For Indian tennis followers, just the thought that Prajnesh Gunneswaran could play in the main draw of the French Open despite losing in the last round of qualifying was enough to get buzzing. The Indian world No 183 was the next in line to play in the first round of Roland Garros after Nick Kyrgios withdrew a day before his match with fellow Australian Bernard Tomic.
However, in a strange twist of fate, the Indian had already left Paris to play in a Challenger tournament in Vicenza and therefore was ineligible to play even if he could return. This meant that the next player in line – or indeed any player who lost in the qualifying – would get in, if they could come sign in on the sheet. But as fate would have it, nobody was there.
And what followed next was nothing short of a story, dramatic enough to be made into a movie.
Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti, the next player in line to play on Monday, was in Barcelona and had embarked on a family road trip upon hearing the news, trying to make it to Paris in time. With no qualifying losers still in Paris, Trungelliti took his chance and drove back to the French capital along with his brother, mother and grandmother.
This family road trip became the talk of tennis Twitter, after the initial confusion over who would fill the spot and whether Prajnesh would be ineligible.
Would he make it in time to sign the sheet? Would someone else be there? Will he be physically ready to play in the main draw of a Grand Slam?
But to take the movie-like story forward, not only did he arrive in Paris at 2350 local time on Sunday to secure the clash with Tomic, he went on to win it. After a nine-hour drive of over 1,000 kilometres, the 28-year-old took to the court just 11 hours after arriving at Roland Garros and promptly stunned the Australian 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Trungelliti showed no signs of fatigue, as he reached the second round for the third consecutive year and will next face either Italian Marco Cecchinato or Romania’s Marius Copil.
A rule change this year has helped the cause of defeated qualifiers at Grand Slam tournaments.
If a player withdraws injured before their scheduled first-round match, they still receive half the prize money while the lucky loser takes the other half.
It is the first time there have been eight lucky losers in the men’s singles draw of a Grand Slam in the Open era. Egyptian Mohamed Safwat was the seventh lucky loser, who came to know he was on, minutes before the start of play and went down in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov.
But, as far as dramatic stories go, Trungelliti’s road (trip) to the second round at French Open 2018 is hard to beat.
With inputs from AFP
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