is the country with the most players in the third round of Roland Garros

Without a super figure in the circuit -as it turned out above all Juan Martin del Potro for more than a decade or even the very Diego Schwartzman when he was top ten between the end of 2020 until almost mid-2021, a period in which he even reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam-, Argentine men’s tennis had already given a powerful warning on its arrival at Roland Garros by becoming the third highest representative in the draw with ten players behind France (the local was favored with the logical wild cards and reached 19 players) and the United States (16).

Even after the first round, the seven winning compatriots gave the country first place on that list shared with Italy, whose growth in recent times is notable and evident. But now, with the third round complete, the second Grand Slam of the season offers another compelling piece of evidence: Argentina is the country with the largest number of players among the 32 that remain on the road.

A Schwartzmanthat he had obtained the passage on Wednesday and that this Friday he will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipasthey joined Francisco Cerundolo, Thomas Etcheverry y Genaro Olivierione of the greatest revelations about the most famous brick dust in the world.

Italia y USA, with three tennis players each, were second in that statistic that confirms a lot. And what does it say? In the Bois de Boulogne, tennis in our country is more alive than ever.

Without that mega star that he knew how to have in other times (starting with Guillermo Villasthe most right-handed lefty, of course) but with a significant number of players, it does not stop attracting attention.

The secret of your tennis

What is the secret? Beyond technical or physical issues, the contagion effect. “If he could, why couldn’t I?” Many ask themselves and answer almost at the same time. He spent, above all, in the years of the best generation. The one that put Gaudio, Nalbandian and Coria at the top. They did it first. And the rest followed them.

Then Olivieri will have asked himself the same question: “If Cerúndolo, who was not even close to the best of our litter, is already an important player on the circuit with relevant victories, titles won and the semifinals of a Masters 1000, for example, why couldn’t I get to that same place? ”. It is just an example. There are many more.

Cerúndolo beat the German Yannick Hanfmann, 65th in the world, by 6-3, 6-3 and 6-4, Etcheverry surpassed the Australian Alex de Miñaur (19th), by 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) and 6-3 and Olivieri He eliminated the Italian Andrea Vavassori, 148 on the planet and also coming from the classification, by 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-4 and 7-6 (7-3). Now they will face the American Taylor Fritzthe Croatian Borna Coric and the danish Holger Rune respectively, to see if -like Schwartzman- they pass the filter of the first week and manage to get into the second, one of the great objectives of most players in any Grand Slam.

It is clear that the four survivors have different aptitudes. With its virtues and its defects. Cerúndolo and Etcheverry represent the prototype of the modern playerof good physique, with powerful blows from the bottom of the field and with a serve that hurts.

In the other side, Schwartzman and Olivieri -even with their different experiences since the man from Bragadense had not even played an ATP main draw before arriving at Roland Garros- They are the symbol of those who have to look for their return of service, in their solidity from the back of the field, in their leg speed and in their tactical intelligence. (They have plenty of both virtues) the arguments to make up for their short stature -both measure 1.70 meters- and, consequently, the less power they have in their blows compared to most of their colleagues.

Beyond that, the truth is that Argentina returned to talk at the clay tennis World Cup. With the utopia of winning the title, It is the first time that at least four Argentines have advanced to the third round of Roland Garros since 2012.. It took 11 years for Cerúndolo, Etcheverry, Schwartzman and Olivieri to take over from Del Potro, Juan Mónaco, Leonardo Mayer and Eduardo Schwank. That is another more than interesting reason to celebrate.

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