Tomás Barrios (133rd in the ATP) was paired with the Argentine Sebastián Báez (44th) in the draw for the main draw at Wimbledon, so both will host a duel between South Americans for the first round of the English Grand Slam.
The match will be held this Monday, July 3, on the pitch and with times yet to be confirmed.
In the case of defeating the trans-Andean, the national will play the second round against the invited David Goffin (123rd), from Belgium, or the Australian Nick Kyrgios (33rd), 30th seed, while if he maintains a triumphant rhythm he can cross with the Russian Andrey Rublev, seventh favorite.
Barrios entered the main draw after a great performance in the qualifying round, leaving behind three rivals: Evgueni Donskoi, Rinky Hijikata and Thiago Seyboth Wild.
The challenge in the debut is complex, since he will run into none other than his true “black beast” on the circuit: the Argentine Sebastián Báez. The trans-Andean, in fact, won the four previous duels in which they have met, including one this year in the quarterfinals of the ATP in Córdoba, according to the site En Cancha.
Of course, all the matches were on clay, so they could be worth little as a precedent considering that the Wimbledon grass conditions are very different. A surface in which, it is worth clarifying, Báez has barely won three games in his entire career.
The third national racket spoke with the specialized tennis site, Clay Tenis, about her preparation for the third Grand Slam of the year. The chillanejo commented that, unlike last year, he did not prepare to play on grass and he also managed to move to the field.
“On Saturday I lost the final of the Challenger in Poznan. I traveled by bus to Berlin at night. I arrived at 3.30 in the morning, it was already Sunday. My flight to London left a few hours later. I got to London at one and trained dead that afternoon. I had to play the next day, without rhythm on grass, without preparing the surface, ”he said in statements to the media, quoted by the Red Gol site.
“Because of my type of game, (the grass) helps me a lot. Last year I prepared it for three weeks, I lost in the first rounds. This year I did not prepare anything and I ended up passing the qualy ”, celebrated the number three of our tennis.
