One of the greatest tennis players to grace sport was born on June 3, 1986, in Manacor, Spain.
The 6-foot-1 left-handed Spaniard turned pro back in 2001, where the young unknown career exploded into one of the greatest tennis resumes the sport has ever seen. The Spaniard went on to win 22 Grand Slam Titles, 92 ATP Singles Titles, had a Match record of 1080-228, was ranked No. 1 for 209 weeks, and won 2 Olympic Gold medals.
This level of greatness does not come often in sports, and especially in the game of tennis.
This Spaniard, also known as the “King of Clay,” is Rafael Nadal.
The reason we're discussing Rafael Nadal, and all of the greatness that he is for the game of tennis, is because a young, 3-year-old Dominican boy, Yubel Urbi, who would grow up to compete at BYU, used Nadal to inspire greatness in his own road of becoming a professional tennis player.
Developing a love of tennis
Yubel Urbi was born on March 22, 2007, in New Jersey and then moved to Miami Florida when he was 1 year old.
Ubri’s Dominican father, Yubelnal, worked at a tennis club near Yubel’s elementary school called North Shore Tennis Center near Miami Beach.
This close proximity from the elementary school meant that Yubel’s young life was consumed with tennis, thanks to his dad's job.
When Ubri’s was three, he vividly remembered that one day Yubelnal picked him up from school, and headed to the tennis club. This is where Ubri’s tennis road to pro started. Yubel started with homework from school, but then went to this “famous wall” at the tennis club and found a racket at the front desk.
Little did young Ubri know but that simple wall impacted his entire tennis life.
Yubel just started hitting the ball off the wall — a very normal warm up routine for tennis players that didn’t have someone to hit a ball back to him — and three-year-old Yubel kept hitting the ball off the wall.
“It came so natural to me.” said Ubri. “So easy. I don’t want to brag but not a lot of 3-year-olds can just easily swing [right bow] and do it on their own. But I did that.”
Tennis for Ubri came like a natural gift, and that wall and the time spent at the tennis club changed the path for Ubri’s life.
“When I’m teaching tennis before [I] go to the court and then [see Yubel], that was a sign that he should be put in tennis,” Yubelnal said.
Years of training, learning and growing went by for Ubri, and now he had to take the sport seriously.
Ubri started his first big tournament when he was 8.
The historic tournament, known as the "Little Mo," propelled Ubri to continue on the path to becoming pro. The tournament is one of the most famous tennis tournaments for kids, where some of the great professional tennis players come from, including Coco Gauf, Tommy Paul, Andy Roddick, Taylor Fritz.
Ubri went on to win the tournament back in 2016, where the large 6-foot trophy towered over the young Dominican.
Ubri joked and said that these years of winning were his “prime” and he just was dominating at this point in his young career.
This win showed Ubri and his dad that they needed to take tennis seriously and set their eyes towards becoming pro, even just as a young 8-year-old kid with the love for the game.
“When you love [tennis] so much you love it like your life,” Yubelnal said. “You can feel it just when you are on the court and you see the people and you know it just comes from the heart.”
Financial struggles
While this story might seem too perfect to be true, there were financial struggles for Ubri and his family to make the dream of becoming pro a reality.
Ubri's whole family had to pitch in to help Yubel get to play in certain tournaments.
This required money for flights, registration fees, academies, bills and food.
“Sometimes we couldn’t even play tournaments due to financial stuff,” Ubri said. “As a kid, it’s hard seeing your friends and the people that you kind of have a lot of relationships [with] in these tournaments, go to nice places and play in these [big] tournaments.”
It wasn’t just his Ubri’s parents providing to make his dream a reality — but his sisters also had to pitch in and “invest” in this dream of becoming pro.
Ubri acknowledged that dad was one of the biggest impacts in helping him get to certain tournaments.
Even with the financial struggles and the many missed academies and tournaments that could have helped propel Ubri’s young dream, he remained motivated, along with his dad, to fulfill the dream into reality.
Teenage Life
Ubri’s high school journey was not traditional.
Ubri was homeschooled where his parents — especially his mom — taught him during the day and while he was on the road at big tournaments so he could continue to climb up the tennis rankings while gaining an education.
