Tallon Greekpoor was full of self-reproach after his painful defeat at the Masters tournament in Shanghai. The figurehead of Dutch tennis suffered a setback in the fourth round on Tuesday and he couldn’t stomach it.
In an hours-long three-setter, Fransepoor was no match for qualifier Valentin Vacherot, the number 204 in the world. Two days earlier, the North Hollander had beaten world-class Jannik Sinner, although the Italian retired with the score at 1-1 in sets.
“I played a good match against the number two in the world two days ago. Today I lose to the number 204 in the world. That’s tennis summed up in two days,” said a visibly frustrated Greekpoor after his defeat to Ziggo Sport .
“It just goes to show that I’ve chosen a worthless sport,” continued the world number 31 in a serious tone. During the match, he cursed himself several times and deliberately dropped his racket. “I’ll probably want to play tennis again tomorrow, but for now I’m done with it.”
Greekpoor mainly blamed himself for not deciding the match in the second set. He got six break chances in that set, but squandered them all. “I can’t let that happen and that’s what happened. It should never have gone to a third set. I wonder how I lost this match at all.”
In Shanghai, it seemed that Indischerpoort had put an end to his poor form, but nothing could be further from the truth. “I would have preferred to lose in the first round than this match. I absolutely shouldn’t have lost this match. I don’t know how long this defeat will linger, but it hurts. This is very poor.”