Montanes Returns To Scene Of The Climb In Furth
Montanes Returns To Scene Of The Climb In Furth
The Spaniard is looking to do one better than his runner-up showing at last year’s tournament
After making a run back into Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings this year, Albert Montanes is returning to the place where his most recent climb just began.
The Spaniard is competing this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger in Furth, Germany, where he finished last year as runner-up. Ranked No. 155 at the time, he went on to reach two more ATP Challenger Tour finals over the next month in Padova, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic. Continuing to produce impressive results since then, Montanes is now ranked No. 95.
“Coming back into the Top 100 is always a positive thing,” said Montanes. “Now I can get into the main draw of many ATP World Tour events and also the Grand Slams. I changed my racquets and use Babolat now, which helped a lot with my game.
Montanes opened this year’s campaign in Furth with a first-round win over German wildcard Daniel Masur and then moved into the quarter-finals by defeating another German in Julian Reister. He credited the atmosphere around the grounds at Furth with contributing to his solid form this week.
“I have a good feeling here. The club is nice, the food is good and everything is well organised,” he said. “We have a really good situation this week.”
At age 35, Montanes is now in his 17th year as a professional. Although many of his peers when he first began competing have long since retired, he said he has no plans to join them anytime soon.
“I love this sport. I’m still feeling good and I can compete with the top players and the young guns,” said Montanes. “Most importantly, I’m still having fun on the court and that motivates me to keep going. I want to try and stay in the Top 100 for the rest of my career.”