PETE ZIEBRON
A few weeks short of his 40th Birthday, Tommy Robredo will retire from professional tennis in Barcelona this week.
Three events in his career stood out to me as I look back at the Spaniard's career.
Robredo plays Cincinnati 2006 - Photo credit: Karl Corbett
Masters Series Hamburg 2006
Robredo took full advantage of the fact that both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer withdrew from the Masters Series event in Hamburg in 2006. Nadal defeated Federer in the Rome Final in five hours and five minutes in five sets the day before Hamburg was to begin. In 2006, first round BYES did not exist for the top eight seeds and concurrently, some events staged a best of five final.
As a result, Robredo, ranked 12th at the time defeated world number sixteen Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-3 6-3 to win his lone Masters Series title. Prior to the final, Robredo dropped just one set, the opening set in the second round to Florent Serra of France. He also defeated Mario Ancic in the semis and David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.
Roland Garros 2013
At the French Open in 2013, Tommy Robredo won three consecutive matches after trailing two sets to love! Following a straight set win in the opening round over Jurgen Zopp of Estonia, Robredo dropped the first two sets in his second match against Igor Sljsling of the Netherlands before storming back and losing just five games to claim a 6-7 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-1 victory.
In the third round, Gael Monfils of France pocketed the first two sets when Robredo steadied his game to win 2-6 6-7 6-2 7-6 6-2 to advance to the round of sixteen. Here, countryman Nicolas Almagro would again take a two sets to love lead before Tommy Robredo would ultimately prevail 6-7 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.
Reaching the quarterfinals, Robredo had little left as world number five David Ferrer rolled to the semis with a 6-2 6-1 6-1 victory.
Cincinnati 2013
Later in 2013, I would witness a match that featured extended rally after extended rally on Court 9 , the sunken court in Cincinnati.
As I headed to the Robredo- Stan Wawrinka second round match, an announcement was broadcast in the press box that Marion Bartoli's press conference would be starting soon. Odd, I thought, Bartoli lost her match earlier today. Yes, she won Wimbledon a few weeks prior.
The evening match between Robredo and Wawrinka went back and forth and the Swiss saved seven of ten break points against. The final scoreline was 7-5 3-6 6-3 in favor of Robredo.
The match was especially memorable for me due to the high caliber of play as well as the magnificent setting of Court 9 (the old Court 3) in Cincinnati. Those that have been fortunate to watch matches on this court know how truly special it is from a tennis perspective. Ironically, Marion Bartoli's press conference was to announce that she was retiring form professional tennis immediately.
Tommy Robredo is a Wild Card at the ATP Barcelona 500 this week. His opponent is a yet to be determined Qualifier.
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