Pedro Martínez: “It is more of a joy than a relief” | ATP Tour

Roland Garros

Pedro Martínez: “It is more of a joy than a relief”

The Spaniard won a Grand Slam match again in Paris

May 26, 2024

It had been more than two years since Pedro Martínez had the opportunity to celebrate a victory in a Grand Slam main draw. Specifically since the 2022 Australian Open, when he defeated Federico Delbonis in four sets in the first round.

In this edition of Roland Garros, precisely against fellow Argentine Thiago Agustín Tirante, he broke the drought that had lasted since then. The 27-year-old Spaniard managed to turn the match around to close out the victory 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in three hours and 57 minutes.

“The truth is that I wanted to win a match in a Grand Slam, it had been a long time since I had achieved that,” Martínez acknowledged in the conference room after the match. “It’s not [quitarme] a weight off our shoulders, it is more of a joy than a relief,” he added.

The No. 48 in the PIF ATP Rankings had had six consecutive defeats in the main draws of the Grand Slam since then and in the last three editions (Wimbledon 2023, US Open 2023 and the Australian Open 2024) he had not managed to get past the first previous round.

This Sunday, on the first day of competition in Paris, he smiled again. “I am happy for the victory,” he insisted before adding the lesson he has learned in recent times: “If you give everything, leave your soul on the track and try to fight with a good attitude, regardless of the result you have to leave satisfied. ”.

“With what I have done, I think I have achieved it today despite having won. Even if I had lost, I would have left with my head held high,” Martínez said about his performance in a match in which he survived an opponent who took an offensive approach and raised his list of winning blows to 54.

The victory confirms the step forward that the Spaniard has taken again this season. Supported by the ATP Challenger Tour, where he has won a title (Girona) and two finals (Tenerife and Bordeaux), he returned to the Top 100. In addition, on the ATP Tour he reached the last round in Estoril (l. with Hurkacz) and in Santiago he stayed in the semifinals.

So much so that his record in 2024 is 11-6 at the ATP Tour level. And in the second round of Roland Garros he will try to add one more, although the bar rises considerably, since the No. 6 favorite Andrey Rublev awaits him on the other side of the net.

p> “I’ve already played with him. He is a very good player, he has been playing well on the dirt tour, he has two Masters 1000s on dirt,” Martínez noted about Rublev. “He is a player who takes great advantage of the power of his blows, especially with the serve and with the forehand. The first shots are always fast, he has to be very attentive to try to counter them so that he does not play comfortably.”

Of course, now he prefers to enjoy a victory that he has not tasted for a long time. “Today is one more day to enjoy the victory and now I have two days of rest that will be good for me. “I will do a good recovery: ice bath, supplementation, eat well, physical therapy and rest.”