Semifinals in Mallorca
Climber Hanfmann sends tennis legend into retirement
6/29/2023, 6:32 p.m
Yannick Hanfmann is on the rise in the world rankings: the German tennis pro is in the semi-finals on Mallorca. The Spaniard Feliciano Lopez has no chance – and retires after the defeat against Hanfmann.
Tennis pro Yannick Hanfmann continued his victory march at the grass tournament in Mallorca and reached the semi-finals. The 31-year-old from Karlsruhe won 6-2, 6-4 against the Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez. Success over the 41-year-old left-hander was certain after 70 minutes. Previously, Hanfmann had surprisingly defeated the Greek defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the semifinals he meets the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino or his compatriot Corentin Moutet.
“That was a very focused, good performance from me. I didn’t let much go by. I’m here to win. I want to get as far as I can,” said Hanfmann. For Lopez, a great, long career ended with the defeat against the German: the Spaniard played 996 singles matches on the professional tour, he once worked his way up to twelfth place in the world rankings, he won his first titles in singles and doubles in 2004, Lopez won the Davis Cup four times.
But his consistency made him a legend: he appeared in the main draw at 79 (!) Grand Slam tournaments in a row, which no other player in the history of professional tennis managed to do. The great series ended after 20 years at the French Open 2022, where he failed to qualify.
In his opening win on Tuesday against the Australian Max Purcell, Lopez, who is only 634th in the world rankings, improved to fourth place among the most successful servers in tennis history: With his 10,238 ace, the veteran overtook service giant Goran in the last few meters of his career Ivanisevic.
Lopez originally wanted to end his career at the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon, but the organizers no longer wanted to give him a wild card. Lopez, who has twice won the top-flight grass event at London’s Queen’s Club, has racked up more victories on grass than any other Spaniard.
The fact that Lopez was able to win two matches in Mallorca and say goodbye in a sporting manner by entering the quarterfinals was quite a surprise: at ATP level he had only been able to win one match this year.
With the end of his career at the tournament in Mallorca, a big, big circle is now closing: Feliciano Lopez once celebrated his first victory on the ATP tour there – on September 29, 1997. He earned $ 860 at the time, now it’s over 18.6 Million dollars and 995 individual matches later.
Meanwhile, Yannick Hanfmann has moved into the top 50 in the world rankings for the first time and is currently in 48th place. He will continue to improve in the updated ranking that will be published on Monday. At the ATP lawn tournament in Mallorca, which is worth almost one million euros, he is preparing for Wimbledon. The third Grand Slam tournament of the season starts on Monday and lasts until July 16.