Daniel Altmaier came to Roland Garros 2020 with two official victories in his record. At 22, the German tennis player has been focused on the Challenger circuit for a few years, but the improvement in his ranking (# 186) made him arrive in Paris with permission to play the preliminary phase. A Qualy that passed without problems and took him to the final frame. Once there, Feliciano López and Jan-Lennard Struff suffered their shots, sending them to the group of the 32 best. Now his face will no longer be related so much to the Challenger circuit, although Kempen’s does not forget his origins. In a few hours, Matteo Berrettini will put his talent to the test.
– Great performance this week
“I am very happy to have performed at a high level from the first game. Against Struff I knew it was going to be a mental battle, it was going to depend on who put more intensity on it and won the first set. My emotions were running high, but my intensity was still very high, so I was able to block out all those emotions and stay focused on the game. That was the main thing today, then I was lucky to win in three sets, that was really good.
– Duel between friends with Struff
“We have known each other for a long time, we started our journey together on tour, sparring with other great players when we were 14 and 15 years old, so we both followed our daily progress. We are good friends, in fact he invited me last year to come here to practice with him, we have good chemistry off the track, he is a great guy ”.
– The key to his explosion at Roland Garros
“One of the secrets is that I played a lot of games in recent weeks, a lot of games, that was key to getting ready for Roland Garros. I had very tough games before I got here, one against Musetti, for example, losing just the week before. It’s incredible to see these young people like Carlos or Lorenzo already beating older people and making it to the ATP Tour. I feel prepared for the Challenger circuit, I am picking up the level to reach these bigger stages. Little by little I am learning to manage these games better “
– The figure of his coach
“My coach is Francisco Yunis, Argentine from Buenos Aires. We started working together last year, in August, when I was above 480 in the ranking after many injuries. I grew up in Germany playing on clay, so I have always felt comfortable on this surface, especially with Fran by my side, thanks to him I have stabilized my tennis a lot. Adding up my basic learning and everything I’m adding now has led me to build a very solid game on clay ”.
– Próximo rival, Berrettini
“I know Matteo well, before suffering my injuries we played many times when we were both close to the top 300, in the Futures tournaments, we know our game well. It will be interesting, although we all know that he has a much higher ranking than me, but I have nothing to lose. I will face it with the same preparation as every game I had in Qualy, so we’ll see what happens. I have a fairly varied game but always aggressive, I like to create plays on the court. If the rival responds to this I will have to adapt to what happens ”.
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