Pedro Martinez. As soon as yours truly hear this name, the brain transmits a message – Effective tennis player on clay court. So, as a tennis aficionado, when Martinez was drawn to play none other than the unstoppable force – Jannik Sinner – in the third round of the 2025 Wimbledon, a sense of curiosity aroused in the mind. ‘How will Martinez go about tackling a player who seems to be near-perfect at everything that he does on grass?’ The answer was he could only win five games over three sets.
The highlight of that match for Martinez was perhaps directing a backhand down the line followed by a lunging volley and then finishing the point with a forehand smash. But that was one of the few times where he could overpower his mighty opponent. In that match, Martinez was also clearly struggling with a shoulder problem. In a few months’ time, his ranking slipped from a career-high 36 to as low as 96.
In that backdrop, Martinez would have hoped to begin this year on the right note. And he ended up choosing the Challenger 125 tournament in Bengaluru in his pursuit to once more climb up the ladder of the rankings. Curiously, the writer has a vague memory of Martinez participating in this very tournament. Just flip through the pages of history and it turns out to be true – Martinez took part in the 2017 Bengaluru Open, losing to Yuki Bhambri in the second round. Since then, he has grown in stature and confidence. And that kind of self-belief could be noticed during the course of the just concluded ATP Challenger as he lost just a single set en route to the final.
In the summit clash, too, he didn’t lose a set while being up against Timofey Skatov. Skatov, who represents Kazakhstan, likes to imitate Roger Federer. After all, he is Skatov’s idol. That could be a reason why he sported a bandana, which resembled that of Federer. He did crack a few inside-out forehands, which may not have resembled the legendary tennis player’s forehand wing, but it at least kept his opponent honest. His backhand swing perhaps was more of a compact low take-back.
Skatov’s retrieving skills were good too as he hustled Martinez. He even had a set point in the first set. At that juncture, Skatov was also getting majority of the support from the fans. But that was as far as he could go. After a brief rain break, Martinez took the first-set tiebreak and cruised to 6-2 victory in the second.
Despite a straight-set win, Martinez had to work incredibly hard to emerge triumphant in the opening set. He had to go for the jugular with inside-in forehands. And then for him to take a step or two inside the baseline and smash forehand cross-courts. Probably Martinez had slightly better depth on his returns, more buffer on his serve, and on expected lines, imparted a little more spin on the tennis ball. However, before the rain break, it seemed as if Skatov could steal a set from Martinez’s grasp. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. After losing the opening set, Skatov wasn’t the same player as Martinez took control of the proceedings.
Soon, it was time for the presentation ceremony. As Martinez held the trophy aloft, the writer wondered about taking a short interview of the champion and asking him queries related to how a very effective clay-courter adjusted to a hard court offering zippy bounce. Alas! Martinez had to catch a flight in a couple of hours, and it was already late.
The champion rightly slipped out of the backdoor, but he left behind a trail of memories consisting of some quality tennis. The kind of tennis on display that would make a tennis connoisseur contemplate whether Martinez has it in him to even break into the top 20 in the rankings this year. Provided he doesn’t suffer another injury setback.
