The Player Who Almost Beat Federer
For the first time in the history of the tournament, Roland Garros was started on a Sunday. This change gives the TV and the fans more time to watch tennis and increases the exposure of the tournament. Many players immediately started complaining because they would have to wait up to 3 days between matches. Top players, including Roger Federer, complained that it takes the rhythm out of their game and that it is like starting a new tournament. Federer was supposed to play local Arnaud Clement but he withdrew out of the tournament at last minute. To cover the spot was the unheard of argentine player, Diego Hartfield. Diego is ranked 156th in the world and was supposed to be much easier for Roger than Clement with the fans on his side, would have been. Even though he beat the argentine in three sets he had to work hard in every single one of them, he finally overcame his opponent 7-5, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Hartfield might not have won this match but he gave Fed-Ex a huge scare.
From the minute the Swiss stepped on court, everything started going badly for him. Playing with heavy wind and a sky that threatened rain every second Federer was quickly down 3-0 in the opening set. In the first 6 games, Federer had already committed 13 unforced errors. He then gained back some terrain but remained down 5-3 with Hartfield serving for the set. That is when Hartfield showed that he is not as strong mentally as his opponent. He lost his serve and then quickly lost the set 7-5. Roger then had 3 set points in the second set which he failed to convert but he showed that he is world number one in the second set tiebreaker were he just blew past Hartfield with strong aggressive play and limited the argentine to only 2 points. The third set proved to be much easier for Federer because he stepped up his game and the argentine just could not keep up. Event though the 24 year old Swiss came out victorious he committed 49 unforced errors and only converted 6 out of 21 break point opportunities. It was very obvious throughout the match that Hartfield was there to have fun. During a third set point he ran back to get a Federer lob, missed it, then quickly recovered to do the “Gran Vilas” or the Great Vilas in English (the Great Vilas is when you hit the ball through your legs). He just started laughing when he saw that Federer easily won that point by volleying his return to a side. Hartfield could not stop grinning every time there was a good play or a funny moment. The argentine who had never played an ATP tour tournament before gave Federer a huge scare while he was enjoying the match of his life.
Diego Hartfield was born in Argentina the 31/1/1981, the same year as Federer, and is currently 25 years old. Until Roland Garros 2006 he had never played an ATP tournament and had only played futures and some challengers, he had never played anyone ranked higher than 95th and he had never been ranked higher than 156th in the world. Heidfeld’s coach admitted after the match that a couple of months ago Diego was on the verge of stopping his tennis career because he was out of money and the results were not arriving. Recently he has been doing quite well and playing some good Challenger tournaments until he arrived at Roland Garros which saved his career. It is not surprising that he was near bankruptcy since he has only won $110,335 in his entire career. This is just enough to fly in the cheapest airline or travel by train if it is close by, travel by bus in the cities and to sleep in an inexpensive 2 star hotel. That money is nothing compared to Federer’s $22,829,383. The argentine is so unknown that atptennis.com does not even have information on his town of birth, residence, when he turned professional, his height and his weight. Right now compared to Federer this player is nothing, but that might change in the future.
This incredible match against the world #1 probably gave Hartfield a huge amount of confidence. This will probably help him to quickly get into the top 100 and to be able to play more ATP tournaments. Since he is now known to fans all over the world he might also get some wild cards which would definitely help him improve his ranking. One match has put him into the minds of millions of tennis players around the world, if he keeps it up people will continue remembering him. On the other hand it was not the greatest start to the tournament which Federer set as his objective for the year. He had to, against his will, play on Sunday in very difficult conditions and he almost got humiliated by a player that he did not even know about. It was a hard start of the second Grand Slam of the year for Federer but he knows he has to pick up his game to be successful at this year’s French Open. The way Federer is, he will probably start focusing and forget about the match and go straight on to be the Roger Federer we are used to seeing. Diego Hartfield will stay at Roland Garros to watch some tennis and savor his moment of glory. It was the wrong first step for the Swiss but a huge leap for Hartfield’s future.
