FORTYLOVE#4 - Who is Diego Dedura Palomero ?
by Filippo Luini - Lo Sportiverso
Diego Dedura Palomero is the first tennis player born in 2008 to play in an ATP-level match. But the young German didnāt stop there ā by defeating Denis Shapovalov (ranked 29th in the world), he also became the first 2008-born player to win an ATP match. The score was 7-6, 3-0, before the Canadian left-hander retired, handing the blonde-haired Berlin native his first victory. Diego celebrated with a reaction that later sparked some debate on social media following his debut triumph.
āI just canāt put it in words right now. Iām just so happy,ā said Dedura-Palomero during the post match interview. āI was struggling all these years and now I just got the wild card for qualifying. I won against Top 100 McDonald, then lost against Bublik. I had bad luck because there were three lucky losers who got in, and I was the fourth one. So I was waiting the whole day on Monday and then Monfils pulled out. He hugged me and this was so nice. I just went in and told myself to, 'Just have fun, go with the crowd and just play your best tennis'. I canāt put it in words. Iām just so happy right nowā. The excitement of a young boy who, regardless of the circumstances, has finally achieved an important result at the highest level of tennis ā the reward for all his hard work and sacrifice.
Fun fact: Diego speaks four languages ā German, English, Spanish, and Lithuanian. He grew up idolizing Rafa Nadal and, of course, loves playing on clay courts. Tomorrow, heāll face Zizou Bergs in front of the home crowd in Munich.