Video: Matosevic Ends Run of Grand Slam Ineptitude and Rolls in the Dirt to Celebrate

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Video: Matosevic Ends Run of Grand Slam Ineptitude and Rolls in the Dirt to Celebrate

13 is supposed to be an unlucky number, but in Marinko Matosevic’s case, it’s the luckiest number of all. The 28-year-old Aussie notched his first career Grand Slam victory in his 13th Grand Slam, rallying from 5-1 down in the fourth set to defeat Dustin Brown, 7-6(5) 6-4 6-7(1) 7-5.

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Afterwards, the Australian conducted a wild celebration in which he threw himself onto his back on the court and rolled over in the clay six times before sitting up and screaming with his hands outstretched.

“I was pretty spontaneous, really,” Matosevic said of his long awaited victory dance. “Yeah, maybe a little bit over the top, but just, yeah, huge relief.”

Did it ever get to be too much? reporters wanted to know after the match. Did he ever want to give up trying?

“No, I never thought that,” he said. “Maybe a lesser man would've. I'm just kidding. No, yeah, it was like--it got pretty demoralizing at some stages. I had some tough draws. When I did have my chances, I just couldn't quite do it. Just really happy to do it today."

The former world No. 39 and current world No. 66 later admitted the streak was eating him up a bit each time a Grand Slam rolled around.

“Yeah, obviously it played on my mind,” he said. “Not during the tour events, but when I came to slam I definitely thought about them. You know, you guys write about it, other players know about it, so, yeah, it was tough.

“I got to 39 in the world, so I'm like, I got to do it. I'm better than this. With the early losses, I mean, before, you know, like once it got to five, six, then two years, eight, then twelve, three years, yeah, it's tough. I always knew I was a better player than my Grand Slam results.”

If Matosevic is to stretch his career-best Grand Slam winning streak to two matches, he’ll have to pull a major upset in the second round. Andy Murray is his next opponent.

“Yeah, I played Andy before,” he said. “Learnt a lot of lessons in Queen's. He won and went on to win Wimbledon. I think that was the third round. Yeah, one of the best players in the world. I'm just looking forward to it.”

But for now, the Aussie will take a breather and bask in the glory of the end of a streak was, quite frankly, getting on his nerves. Not anymore.

“I'm happy I could get the win today,” he said. “It's tough when you're on 13. I tried not to think about it and I kind of let it go after the Australian Open. Just tried to forget about it. It paid off a couple months later.”

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