"Sorry, Rafa": Stefan Kozlov's wild bathing day ends with a convulsive victory over Dimitrov
For Stefan Kozlov (ATP No. 130), the tournament in Acapulco was actually over. Then crazy hours followed.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Feb 22, 2022, 12:11 pm
First the short version: Kozlov won his first round match against Grigor Dimitrov 7:6 (8), 5:7 and 6:3.
A surprise - and a sensation considering the crazy hours in the American's life. Because Kozlov was actually already sitting on his packed suitcases: After his qualifying defeat against Oscar Otte, the 500 event in Acapulco was actually over for the 24-year-old. The American still wanted to sweeten the trip to Mexico with a trip to the sea - and, according to local reports, almost went under: Kozlov apparently had to tread water for 20 minutes before the local Baywatch crew rushed to the rescue.
Kozlov, very professional, then took the opportunity to train again - Rafael Nadal had called. When a string broke at 3: 3 in the training game, Kozlov looked at his cell phone and saw 20 messages pop up: He had slipped into the field as a lucky loser, could he please play it?
It was "somehow intuition" that he even ran to the cell phone, Kozlov later said. "Rafa had a huge grin on his face, he was happy for me. He knew I was the first lucky loser on the list."
Sorry, Rafa, for the canceled training session
So Kozlov played against Grigor Dimitrov, won a tight tiebreak at the start, made the break to make it 5:3 in the second round and fell over - cramps! Dimitrov, kindness personified, rushed over but still grabbed the second set; In the third round, however, he continued to be a do-gooder by not tormenting Kozlov, who was in spasms all over his body.
Kozlov won well after midnight after 3 hours and 21 minutes, breaking the Acapulco record set just hours earlier by John Isner and Fernando Verdasco with their 3 hour 13 thriller (Isner won 7-5, 6-7, 7 :6). And apologized again to Nadal: Rafa sorry for stopping practice today," he wrote to TV viewers and went to rest.
He'll probably need it. His possible second round opponent, should he overcome his opening hurdle: Rafael Nadal.