Ernesto Escobedo

In March, Escobedo was able to qualify for his first Masters event at the 2017 Miami Open, where he upset No. 43 Dan Evans to break through into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings. To start the clay court season, Escobedo played at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston and reached his first career ATP quarterfinal and semifinal, climbing to a career-high ranking of 73 with this success. His tournament was highlighted by a quarterfinal win over No. 2 seed and fellow American John Isner.

Escobedo reached his first ATP Challenger final at São Paulo in April 2016 to advance him to a career-high ranking inside the top 300. With that success, he became the seventh American teenager to reach a Challenger final in the previous seven months.

To start the year, Escobedo continued to improve upon his success from 2016. He qualified for the Australian Open and then won his first round match against fellow NextGen player Daniil Medvedev. The following month, he was awarded a wild card into the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, an ATP 500 event in Acapulco. At this tournament, he again won first round match over fellow American Stefan Kozlov.

Ernesto "Neto" Escobedo III (/ˈ n ɛ t oʊ ˌ ɛ s k ə ˈ b eɪ d oʊ / NET -oh ES -kə-BAYD -oh; Spanish: [eɾˈnesto ˈneto eskoˈβeðo] , born July 4, 1996) is an American tennis player who has won two ATP Challenger titles. He is part of the current class of NextGen players that includes many fellow Americans such as Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz who are considered the best young prospects to become the next generation of tennis stars.

Escobedo began playing tennis at the age of 4. His father Ernesto Jr. briefly played professional tennis, and his aunt Xóchitl Escobedo was a Top 300 player who competed in the 1988 Olympics. He is of Mexican descent. Escobedo's cousin Emilio Nava is also a tennis player.