Feliciano Lopez meets Roger Federer and Santoro in Grand Slam "Club 70"
The 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez had played the first professional matches before the most of the current NextGen stars were even born, entering the top-100 after Wimbledon 2002 and staying there ever since for a wonderful streak and a true testimony of his quality! Feliciano has claimed almost 500 ATP matches in a career, competing in 17 ATP finals and lifting six trophies, the biggest one at Queen's two years ago after an epic win over Marin Cilic in the final. Also, Lopez is only the second player in the Open era with at least 430 ATP tournaments played, joining Fabrice Santoro on that list and standing as the record-holder with 68 consecutive Grand Slam appearances since 2002!
That streak has continued in Paris, entering the main draw of his 70th Grand Slam event and joining Roger Federer and Fabrice Santoro as only the third player in the Open era to achieve that. Also, this might be his last direct appearance in the main draw at Slams, missing the direct entry at Wimbledon and having to pass the qualifying round on his beloved grass if the organizers don't give him a wild card for what could be his last Wimbledon before retirement. Lopez made Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros 19 years ago, staying away from the next three Majors and kicking off the record-breaking run at Roland Garros 2002, never skipping one of four biggest tennis tournaments for 17 years!
The Spaniard has won 93 Grand Slam matches, reaching the first quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2005 and repeating that three years later. Overcoming two sets to love deficit against Lukasz Kubot at Wimbledon 2011, Feliciano was the quarter-finalist for the third time and he also advanced into the last eight at the US Open in 2015, taking a set against Novak Djokovic. That was his final notable result at Majors and with or without success in Paris he has every reason to celebrate, achieving a huge milestone claimed by only two players before him, including his coeval Roger Federer who started to compete at Majors two years before Lopez. Also, Feliciano is the second player with 19 Roland Garros appearances after Fabrice Santoro, leaving Guillermo Vilas and Mikhail Youzhny on 18.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EAHFov
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