ATP Mallorca: Successful premiere one year late
Actually, the premiere of the ATP Tour 250 tournament on Mallorca should have taken place in 2020. After the pandemic-related postponement of one year, a really coherent tennis event is unfolding this week.
by Florian Heer
last edit: Jun 24, 2021, 03:10 pm
From Florian Heer from Santa Ponca
After Marbella, Barcelona and Madrid, the ATP Tour is visiting Spain for the fourth time this season. One year late, due to the outbreak of the corona crisis, the Balearic Islands are making their comeback with the Mallorca Championships as a station in the traveling circus of men's tennis.
As a rule, around 10,000 people live in Santa Ponca in the southwest of the island. In summer there are a few thousand more. Vacationers, second home owners and seasonal workers come to the modern coastal town. This week, life in the municipality of Calvià is even more pulsating. The last turf event takes place on the Mallorca Country Club facility before the stars of the scene head to the holy green at Wimbledon.
Always along Avinguda del Golf, the path leads up to the event site, where a WTA tournament has been held for four years from 2016 to 2019. Embedded by pine trees and with a view of the foothills of the Tramuntana mountain range, there is an almost idyllic atmosphere away from the holiday centers. Peace seekers are out of place this week. 1,700 fans can watch the matches every day.
Medvedev in the quarterfinals, Thiem injured, milestone for Lopez
The top seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev leads the field after a second round win against the Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the quarterfinals. With the Norwegian Casper Ruud, he practically meets a local hero who likes to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Manacor, which is only about an hour's drive away.
Dominic Thiem's appearance in Mallorca only lasted seven games. When the score was 5-2 in the first set against Adrian Mannarino from France, the Austrian had to retire due to a wrist injury. In the meantime, Thiem has placed himself in the care of Nadal doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro in Barcelona. While the further course of the season for the number 5 in the world seems uncertain, Mannarino will meet the Spanish lawn specialist Feliciano Lopez in Mallorca this Thursday. He celebrated his 500th match win on the tour on Tuesday with a three-set win over Karen Khachanov from Russia. The 39-year-old from Toledo is the seventh Spaniard to have achieved this feat. Only Rafael Nadal (1,027 wins), David Ferrer (734), Manuel Orantes (722), Carlos Moya (575), Fernando Verdasco (554) and Tommy Robredo (533) can boast even more successes.
Spaniards successful on grass
The winning streak of the winner of last week's tournament in Halle, Ugo Humbert, has come to an inglorious end on Mallorca. The Frenchman had to retire after a first round win over Miomir Kecmanovic from Serbia before his match in the second round against the American Sam Querrey with a stomach ache. Querrey now meets the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, number 3 on the seeding list.
Pablo Carreno Busta opened his home game just as successfully. The number 4 seeded Spaniard defeated Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic in straight sets. "It was my first game on grass this season and it was a solid performance," said the world number 19th with satisfaction after his game. With the 6: 4 and 6: 4 against Jordan Thompson, Carreno Busta immediately followed suit and is already in the semi-finals.
Djokovic shines in doubles
There is still something worth mentioning about the doubles competition. Novak Djokovic and his buddy Carlos Gomez-Herrera have reached the semi-finals. In their only second appearance as a team after Dubai seven years ago, the Serbian-Spanish combo recorded their first two wins. In the first round Djokovic and Gomez-Herrera eliminated Tomislav Brkic from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serbs Nikola Cacic, followed by a three-set win over the top seeded Marcel Granollers from Spain and Horacio Zeballos from Argentina.
"We have a lot of fun on the pitch," said Djokovic following the success in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. "That was a huge win for us beating one of the best doubles in the world after losing the first set. I think , we played well, although we lost the first set. "
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