Following an epic road trip that your normally see only in movies (such as in “Field of Dreams”), Marco Trungelliti won his improbable French Open first-round match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 over Bernard Tomic on Monday afternoon.
After losing in the final round of qualifying last week and getting drawn as the ninth lucky loser in line for a main-draw spot, Trungelliti assumed that he no chance of a second life at Roland Garros. As such, he headed back to his training base in Barcelona.
But everyone else left, too.
Seventh lucky loser Mohamed Safwat was the only man who lost in qualifying to sign in for a potential LL spot on Sunday. He promptly got in when Viktor Troicki withdrew that morning (Safwat eventually lost to world No. 5 Grigor Dimitrov). Nick Kyrgios pulled out later on Sunday, but no other name was on the sign-in sheet under Safwat’s.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran had been in line to be lucky loser No. 8, but the Indian had already bolted for a Challenger event in Vicenza, Italy and was entered in the main draw there. Rules mandate that a player already in the main draw of one tournament cannot withdraw and enter a different tournament. Thus Gunneswaran was stuck in Italy.
Trungelliti was not stuck in Barcelona.
After getting word that Gunneswaran was out and he would be in as long as he did nothing more than etch his signature on a piece of paper prior to Monday morning’s sign-in deadline, the world No. 190 packed his bags–and his family–in a car and set off for Paris.
Nine hours later, just before midnight, Trungelliti arrived with his brother, mom, and grandmother.
Trungelliti signed in (as did many others, realizing the error of their ways for not doing so on Sunday, when anyone–even a first-round qualifying loser–would have taken Kyrgios’ spot with a simple sign-in). The rest is history.
After two hours and 54 minutes against Tomic, Trungelliti’s 10-hour trek was unquestionably worth it.
“Actually, my grandma was in the shower,” the Argentine reflected. “And I told her, ‘Okay, we go to Paris.’ There [were] many flights canceled, so I didn’t trust (flying) too much. And then there [were no trains], so the best option was always just take the car. I drove a couple of hours. And then the rest of the work, my brother did it.
“We got here 11:00 or something like that. So it was 10 hours.
“If you’re not…in Buenos Aires, then (a) thousand kilometers is like nothing. You make (a) thousand kilometers and there is no city between. So it wasn’t a big deal for us. We got used to it. We had highway, so it’s perfect. (In) Argentina, there is one–we call it the Ruta; it’s just one way and the other one is coming against you. So you never know if you’re going to be alive after two hours driving.”
In Paris, against all odds, Trungelliti is still alive and well.
epic scenes
I had kyrgios in the third round over tomic and cecchinato. I think trungelliti could just do the same!
Was Trrungelliti coached by his Grandma before the Tomic match? 😉 😉 😉