited substance between February and April.[2][3]
Following his return, his best results were two runner-ups at the ATP 250 in Quito and Bastad, a semifinal of the ATP 500 Rio de Janeiro, and a third round at the 2016 US Open.[1]
2017: Mixed doubles semifinal at Wimbledon, four finals, top 35
In 2017, he reached the third round of the Australian Open and got three more runner-ups on the ATP 250 level in São Paulo, Lyon and Chengdu alongside Marcus Daniell. He was also runner-up at the ATP 500 in Vienna alongside Sam Querrey for the very first time at this level.[1]
2018: First ATP title, second mixed doubles semifinal
2019: 100th career win, partnership with Middlekoop
In 2019, he won a Challenger title in Canberra alongside Frenchman Hugo Nys, two ATP 250 runner-ups in Munich and Zhuhai, alongside Indian Divij Sharan and Dutch Matwé Middelkoop respectively and won one ATP 250 title in Moscow alongside Middelkoop, completing his career win number 100.[1] At the end of the Russian event, Demoliner ended his season aiming for rest and training for 2020 Australian Open alongside Middelkoop in January.[4]
In 2021, Demoliner and his current partner Santiago González took the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at the 2021 Serbia Open.[5] In grass season, he won his fourth ATP 250 title at Stuttgart Open defeating Uruguayan Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar from Ecuador. On 31 October, Demoliner announced the end of his season due to a knee injury and soon afterward had a successful surgery.[6]
2022: First Grand Slam quarterfinal with Sousa
In 2022, Demoliner was expected to return at 2022 Chile Open after four months without playing but withdrew before the tournament. Nine months after his surgery, Demoliner returned at an ATP Challenger Tour event Brawo Open in Germany where partnering Jan-Lennard Struff he won the title.
Using a protected ranking at the US Open, he reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in his career with his partner Joao Sousa, having never passed the third round at a Major.[7][8]
2023: Return to top 100, Fifth title with Vavassori
Ranked No. 98 at the 2023 Grand Prix Hassan II he won his fifth doubles title with Andrea Vavassori. As a result he moved back into the top 75 of the doubles rankings. This year, Demoliner also made the semifinals at the ATP 500 in Halle, was runner-up at the ATP 250 in Gstaad and made the semifinals at the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem and Buenos Aires.[9]
At the 2023 Pan American Games, playing in doubles, Demoliner and Gustavo Heide overcame the hostile Chilean crowd and took gold.[10] Both having to play two finals on the same day, after winning gold in men's and women's doubles, Demoliner and Luisa Stefani went to the mixed doubles final and obtained another medal, now a silver.[11]