Daniel Galán will play what may be the most important game of his career. Never has a Colombian male tennis player reached the quarterfinals of a tournament grand slam.
The bumangués will have the option of doing it this Sunday, at Wimbledon, when he faces one of the great favorites of the tournament, the Italian Jannik Sinner, eighth in the ATP world rankings. The game will be played at approximately 8:15 am and will be seen on ESPN and Star+.
Galán, 27 years old and number 85 in the orbital ranking before the start of the tournament, is excited. He is going to play on one of the main Wimbledon courts and a victory, in addition to the historic milestone for Colombian tennis, would allow him to take a big leap in his career.
“The chance to play here on a big court… I’m very happy to do it. I am also looking forward to it, because we prepare for these matches during our careers, we work for these moments”, the Colombian told ATPTour.com.
The background between Daniel Galán and Jannik Sinner
It will be the second time that Galán and Sinner meet. The first was in the 2021 Davis Cup finals, with the Italian winning 7-5, 6-0. However, the Colombian seems comfortable playing on the grass.
His best performance in a grand slam tournament was even at Wimbledon last year: he fell in the third round against the American Brandon Nakashima, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
“I’m starting to feel a little more confident in myself and I’ve also been serving much better, which has helped me a lot in difficult times,” said Galán.. “I think my game is good for this attacking surface, so I have to keep doing it. I like Wimbledon, I like the grass, so hopefully I can keep going.”he added.
Sinner is a great challenge for Galán, who has never defeated a top 10 player. “It is known that he is a very tough opponent, but in the end everyone is tough, no one is easy here. You have to fight until the end, leave everything on the field, play my game. Here it pays to be offensive ”, he insisted.
Galán will have to fight against two factors, apart from Sinner: the effort of the third round match (he entered this instance after defeating the Swede Mikael Ymer 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 3- 6 and 6-1), and some scare with his health before the game.
“I just didn’t have a good night. I had a stomach problem. Something didn’t sit well with me. I threw up four times last night (Thursday, before the game). He was playing a long point and he was already exhausted. I’m leaving happier for having entered the field and fought, despite not having been in ideal conditions, ”he declared.
The Santanderean still has not fully assimilated what happened and lives a dream that he wants to extend. “I didn’t realize what I just did. I haven’t realized what I’ve done. I am very happy and very proud of myself. I’m trying to recover from today’s game (Friday) and also focus on the next one. Maybe after the tournament I will realize what I have done, ”he declared to the official ATP website.
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