5 Things You Didn’t Know About Marco Cecchinato

Marco Cecchinato, the guy responsible for shattering the hopes of Novak Djokovic of a second Roland Garros trophy, has finally made it big in the tennis circuit .
The Italian, currently ranked World No. 72, caught everyone’s eye after he dismantled Djokovic 6-3 7-6 1-6 7-6 in the Quarter-final.
Though he lost out to Dominic Thiem in the Semi-Final, it can be safely regarded that he is one of the upcoming players to emerge this year.

1. Career Beginnings

The Italian began playing at the age of 7 with his uncle, a tennis coach.
His father, Sergio, is a manager; mother, Stefania, is a secretary.

He turned pro in 2010 and in May 2013 he qualified for the main draw at the ATP tournament in Nice.
In July 2014, Cecchinato qualified for Umag, but lost out to countryman Andreas Seppi in the first round.
Cecchinato made his Grand Slam debut at the 2015 US Open and subsequently at Australian Open (2016) and Wimbledon(2017).

Cecchinato considers Brazilian footballer Kaka and Marat Safin as his sporting heroes.
Known by the nickname ‘Ceck’, he considers clay as his favourite surface and considers serves the best part of his game. He plays single handed backhand and his favourite tournament is Rome.

2. Suspension and Comeback

On 20 July 2016, Cecchinato was suspended for 18 months (until January 2018) and fined €40,000 by the Italian tennis federation for illegal behavior including match fixing and match betting during a Moroccan Challenger event in 2015.
His ban was initially reduced to 12 months and later in 2016 it was overturned completely by the Italian Olympic Committee because of irregularities regarding how the evidence was gathered. He successfully appealed against that decision.

3. Record Against Top 10 Players

Cecchinato has a record of 6-10 against the players who have been ranked inside the top 10.

Marcos Baghdatis 1–0
Novak Djokovic 1–0
Gilles Simon 1–0
Pablo Carreño Busta 1–1
David Goffin 1–1
Dominic Thiem 1-2
Mardy Fish 0–1
Juan Mónaco 0–1
Kei Nishikori 0–1
Milos Raonic 0–3

4. ATP Title & Lucky Loser

Cecchinato reached his first ATP quarter final at Bucharest in 2016.
On 29 April 2018, he won his first ATP World Tour title at the 2018 Hungarian Open.

He reached the final as a lucky loser, having lost in the qualifying competition.
A lucky loser is one who loses a match in the qualifying round of a knockout tournament, but who then enters the main draw when another player withdraws after the tournament has started because of illness, injury or other reason.
He thus became the ninth player ever to win an ATP tournament as lucky loser.

5. Lone Man Standing From Sicily

Upon winning the 2018 Hungarian Open title, he became the first Sicilian tennis player to win an ATP title. He is the first Italian man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Corrado Barazzuti made the last four here in 1978.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy, in Southern Italy along with surrounding minor islands, officially referred to as Regione Siciliana.