ORLANDO - Head coach Lloyd Bruce-Burgess has announced the signing of Nicolas Oliveira, a top junior from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, to bolster the Knights roster ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
The signing marks the fourth under Bruce-Burgess and assistant coach Kareem Allaf as the tandem strives to build on a promising debut season in Orlando. Oliveira will join Simeon Terziev and Walid Ahouda, who both joined the program this past spring, along with Adriano Dzhenev who will accompany him in the fall.
The Brazilian boasts an impressive junior record through more than a decade of playing across South America and the world. He climbed to a career-high ITA junior ranking of 47 in January of this year following strong results to conclude his 2023 slate.
In March, Oliveira dominated the field at the J100 Asuncion in Paraguay. After not dropping a set in the first four rounds of play, the future Knight defeated Peru’s Luis Jose Nakamine in a dramatic three-set clash, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.
Oliveira has made multiple strong runs in prominent junior tournaments, including a finals appearance at the J200 Santa Cruz, a semifinal at the J200 Tara Jiu and another notable finalist honor at the J200 La Paz.
On the world stage, he has made a pair of appearances at the U.S. Open and Australian Open junior tournaments, advancing to the second round in the former following a debut victory over India’s Manas Dhamne.
As for the ATP rankings, he holds a career-high placement of 1,639 in doubles and 1,692 in singles.
Oliveira will be the first Brazil native to play in Black and Gold since program legend and former All-American Gabriel Decamps played for the Knights from 2017-21. He will be one of two South Americans on the 2024-25 roster, joining the Argentinian native, Santiago Giamichelle.