Meet the Slovak number one! Alex Molčan opened the Madrid Open today

If you’re not a big tennis fan, you might not even know his name. Which is definitely a shame. Twenty-five-year-old Alex Molčan, a native of Prešov, has been hovering around the 50th ATP ranking for the last year and his goals are even higher. Today he entered the tournament in Madrid.

Molčan broke into the elite 100 on 22 November 2021 and hasn’t dropped out since. On the contrary, last summer he also slipped into the top 40 tennis players in the world. Last year he impressed by advancing to the third round of Wimbledon, but he is at his best on clay.

Last year’s finals in Marrakech and Lyon are proof of that. At the French Open, to his misfortune, he took out Novak Djokovic in the second round and went out in three sets.

You would be hard pressed to find a better tennis player in our eastern neighbours. He has been slow to get going this year, but he has already put in a solid performance at the ATP 1000 tournaments in the USA in March.

He didn’t rush the start of the clay season, taking his time to prepare for the slowest surface and jumped into it in style.

Banja Luka

The left-handed Slovak apparently found favour in three-set battles in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and gradually got past Japan’s Daniel (3::6,7::5,6::1), Australia’s Popyrin (7::6,4::6,7::5) and Serbia’s Djere (6::2,4::6,7::5).

All three of Slovak’s opponents are connected by their position in the lower part of the world top 100. Molčan was able to rely on his performance at crucial moments, winning the match from 3::6,0::3 in the first round and against the Serbian again turning around from 4::5 (on his opponent’s serve) in the third set.

The Australian even ran away from three matchballs on his serve. He finished in the semifinals, where he ran into world No. 6 Russian Rublyov.

Madrid

Next up on clay is the prestigious Madrid Open. Molčan began his tournament journey here today against his neighbour in the ATP rankings, China’s Yibing Wu. And he easily won 6: 2, 6: 4.

The Slovakian’s game after the first serve was a highlight, he won 80% of his points. He fended off all five of his opponent’s break points and can look forward to a second round match against Japan’s Nishioka. He has already beaten him this year, and his road to big results can certainly continue here.

Source: ATP