Nicolas Moreno de Alboran was in the thick of his career-best season last September when he encountered adversity. Now, several months after spending 10 days in a Dominican Republic hospital, the 26-year-old is set to make his ATP Masters 1000 debut at the BNP Paribas Open.
The American was building towards his Top 100 debut in 2023, having won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Tyler, Texas in June and two months later making the Cary Challenger final. A memorable moment came at the US Open, where in the final round of qualifying, the New York-born Moreno de Alboran fended off three match points against Joris De Loore, sealing his major main draw debut.
Following his stay at Flushing Meadows, Moreno de Alboran travelled to the Dominican Republic, where he resided for 10 years as a child. Visiting the island for a friend’s wedding, Moreno de Alboran’s tail end of the season took an unexpected turn on his penultimate day, when he woke up with a 40-degree Celsius fever (104 Fahrenheit).
“I had to go to the hospital and they told me I had dengue, a mosquito bite very common in the tropics. I was in the hospital for 10 days. I lost 10 kilos,” Moreno de Alboran told ATPTour.com. “I wasn't able to drink or eat and that just kind of ruined the rest of my season. It was very tough to come back after that physically.”
It was a sudden setback for the two-time ATP Challenger Tour champion who just hit a career-high No. 121 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Moreno de Alboran instead had to shift his focus towards regaining his desired fitness level.
He returned to action after a month away from competition and suffered a four-match losing skid, eventually winning a qualifying match at the ATP 250 in Sofia.
“The tennis was there, but I was just finding it hard to move and get in the gym, do the usual weights I do,” Moreno de Alboran said. “Mentally it was also tough because I was coming from a good run of tournaments.”
The dengue viral infection was simply a freak of nature. Moreno de Alboran’s family moved to the Dominican Republic when he was an infant, so tropical life and mosquitoes were nothing new to him.
At age 10, Moreno de Alboran and his family relocated to London. His mother, Carmen BallveĢ, works as a documentary photographer, which has allowed the family to frequently move. After eight years in the U.K., Moreno de Alboran embarked on another journey, but this time to pursue his education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. ‘Nico’ has now called Madrid, Spain home for five years.
But those early years in the Dominican Republic still hold fond memories in Moreno de Alboran’s heart.
“I would go to school and leave around 2 p.m. I would eat at home and then at 3 or 4 p.m., I was in the water,” Moreno de Alboran said. “I used to compete in small sailboats. I travelled around the Caribbean doing regattas and obviously around the Dominican Republic. It's something that was very accessible for me. We enjoyed it. We kiteboarded a lot. It was just right there in front of us so that's why we did it so much and obviously we competed at it as well.”
In 2018, Moreno de Alboran was as high as No. 6 in the ITA Division 1 Men’s Rankings, an impressive feat for a Big West Conference player not at the likes of Georgia, Ohio State or Texas. He graduated from UCSB in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, an endeavour he hopes to pursue post tennis.
“Being in nature is what I want to do after my tennis career. I don't really know where I will end up, but I definitely want to be around that kind of lifestyle either in the mountains or in the ocean and work with conservation companies that are just trying to protect marine life,” Moreno de Alboran said. “I think that's really interesting and I would love one day to work in that environment and help as much as I can.”
Despite the difficult end to last season, Moreno de Alboran has since returned to a high level, qualifying for back-to-back ATP Tour events in Dallas and Delray Beach and now his maiden ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, California, a four-hour drive from his alma mater.
After advancing through qualifying in the desert, World No. 166 Moreno de Alboran will face World No. 141 Lukas Klein in the opening round, with ninth seed Casper Ruud awaiting the winner in the second round.
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