After his stunt at Roland Garros, Tallon Valentijn was mainly concerned with the conclusion of the Formula 1 race in Spain. The North Hollander, who surprised Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday, immediately wanted to know whether Max Verstappen had won.
“When I took to the track he was fifth and my first question to my coaches after my game was: did Max win?” said Greek track after his victory over 25th seed Davidovich Fokina (2-6, 6-0, 6). -4 and 6-3) in the first round of Roland Garros.
“My coaches actually went a bit crazy and said that I should enjoy myself for once. But I was so busy with Max. And Charles Leclerc dropped out, so it was a beautiful day.”
Greek track won a match in the main tournament of Roland Garros for the first time in his career. “It didn’t feel that way, because it’s not that the debut came unexpectedly. I just didn’t play great here in the past,” said the number 64 in the world, who defeated American Brandon Nakashima (ATP-ATP) in the second round. 74) or the Pole hits Kamil Majchrzak (ATP-81).
“It is difficult to say whether it is my most beautiful victory, because the one at the US Open was also beautiful,” he referred to his victory over Jan-Lennard Struff in New York last year. “But he (Davidovich Fokina, ed.) is good on clay, reached the quarter-finals here last year and was a finalist in Monte Carlo. So I’m very happy with this victory, especially because I’ve had a lot of uncertainty due to injuries in recent weeks and almost didn’t get to train.”
Botic van de Zandschulp beat the Russian Pavel Kotov.
Van de Zandschulp: ‘Would be nice if I met Nadal’
Botic van de Zandschulp also reached the second round in Paris at the expense of Russian qualifier Pavel Kotov (6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2). The number 26 of the most qualified does not look too far ahead after his victory in the first round of Roland Garros. In the third round, thirteen-time Roland Garros winner Rafael Nadal may be his opponent.
“It would be nice if it could eventually be the case, but first I have a tough task ahead of me against Fabio Fognini on Wednesday,” said Van de Zandschulp. “When I was a little lower in the ranking, I always thought Fognini was a nice player. He has an incredible amount of talent, but the question is also what his cap is like. I think he can do everything. He has really good groundstrokes, but he may serve a little less. There may be opportunities there.”
Van de Zandschulp had a hard time against Kotov for three sets, but he finished convincingly in the fourth set. “I thought he started very well and gave almost no presents and served strongly. I didn’t really know what to expect and it took a bit of searching. I also experienced maybe a little more pressure than at previous Grand Slams, because I am now qualified. But luckily I took my chances in the third and fourth set.”