Ramos-Vinolas aims for fitting farewell

Today he’s the same: unassuming, unwavering and willing to do whatever it takes to grind out victories. On Monday, the 37-year-old kept his hopes of playing one last Roland-Garros main draw alive with an eye-catching 6-1, 6-1 victory over world No.26 Khumoyun Sultanov on Court 9, in first-round qualifying action. 

Day 1 Qualifying results

For Ramos-Vinolas, it was a rare breezy victory in a career full of epic slugfests.

“When I look back I feel like I don’t know how I did it,” Ramos-Vinolas said of his career in an interview with Rolandgarros.com after his win. “My game is not an easy game. I have to work a lot every match and I had a lot of long matches, a lot of travel, a lot of long practices to try to always improve.

“I had some moments that were better than others, but I tried to do my best to keep working and to keep improving, and I think it is the best thing that I will keep with me.” 

The former world No.17 converted five of seven break points and never faced a break point on serve as he cruised to a satisfying victory in 54 minutes on a gorgeous sunny day in Paris. 

“If I play like this I will have chances,” the hopeful Spaniard said. “If I play like I have in the last two years, it’s not going to work. Tennis every day is different. Today I played good, after a long, long time.”

A winner of 12 main draw matches in Paris, Ramos-Vinolas also reached the second week in 2017. But he remembers his run in 2016, which ended with a loss to former champion Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, with the most fondness. 

“For sure when I did the quarterfinals here, it was probably, along with the Monte-Carlo final [in 2017], probably the best tournament of my career, playing quarterfinals in a Slam,” he said.

“I arrived here barely inside the Top-60 [he was No.55], and Roland-Garros for me and for all the Spanish players is maybe the best tournament, and the one we want to play better at – I was lucky enough to make the quarterfinals in 2016.”

Luck might not be the right word: the Spaniard created his good fortunes. 

Prepared, committed, Ramos-Vinolas has always been a soldier on court, and he was a big part of a generation of Spanish players that most consider the best the nation has ever had. 

“We had a lot of good generations before, and my generation, and now we have Alcaraz,” he said. “We don’t know why, because our federation is not really big like the French or Italy, or all the other Grand Slam federations. 

“I don’t know what we have, but we have some good players, and it’s really nice.” 

Wins over legends like Roger Federer and then-world No.1 Andy Murray helped bolster the Spaniard’s confidence and kickstarted the jump that eventually led him to the top 20. He beat Federer at the Shanghai Masters in 2015, and took a chunk out of Murray when the great Scot was at the peak of his powers, in Monte-Carlo in 2017. 

“I think the match against Roger pushed me up a little bit in 2015, after that I did two very good years,” he said. “When you beat a player like him you get a lot of confidence, and I think that was a really important moment in my career.” 

A decade on, Ramos Vinolas is at another important juncture. He would like to finish his career just like he started it. As a player who left everything on the court, and did everything in his power to impose himself on the competition. 

In his own words he was “just a normal person that fought a lot and worked as much as he could to do his best”. 

That’s what he was on Monday, as the consummate pro played inspiring tennis to keep his hopes alive in Paris. And that’s who he always has been – he has 13 consecutive years (from 2011 to 2015) inside the ATP’s top 100 to prove it.

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