It was a mild September day in Lima, and south of the city center the Peruvian Davis Cup team was dealing with underdog status against Portugal. In front of a raucous home crowd, Ignacio Buse delivered the decisive blow, beating Nuno Borges to close the tie in the stadium that bears his family name: Estadio Hermanos Buse (Buse Brothers Stadium), in honor of his grandfather Eduardo and twin brother Enrique, both of whom were tennis players.
Eduardo was competing in the majors as early as 1942, when he played on the grass courts of the West Side Tennis Club in New York for the U.S. National Championships. Ignacio never met his grandfather, but his legacy established a tennis tradition in the Buse family.
Although the stadium court of Club Lawn Tennis de la Exposición bears the family name, Buse started his journey through the city at Country Club de Villa. He started with his father, Hans, a tennis coach who moved to Miami in 2019 and has since worked at Royal Palm Tennis Club.
“I always remember the best moments with my father,” Buse told ATPtour.com. “Before we started practicing, we played mini tennis and that was such a struggle for me. Sometimes I was confused with the situation and sometimes I got pissed off. My dad just wanted to practice and I was so happy to play mini tennis against him.”
Buse, ranked 111 in the world, is Peru’s highest-ranked player in the PIF ATP rankings. He mainly participates in the ATP Challenger Tour, the level at which he won two titles this year. His goal for 2025 was to finish in the Top 150 – a quest he wants to achieve with flying colors.
As a teenager, Buse climbed into the junior top 10 before facing the crucial decision in 2022: play college tennis or turn pro. After struggling to obtain a visa to attend school in the United States, Buse decided to pursue professional tennis, a difficult challenge from a country where five players have reached the Top 100 in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings (since 1973).
“It was like a dream, but it never seemed realistic. I always saw it very far away,” Buse said of playing professional tennis. “Then I wanted to go to university and when I couldn’t go to university – there was actually a problem with the accommodation – I said when I was 18: ‘Okay, I’m going to study professionally’.”
Buse made his Challenger debut in 2022 as a teenager outside the Top 1,400. In his second appearance – a home outing in Lima – then No. 886 Buse met top seed Federico Coria, a former Top 50 player. Buse pushed the match to a decider and ended the night with renewed confidence despite the loss.
“I started believing in myself that I could do it,” he reflected.
Now based in Barcelona, Spain, Buse considers his father his greatest mentor. After his first Grand Slam appearance at this year’s US Open, where he lost to sixth seed Ben Shelton, Buse has come a long way. He does it all while staying true to the greatest lesson his parents taught him.
Ignacio Buse has left his mark in Seville ✍️#ATPCchallenger | @CopaSevillaCh pic.twitter.com/WIwdw9HkV5
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) September 6, 2025
“First and foremost, always be humble,” Buse said. “I learned it from my mom and dad, too. I don’t think saying you’re humble means you’re humble. You have to prove it with facts. It has to be natural.”
“Being more known in the world doesn’t mean you’re above the others. That’s the most important thing. That’s why society is sometimes confused in those terms. I feel like we all have the same interest.”
Buse’s family extends this philosophy beyond just tennis. His uncle, Gaston Acurio, is a world-renowned chef with restaurants around the world and more than a million Instagram followers. Buse has great admiration for Acurio and his values.
“He’s not my idol just because of the way he cooks or whatever, but he always wants to help people,” Buse said. “He has a foundation in Peru for people who want to be chefs and have no money. He helps him, trains them and then they work in restaurants all over the world.
“For me, what he does there is an example that he not only cares about the world, but also about humanity.”
With Christmas quickly approaching, Buse is looking forward to a big family gathering and eating the delicious food Acurio will make.
“It’s like an event,” Buse said. “He’s such a great chef. It’s always so delicious. He made all his recipes and a lot of his recipes came from his grandmother who I haven’t met.”
Around the table with loved ones, Buse will be able to look back on his 2025 season with pride.
“If you would have told me that today I would be ranked where I am today, I would tell you I don’t believe you. I kind of wanted to finish in the Top 150,” Buse said. “It was the goal we set for ourselves. I think the start of the year wasn’t what we imagined, but we managed to keep improving and keep believing in the process.”
Ignacio Buse Buse triumphs Credit: Elijah Media/NECKARCUP
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