Dear Tennis Fiend,

What do you know about 18-year-old Leonardo Lapentti? Is he the 3rd brother? Is he cute?
- Mrs. Polasek

Your guess is correct. To answer your first and second questions, Leonardo Lapentti is apart of the Lapentti Gomez clan of Ecuador. He is the younger brother of Nicolas and Giovanni Lapentti (pictured right). Their father is an Ecuadorian politician and former college basketball player. They are distant cousins of Andres Gomez, who is the 1990 French Open champion, on their mother's side of the family.

Nicolas Lapentti, 32, is a veteran player of the ATP tour. He stormed onto the scene when he won the junior Orange Bowl tournament in 1994 and then won the junior French Open doubles title with Gustavo Kuerten the same year. In 2000, he achieved his highest ATP ranking of world number 6. He has won five ATP titles, the last title coming in 2002 in St. Poelten. Nicolas is currently ranked 95 and just qualified for the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament. In late 2000, he established the Nicolas Lapentti Foundation to help bring tennis to underprivileged children and develop future champions.

Giovanni, 26, is a fixture on the challenger tour when he is not qualifying for ATP tournaments. He is currently ranked 190. His best ranking came in 2005 when he was ranked 110. This year he helped Ecuador, with the help of Nicolas, overcome a 0-2 deficit to upset Canada in Davis Cup action.

Leonardo Lapentti hit the futures circuit following in his brothers’ footsteps. His current record is 0-5. There is not really going to be much written about him until he is around longer and/or wins something.

To answer your third question, is he cute? I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He is the one the left with his brother Giovanni.