Bruno Soares has soared into a leadership position with the Association of Tennis Professionals.
The 32-year-old Brazilian tennis player, primarily a doubles specialist, has been elected to the ATP Player Council.
The 12-member council delivers advisory decisions to the ATP Board of Directors, which has the power to accept or reject the Council’s suggestions.
Soares won the mixed doubles title at the 2012 U.S. Open with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova. In all, he has 17 career men’s doubles titles.
But Soares isn’t the only Latino to join the group…
André Sá will also serve on the ATP Players Council.
Sá, a Wimbledon men’s singles quarterfinalist in 2012, turned pro in 1996. He has seven career titles in doubles; his most recent coming in September 2011 at the Open de Moselle.
Along with Soares and Sa, other players elected to the council include Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, American John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Gilles Simon, Jurgen Melzer, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac. They will serve two-year terms.
Roger Federer is stepping down after serving as council president since 2008.
“Clearly we made big strides in prize money. … I think we were able to calm things down a little bit, because things were quite hectic when I came onto the council,” said Federer of his involvement on the council.
The new council’s first meeting will be in New York before the U.S. Open in August, when it will elect a president and vice president.