NOUMEA, January 3, 2016

German talent Maximilian Marterer accepted probably one of the longest journeys on the ATP Challenger Tour, participating in the qualifying of the $75,000 Challenger BNP Paribas Noméa, the capital city of the French speaking collectivity of New Caledonia, located in the soutwest Pacific Ocean. Flights from Germany take at least 30 hours including two stops.

The 20-year-old from Nuremberg is coached by Germany’s Davis Cup Captain Michael Kohlmann, who sent some special New Year’s greetings from the balcony of his hotel. “Unfortunately, I do not have a tennis court in the background but it’s also very nice here,” he told in his video message and also explained that only eight players have signed in for the tournament’s qualifying.

As a consequence of that, Marterer only had to play one match in order to reach a spot in the main draw, facing the unranked Romain Bosquet, a Frenchman from the local club, who was granted a wild card. As expected, the world number 264 from Germany didn’t have any problems, winning 6-1, 6-1 in only 48 minutes.

The field is led by world number 47 Adrian Mannarino from France, who received a wild card and will take on Italian Federico Gaio in the first round. Second seed is Alejandro Falla from Colombia facing Mitchell Krueger from the United States. If the long trip pays-off for Marterer, will be answered during the week.