Feliciano Lopez is a veteran whose career is close to being over, but the Spaniard has a sensational Grand Slam streak that might never be broken.
The Spanish player may not be the most accomplished tennis player ever—his fellow compatriot Rafael Nadal is trying to accomplish that feat—but Lopez is certainly one of the most consistent players on the ATP Tour.
Sometimes, consistency is just about staying healthy and showing up, and that's something he's been doing for the past two decades. The 2022 Australian Open was the 79th consecutive Grand Slam at which Lopez played in the main draw.
The streak started in 2002 at Roland Garros, the first Grand Slam of this streak. He got into the main draw as a lucky loser and made it to the second round before losing to the third-seeded Tommy Haas.
Since then, Lopez has not missed a single main draw grand slam appearance until this year. He was forced to play in the qualifiers for the 2022 Roland Garros, and he lost in the first round to Gian Marco Moroni 1-6, 6-7, which officially ended the streak.
It's been a tremendous run, one that saw him reach the Wimbledon quarterfinal three times, in 2005, 2008, and 2011, and one US Open quarterfinal in 2015.
Although he never got past the last eight stage, many assumed that Lopez would extend the streak past 79 matches, even though he hasn't been playing regularly recently.
Unfortunately, it ended as his ranking slipped, with his diminished level not being able to sustain him at the top of the rankings. That forced him to play the qualifying, and eventually, miss out on the first Grand Slam main draw appearance since 2002.
As a result, it's expected that the Spaniard will miss out on even more majors, and very likely won't add many more major appearances in his tennis career.