Italian Fabio Fognini has troubled the greatest of players on a clay court. Fognini has beaten Rafael Nadal twice, and pushed the Spaniard to three sets earlier this month in Rome. Italy's No. 1, though, hasn't let the close call at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia slow him down. The 18th seed is through to the third round at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year. Fognini sat down with ATPWorldTour.com to talk about his "ATP Firsts." First pinch-me moment on the ATP World Tour [In 2006], I was playing qualies at Buenos Aires, and I made it through the main draw and I was playing [Carlos] Moya and I lost 6-4 in the third, and then he won the tournament....
Following his second-round win at Roland Garros (d. Giraldo 6-4, 7-5, 6-3), Roberto Bautista Agut didn't avoid the media. He also didn't dodge questions about his mother who passed away on 21 May, or the toll it's taken on him at Roland Garros. The Spaniard is set to play 20th seed Novak Djokovic for a place in the fourth round. "Honestly, being here helps take my mind off everything that's happened over the past several days. I'd rather be playing here at Roland Garros than sulking at home," Bautista Agut said. "I need to keep pushing on. Tennis is my life, these tournaments are my life. As soon as I was able, I got back to my usual routine and...
Jaume Munar's time at Roland Garros might be over, but he leaves Paris having learned some invaluable lessons. The #NextGenATP Spaniard earned his first victory at a Grand Slam by defeating David Ferrer 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 7-5 in the first round before losing to Novak Djokovic 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-4 in the next round. Both matches served as proving grounds for the 21-year-old and helped raise his self-confidence. Munar broke down five things he learned during his time at Roland Garros. 1. A Step Forward From my first qualifying match here (d. Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3) through Wednesday, I've made strides and I'm happy with my progress. I know I wasn't at my best against Novak but I also didn't play...
So let's begin here: At the start of the year, my goals for 2018 were to have a breakout season, and to reach the main draw at Roland Garros for the third consecutive time. I wanted to blossom on the court and break into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings. The actual quest to this year's Roland Garros main draw has been a long and winding one and my dream of getting here actually began back in May, when I won the title in Barletta, Italy -- my first ATP Challenger Tour title (d. Simone Bolelli 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4). Winning at Barletta only reinforced my belief that I have what it takes to keep my early year goal of...
Marco Trungelliti lost in the final round of Roland Garros qualifying last Thursday against #NextGenATP Pole Hubert Hurkacz. After reaching the second round of the main draw in Paris for two consecutive years, it was an early trip back to Barcelona, where the Argentine resides. After airport delays, the 28-year-old arrived in Spain in the early hours of Saturday morning. His family made a barbecue later that day, and they rented a car to head to the beach on Sunday. So much for those plans. After Mohamed Safwat stepped in to face Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday as a lucky loser, the only player ahead of Trungelliti on the lucky loser list was Prajnesh Gunneswaran. But the Indian was already in...