This week Feliciano Lopez is playing at the Paris Masters on what is the 17th anniversary of when he made his tournament debut back in 2003.
His results in the French capital haven’t been spectacular with his best run being to the quarter-finals of the 2004 edition but still he remains committed as ever to the sport at the age of 39. He kicked-off his latest campaign on Monday with a roller-coaster 7-6(11), 6-1, win over Serbia’s Filip Krajinović who reached the final two years ago. During the opener Lopez had to save seven set points, with six of those occurring during the tiebreaker, before cruising through to victory. Even more impressive was the fact he won 100% of his first service points (34/34) as he blasted 21 aces past his opponent.
“It was a very crazy match,” the world No.64 said afterwards.
“I had a very tough start, losing my serve with three double faults. I managed somehow to come back and go into the breaker.’
“I think I was 5-0 down, and a lot of things just happened sometimes. And I was a little bit lucky, I have to say, during the tiebreak’
“Then I think it was very tough for him to handle the situation after losing that set that he was only one point away a few times to win it.”
You could be forgiven for thinking this year might be the last season the Spaniard is playing. He is the second oldest player after Roger Federer in the top 100 and made his ATP Tour debut at the 1998 Barcelona Open. Three years before Jannik Sinner, who is the youngest player in the top 100, was born. On top of that he officially became tournament director of the Madrid Open in 2019 and his wife will be giving birth in the coming months.
Nevertheless, Lopez has already signed up for another packed 2021 season should all go to plan given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Illustrating that age is nothing but a number in the world of sport.
“As soon as I’m physically ready, I think I can still compete. I feel good, and especially on these courts (in Paris), indoor, grass, hard courts where I feel more comfortable, I think I’m still able to perform and to enjoy and to play against the best players in the world,” he said.
Being both a player and tournament director Lopez is in the unique position of being able to view things from both directions concerning various topics. For example, tournament prize money during the later stages have been reduced due to the pandemic. This week’s Paris winner will take home €225,210 which is a fall of more than €75,000.
“I think it will be the same for the beginning of 2021 because I don’t see the virus going away. It’s gonna stay here for a while until they find a vaccine,” Lopez commented on the prize money reductions.
“For now I don’t see any hope in prize money. I think it will stay the same for a while. I think the players will have to accept that this is the situation that we have to live with and appreciate also the huge effort that the tournaments are doing in order to deliver the events. I know how difficult it is right now to find sponsors and to have help from governments, private companies and stuff.”
Lopez has been ranked as high as 12th in the world and has won seven ATP titles. In Paris he will play top seed Rafael Nadal in the next round.
