PARIS -- The Marco Trungelliti road show is homeward bound, but not quite in so much of a rush this time.
Trungelliti, whose breakneck 600-mile-plus drive from his home in Barcelona to Paris to fill an empty slot in the singles draw attracted global attention and amusement, lost in the second round of Roland Garros on Wednesday to Italy's Marco Cecchinato, 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-1.
The 28-year-old Argentine was philosophical afterwards. "I wasn't good," he told a small room packed with reporters. "He played much better than me. I was a bit tired physically and mentally."
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Trungelliti had three set points on Cecchinato's serve in the second set but couldn't hang on, taking the wind out of him for the third set: "In five minutes, I was down 4-0," Trungelliti said.
"I am happy, but at the same time, I'm in the same situation as the last two years," said Trungelliti, who also won first-round matches here in 2016, upsetting Marin Cilic, and 2017. For me, Paris has something special. I would prefer to win today. I have to play better next time."
Trungelliti said he's not sure whether he'll enter another tournament next week. He and his family, including his soon-to-be-89-year-old grandmother, will drive back to Barcelona together "and hopefully will be there for more than three days," he added. He was home for a scant 48 hours after losing in the qualifying tournament before deciding to dash back to Paris, ditching plans to go to the beach.
Trungelliti understood the novelty of his story and embraced it. "It was different," he said. "It's the first time I lost and have 20 [reporters] here. Usually once you lose, you have nobody here. I enjoyed it. I never did an hour and a half of press conference like Roger [Federer] and those guys are doing every day."