Diego Dedura-Palomero picked up his first-ever win at the ATP level on Tuesday afternoon at the BMW Open. Then again, the 17-year-old German did not exactly win the match since he got a retirement from Denis Shapovalov.
Dedura-Palomero advanced after one hour and three minutes, when Shapovalov called it quits due to illness while trailing 7-6(2), 3-0.
Following his opponent’ concession, the world No. 549 broke out into wild celebrations as if he had just won the Calendar Year Golden Slam. Perhaps most bafflingly, he appeared to draw a cross in the clay with his feet and then laid down with his arms and legs outstretched.
“I just can’t put it in words right now; I’m just so happy,” said Dedura-Palomero. “I was struggling all these years and now I just got the wild card for qualifying. I won against top 100 Mackenzie McDonald (in qualifying), then lost against (Alexander) Bublik. I had bad luck because there were three lucky losers who got in, and I was the fourth one.
“So I was waiting the whole day on Monday and then (Gael) Monfils pulled out. He hugged me and was so nice. I just went in and told myself, ‘just have fun, go with the crowd and just play your best tennis.'”
The lucky loser will face Zizou Bergs on Thursday after Bergs beat Bublik in the opening round.
ridiculous scenes
It’s a big world out there.
His celebration is quite a bit over enthusiastic, since even though he won the first set and was ahead in the second, had Shapo been healthy, I’m sure the #400 plus would not have had a chance.
even if it was someone he should have beaten, you still can’t celebrate a retirement like that
Ridiculous yeah, more ways than one, since some of us picked Monfils to the final and he never even turned up.Thats predictions
Bergs in 2