During homeschooling, Ubri participated in another large tournament that propelled him closer to his dream.
The tournament was the International Tennis Federation tournament for juniors, where Ubri made it to the finals but lost.
Even with the loss, the success of making it this far in such a large global tournament had Ubri’s eyes set on greatness and becoming pro.
Recruiting and journey to BYU
Years continued to go by for Ubri. He participated in larger tournaments, where colleges began to start recruiting him.
One of the tournaments was the J500 Orange Bowl in January of 2025, where the level of tennis was high, and many pros that are now dominant in Grand Slams tournaments today have come from this exact juniors tournament.
Ubri had a strong outing in a loss against the No. 1 seed in the qualifying draw in the second round.
“I gave it my heart, I gave it my all,” Ubri said.
This is where BYU finds its way into the story.
BYU men’s tennis coach Zack Warren was in attendance at that very match and watched Ubri’s game.
“[Coach Warren] came up to me and I thought he was [from] Yale,” said Ubri.
At the time, Yale was a great tennis program and Ubri thought that he was going to talk to Yale and even told his parents about the experience.
“Both of my parents didn’t know, they knew what college was, but they didn’t know that college had sports,” said Ubri.
Little did Yubel know, that conversation that he would have a profound impact on his tennis journey and the road to pro.
“I talked to coach [Warren] — super nice guy, super wholesome,” said Ubri.
This conversation with Warren and the many to come with his parents during some of Ubri games and training resulted in being offered by BYU in 2025.
“I was just super pumped because I never really had that type of experience before.” said Ubri. “Of somebody seeking you out. Knowing that someone wants me in this way. It felt like someone was offering me a million dollars. I was just super happy.”
Ubri spoke with other schools including Oklahoma and Alabama, while continuing to participate in large tournaments like ITF’s or J500’s as Ubri’s tennis career continued to pick up.
As Ubri’s recruitment process picked up, an important figure in Yubel’s future decisions came up with Randy Dees, where he helped Yubel get his name out there.
That is when BYU, and Warren, picked back up conversations nearly a year later in 2025 and in June, Ubri visited campus.
With the visit, Ubri knew it was down to two schools where he played collegiate tennis.
BYU and SMU.
Ubri’s sister helped the decision making process between the two great schools.
“Do what you think that’s best for you and what makes you happy,” Ubri’s sister said. “What do you think makes you happier?”
The decision was clear for Ubri and knew that BYU was the choice and that commitment came minutes after that conversation with his sister and knew that he was committing to BYU.
Warren praised Ubri during the recruitment of him to BYU and the skill and passion that he brings to the game of tennis.
“[He’s] got a big personality and competes really well,” Warren said. “Lightning fast around the court. He’s a highlight reel. He’s got some good vibes in him. We’re super excited to have him.”
BYU freshman season and reflection
Ubri’s freshman year ended with a 4-8 singles record along with a 1-0 record in doubles.
While Ubri’s first season as a Cougar has not been smooth, he has no regrets.
“I am super happy. I don’t regret it one bit,” said Ubri. “Honestly people put a lot of rumors and drama on BYU, not knowing what it is and not knowing what it stands for. If you want to become a better person for yourself to improve and actually be organized, come to BYU. Why not live it? These are amazing people. I love BYU so much. I love the staff. I love the professors. I love Provo.”
His coaches, teammates, and staff have nothing but great things to say including the sports information director for the BYU men’s tennis team, Kellen Chubak.
“Ubri was a class act on and off the court,” said Chubak. “I could see the team really fed off his energy and passion during matches which really helped the team get a boost during matches this year. Played well on the No. 3 and No. 4 courts against some of the best players in the Big 12 which will help him grow these next couple years.”
Ubri’s path and road to becoming a pro has not been easy, but greatness comes through work, time, effort and responsibility.
Ubri’s story highlights the grind, love, passion, and appreciation that sports can give to people, families, communities and even countries.
Ubri’s idol of Nadal, and the seeking out of greatness, brings the best out of people, and still greatness is not finished for Urbi.
Seek out greatness.
As Nadal has said, "I always work with a goal and the goal is to improve as a player and as a person."
That's the perspective that Ubri embraces as he moves forward in his tennis career.