«I will remember the victory over Federer for the rest of my life. I don’t know if the same will happen for the four tournaments I have won in my career ». Last week in Geneva, Pablo Andujar was convinced that he had touched the sky with his finger by eliminating in three sets, and to make a comeback, a Federer a bit crumpled by the years and rusty from the long inactivity. He will have to change his mind, given that a less glamorous but decidedly more important coup also succeeded in his debut match at Roland Garros. The draw confronted him with the world number 4, the reigning US Open champion and two-time finalist in Paris – in short, Dominic Thiem, but Pablito, 35 and a best ranking as a luxury midfielder – 42 in 2015 – he was not scared and put together another big game, perhaps the best of his life considering that, of course, Thiem is not Federer, but at the moment he is definitely worth more.
Maybe not as much as last year, or in the previous three years. After the success in New York, “Domi” admitted that he had gone through a period of depression – the classic void after reaching the goal he longed for – and in fact he had been seen a little worn out in other tournaments on earth as well. , physically and mentally, certainly not the Dominator of recent seasons. But Andujar deserves the big credit for having reassembled him two sets (it is the first time he has succeeded in his career) and not having trembled even when he went to serve for the match at 5-4 of the fifth.
Pablo is a tough guy, everyone knows that. He is 35 years old, an age if not more extreme, however venerable even in today’s tennis, but between 2016 and 2017 he had a really bad time. Three elbow operations, with three different surgeons, to banish epicondylitis. Before the third (they severed a nerve in his arm and reattached it in a different position) he had decided that in case of failure he would withdraw.
In January 2018, he finally returned, 1,700 positions lower in the rankings than when he left, and lost six matches in a row. Give up? Naaaa. In fact, in April he was resurrected. He won the Alicante Challenger and a week after the ‘250’ in Marrakech, his fourth career ATP title, beating Kyle Edmund in the final and becoming, from number 598 in the world, the worst-ranked winner of the Open era since Lleyton Hewitt (550) in Adelaide in 1998. In 2019, for the first time in his long life as a supporting actor, he managed to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open, the rest is news and pandemic.
Pablo – one of the nicest and most beloved tennis players of the Tour – among other things he has three children, Pablo junior, Alex and Carlos, born between 2016 and 2019. At the time, the prospect of returning to being a full-time tennis player was not then so certain. «Since they were born, tennis is no longer my number one priority. The most important thing is them, and of course I miss them a lot. But if I lose a match it is no longer a drama, I know they are waiting for me at home, and this is the most important victory of my life ».
After beating Federer in Geneva he admitted that “will be the thing I can tell my grandchildren.” The largest, God forbid. But perhaps not the only one, judging by how dad Andujar is playing this year.
In Paris today Fabio Fognini made his debut, capturing a clear and therefore encouraging success against the French Barrere (6-4 6-1 6-4). Great disappointment and bitterness instead for Alessandro Giannessi, who after passing the qualifiers fought for five sets with former world no.4 Kei Nishikori (today no.49), also finding himself a break in the fifth (6-4 6 -7 6-3 4-6 6-4). Elisabetta Cocciaretto is also out immediately in the women, eliminated 6-1 6-3 by the Romanian Bogdan.
Federer’s eagerly awaited debut tomorrow, who will take the field at the center against Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin no earlier than 4pm. Jannik Sinner has the first match of Suzanne Lenglen, at 11 in the morning against the French Pierre-Hugues Herbert, simultaneously with the match between Gianluca Mager and the Australian John Millman. Also on the program Lorenzo Sonego, opposed to the South African Lloyd Harris (not before 17), and in the female Camila Giorgi and Marina Trevisan, respectively engaged against the pupil of Francesca Schiavone, Petra Martic, and the Belgian Alison Van Uytvank.