While top tennis players win millions of dollars in prize money, life isn’t that easy for players outside of the Top 100, who often struggle to make ends meet. Life on tour can be brutal when results don’t come, and many think of quitting. However, for Marc Lopez, his lowest point brought him to a second chance in tennis thanks to Rafael Nadal.
Lopez, born in Barcelona in 2982, made his ATP debut in 2001. As a singles player, he could break into the Top 100, with his best ranking being No. 106, achieved in May in 2004. However, he continued to work hard to stay in the tour and gain his breakthrough.
Today, Lopez is back on the road, this time guiding WTA star Jasmine Paolini as she prepares for another tilt at Roland Garros. But long before stepping into coaching, it was a single phone call and a chance partnership with Nadal that changed everything.
How Nadal changed his career
In 2008, Lopez found himself in a difficult place. “I was still around these rankings 200, 180 and this where I even considered the possibility for the first time of quitting tennis,” he said in a recent interview with Punto de Break’s podcast. Results weren’t coming, and neither was financial stability.
Marc Lopez (Mike Owen/Getty Images)
That’s when a friend, Salva Vidal, made a casual offer that would alter Lopez’s career. “He says to me: ‘hey I’m not going to play with Rafael Nadal anymore […] If you want, I can tell him and he’ll probably be happy to play with you.’ And that’s how it started,” he explained.
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Then, Nadal invited him to play with him in Doha. “I said ‘hey I’d love to’ because things weren’t going very well for me,” Lopez said. However, they quickly turned around: They won the tournament in Doha, defeating the world No. 1 team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić.
“That moment opened up everything, like someone who sees bright light,” Lopez recalled with Punto de Break. “It was like an injection of energy — and of financial positivity too, I’m not going to lie,” he admitted. By the end of 2009, Lopez left singles behind. “I was playing better in doubles and I was earning a better living.” It was a bold call, but the decision would define his career.
His success in doubles
Marc Lopez’s second act in tennis was a masterclass in adaptation. He became a regular fixture in ATP doubles finals and lifted some of the sport’s biggest trophies, the very same ones he couldn’t achieve as a singles player.
With Nadal, he won Indian Wells twice, in 2010 and 2012. In 2012, he and Marcel Granollers claimed the ATP Finals title in London. A few years later, he teamed up with Feliciano Lopez to win the 2016 French Open. That same summer, Lopez and Nadal struck gold at the Rio Olympics, sealing a dream run with a win for Spain.
Lopez and Nadal won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics (Getty Images)
Throughout this run, Lopez often found himself facing the best teams in the world. He reached multiple Masters 1000 finals, beat the Bryan brothers on several occasions, and was part of the last match ever played at the old Louis Armstrong Stadium in 2016.
He played his final match in 2024, coming out of retirement one last time to reunite with Nadal in Brisbane. It was a fitting close to a career that had been revived by their partnership.
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From player to coach
After stepping away from competition, Lopez quickly transitioned into coaching. In 2021, he joined Rafael Nadal’s team, helping guide his longtime friend through the final years of his career.
By 2025, Lopez had taken on a new challenge: coaching Jasmine Paolini. The Italian player is hoping to make a deep run at Roland Garros, and Lopez’s experience could be the key. “At the moment, everything is going well,” Paolini said recently to Punto de Break.
Now, the pair are working together full-time. Paolini is chasing her first title in Italy before returning to Paris, where she was a finalist last year. This time, she’ll have Lopez in her corner, a coach who knows better than anyone how one match can change everything.
