Player of the week : Teimuraz Gabashvili

Despite being the lowest-ranked player in the round of 16, Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili’s hard work is finally paying off.

“I haven’t won anything yet, so don’t ask me to do interesting poses,” says Gabashvili, who certainly doesn’t mince his words – on or off court. When he’s not happy, he says so, and usually doesn’t waste any time in the process. So, no, he will not lie down on the bench in the main interview room for our photo shoot in the French Open press centre. On court, the Russian’s temper has at times prevented him from capitalising on a powerful stroke.

However, he just defeated Andy Roddick, and will soon play the first fourth-round Grand Slam match of his career. All that after making it through the qualifiers! But the Russian isn’t one to gloat. And if he wants to make the top 20, he still has a lot of work to do. The road to success, “that everyone has been talking about since I was young,” is a steep one.

His next opponent is Jurgen Melzer, the 22nd seeded.

Teimuraz, you made a beautiful surprise yesterday, defeating Andy, so I want to congratulate you, first of all, and to wish you the best luck, I hope to see you in the quarters! :-)