(Tennis news) Spain has been producing resilient warriors on the ATP tour since the past two decades. The players have been standing strong on clay, grass and hardcourts with their longevity. The Spaniards have been known for playing it rough and from the baseline such as David Ferrer, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero and the latest sensation Carlos Alcaraz.

The most common trait in all these players is that they have been lifting trophies playing from the baseline and their sheer power is one of the abilities. These players slid through the clay courts with dirt on their sleeves. One of the players who slides but at the net has been Feliciano Lopez, he is one of the last remaining players on tour to still practice the serve and volley.

In a time where everyone is a baseliner, Lopez has continued to use the serve and volley. The 40 year old has the record for most Masters 1000 event appearances, he played his 139th event in Indian Wells last year. Now at the 2022 Australian Open, he played his 79th consecutive Grand Slam event which dates back to the 2002 Roland Garros.

Lopez has played 178 Grand Slam singles matches and has won 98 of them. He lost in the first round of the ongoing Australian Open and his last victory at a major came here a year ago. The left hander also passed 500 wins last year on tour and became the 55th player in the history to achieve this feat. Unlike his country mates who have been struggling at grass, he has won 4 titles and two runner up trophies in singles on grass.

Lopez has also found success in doubles where he won the Roland Garros title in 2016 with Marc Lopez and also reached the finals of the US Open with him the next year. In 2019, Lopez went on to win the singles and doubles title at Queen’s club as it showed how much the sport meant to him.

In the Davis Cup held last year, the veteran was up against Andrey Rublev in the match against Russia. Lopez did not back down to the Russian’s blasting groundstrokes and won him over with a classic display of serve and volley. The world number 5 could not get through Lopez’s volley as the senior kept stretching on court to take the points and win the match.

Lopez has been playing on tour since 1997 which is the year before Roger Federer turned professional. A handful of players are left on tour who were born in the 80’s and still in the top 100 as the tour calendar contains a lot of traveling and grueling matches but players like these make the game special as they have seen how the style has changed over the years, Lopez has managed to keep his style and has kept the art alive.

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