Henrique Rocha's Roland Garros surge: 'He's breaking his own barriers'

It All Adds Up

Henrique Rocha's Roland Garros surge: 'He's breaking his own barriers'

Insight from Rocha's coach, Andre Lopes

Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour Henrique Rocha has climbed as high as No. 155 in the PIF ATP Rankings. By Andrew Eichenholz

Henrique Rocha arrived at Roland Garros having lost nine of 10 matches, in part due to an abdominal injury he suffered earlier in the season. His lone victory during the stretch came against the No. 647 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.

But momentum can add up quickly on the ATP Tour, and that is what has happened in Paris for the rising Portuguese star. Following one of the toughest moments of his young career, Rocha has thrust himself into his brightest spotlight yet. The 21-year-old will face Alexander Bublik on Saturday to reach the fourth round at the clay-court major.

After rallying from two sets down against Miami champion Jakub Mensik in the second round, Rocha focussed on the group of Portuguese players rather than himself. Rocha and Nuno Borges, who lost his match Friday, became the first men from their country to reach the third round at Roland Garros in tournament history and the first Portuguese duo to make the third round at the same Grand Slam tournament.

“We have a great team. We have a fitness coach, psychologist, nutritionists, of course coaches, physios. We have everything we need to be very good players,” Rocha said in a press conference, referencing himself, Borges and 21-year-old Portuguese Jaime Faria, who cracked the Top 100 this year. “The three of us were practising together. It's also very good to always improve with each other.”

Rocha is the son of two big tennis fans, Marta and Jorge. His brother Francisco played the sport, so Henrique would go to watch and help at his practice sessions. Inevitably, Rocha picked up the sport and trained in Maia until age 15, when he moved to Lisbon to train with the Portuguese Tennis Federation.

Former World No. 59 Rui Machado, the technical director for the federation, called one of his old coaches, Andre Lopes, about working with Rocha. Lopes had not personally met Rocha until this year, when they began their partnership alongside Pedro Sousa.

“I always heard that he had a lot of potential with shots that are quite hard and plays fast, and he’s very strong physically. He has a very strong competitive mentality. This is what I heard in the past and obviously before starting working with him,” Lopes told ATPTour.com. “Once I started to work with him, that's exactly what I noticed, he has a great potential.

“His shots are really, really fast and he can play really hard, which I think is a big advantage for him, together with his competitive mentality.”

They have been working hard to make Rocha’s game more stable and organise his firepower in the best possible way to take advantage of those tools. Their efforts faced a setback in February when Rocha hurt his abdominal during the warmup for a match. After a break that lasted around a month, he struggled with a lack of matches, which led to difficulty finding rhythm and his ensuing skid.

Since the ATP Challenger Tour event in Estoril last month, Rocha has been competing well and moving in the right direction, according to Lopes. That effort has been rewarded on the Parisian clay, where the Portuguese won a two-hour, 59-minute three-setter in the final round of qualifying against Luca Van Assche and then back-to-back five-setters against Nikoloz Basilashvili and Mensik in the first two rounds of the main draw.

“Luckily it's paying off in a big tournament,” Lopes said. “It could have paid off maybe two weeks ago or two months later, but I think it's a good tournament to pay off. So hopefully we’ll keep going.”

The Mensik match was particularly challenging. The soaring Czech led by two sets and a break against an opponent who had never played a five-set match before the first round.

“I would say the challenge of being two sets down against a player like Mensik was a huge challenge,” Lopes said. “We believed from the beginning that if he would play at a good level, he would have his chances to win. But being two sets down and a break down in the third makes it very, very tough to come back.”

It was another sign of progress for Rocha, who is up to No. 148 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. He now owns a 6-3 tour-level record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

“He's breaking his own barriers, setting challenges day by day. Somehow, everything is happening quite fast,” Lopes said. “But I think at the same time, it's very conscious of what he's doing, still focusing on the small details, trying to improve little things, even in the warmup, before the match, we chat a lot after the match.

“So I see him very, very focused, very calm, and handling in a very good way, the emotions connected to an experience like this.”

Lopes explained that it is important for Rocha to remain work grounded in this moment and remain focused on the process of working hard each day.

“He needs to work hard every week, every month of the season, and sometimes it will pay off, sometimes it won’t,” Lopes said. “But at the end, the mentality of getting better and improving as a player needs to be there, basically, until he ends his career.”

Click here to read article