Early days

Ricardo was born in Campinas, Brazil and started to play tennis at the age of three. At 15, he drew a wild card into a tournament in his hometown. He lost to veteran and French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten. However, he gained his first ATP career points. In 1999, Ricardo won his first Futures events in Uruguay and Paraguay.

2004

Mello won his lone ATP title at Delray Beach, defeating Vincent Spadea in the final.

2006

At the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships, Mello played top seed Andy Murray. Murray was in control of the first set, winning 6–1, but Mello won the second set 6–1. Mello took the third and final to a tiebreak, after having three match points. He lost in the tiebreak 5–7.

At the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, Mello faced Jean-René Lisnard in the first round and won in straight sets. In the second round, he faced 14th seed Vincent Spadea and lost.

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 2004	Delray Beach, United States	250 Series	Hard	Vincent Spadea	7–6(7–2), 6–3

Singles: 30 (21–9)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1999	Uruguay F2, Jose-Ignacio	Futures	Clay	Marcos Daniel	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Win	2–0	Oct 1999	Paraguay F3, Asunción	Futures	Clay	Gergely Kisgyörgy	7–5, 6–1
Win	3–0	Jun 2000	Mexico F3, Merida	Futures	Hard	Ignacio Hirigoyen	6–4, 1–6, 6–4
Win	4–0	Sep 2000	Brazil F1, Vitoria	Futures	Clay	Júlio Silva	6–4, 6–3
Loss	4–1	Feb 2001	USA F4, Corpus Christi	Futures	Hard	Damien Roberts	4–6, 2–6
Win	5–1	Apr 2001	Brazil F2, Teresopolis	Futures	Clay	Rodrigo Cerdera	6–2, 6–4
Win	6–1	May 2001	USA F11, Vero Beach	Futures	Clay	Thomas Dupre	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	7–1	Jul 2001	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 7–6(7–5)
Loss	7–2	Dec 2001	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Kristian Pless	1–6, 1–6
Loss	7–3	Mar 2002	Salinas, Ecuador	Challenger	Hard	Iván Miranda	3–6, 4–6
Win	8–3	Jul 2002	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Maximilian Abel	7–6(7–2), 6–3
Win	9–3	Aug 2002	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	6–3, 6–3
Loss	9–4	Oct 2003	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Giovanni Lapentti	3–6, 7–6(10–8), 3–6
Win	10–4	Nov 2003	Puebla, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Markus Hantschk	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss	10–5	Aug 2004	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Janko Tipsarević	4–6, 7–5, 4–6
Win	11–5	Aug 2004	Gramado, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Janko Tipsarević	2–6, 7–5, 6–4
Win	12–5	Jan 2005	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Giovanni Lapentti	4–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–0)
Win	13–5	Apr 2006	Florianópolis, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Diego Junqueira	6–3, 5–7, 7–6(7–4)
Win	14–5	Jul 2006	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Ivo Klec	6–3, 6–4
Loss	14–6	Mar 2008	Leon, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Bruno Echagaray	0–6, 6–3, 6–7(6–8)
Loss	14–7	Jul 2008	Manta, Ecuador	Challenger	Hard	Giovanni Lapentti	2–6, 4–6
Win	15–7	Jan 2009	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Paul Capdeville	6–2, 6–4
Win	16–7	Aug 2009	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Juan Ignacio Chela	7–6(7–2), 6–4
Win	17–7	Jan 2010	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Eduardo Schwank	6–3, 6–1
Loss	17–8	Apr 2010	Curitiba, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Dominik Meffert	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 2–6
Loss	17–9	Aug 2010	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Izak van der Merwe	6–7(6–8), 3–6
Win	18–9	Aug 2010	Salvador, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Thiago Alves	5–7, 6–4, 6–4
Win	19–9	Jan 2011	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Rafael Camilo	6–2, 6–1
Win	20–9	Oct 2011	Recife, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Rogério Dutra Silva	7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win	21–9	Oct 2011	São José do Rio Preto, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Eduardo Schwank	6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 16 (3–13)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2001	Brazil F3, São Paulo	Futures	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Diego Veronelli Adriano Ferreira	3–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Jul 2001	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Ricardo Schlachter	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	7–6(8–6), 6–7(5–7), 5–7
Loss	0–3	Sep 2001	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Adriano Ferreira Edgardo Massa	walkover
Loss	0–4	Jun 2002	Andorra Challenger, Andorra	Challenger	Hard	Hermes Gamonal	Shaun Rudman Wesley Moodie	2–6, 1–6
Loss	0–5	Jun 2003	Andorra Challenger, Andorra	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	Rik de Voest Tuomas Ketola	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win	1–5	Oct 2003	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Alexandre Simoni	Ricardo Schlachter Hugo Armando	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–6	Jul 2004	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Henrique Mello	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	4–6, 4–6
Win	2–6	Jul 2004	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Iván Miranda	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–7	Jul 2005	Biella, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Carlos Berlocq	Tom Vanhoudt Gabriel Trifu	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	2–8	May 2006	Tunica Resorts, United States	Challenger	Clay	Hugo Armando	Jeff Morrison Bobby Reynolds	6–3, 6–7)5-7), [9–11]
Loss	2–9	Oct 2007	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Hugo Armando	Brian Dabul Marcos Daniel	6–4, 5–7, [7–10]
Loss	2–10	Sep 2008	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Caio Zampieri	Leonardo Mayer Hugo Armando	5–7, 2–6
Loss	2–11	Jul 2009	Bogotá, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Sebastián Prieto Horacio Zeballos	4–6, 5–7
Loss	2–12	Aug 2009	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Caio Zampieri	Rodrigo Guidolin Marcelo Demoliner	4–6, 2–6
Win	3–12	Nov 2001	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	Diego Junqueira David Marrero	6–3, 6–3
Loss	3–13	Aug 2010	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Caio Zampieri	Franco Ferreiro André Sá	6–7(5–7), 3–6