The Spaniard arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday for his return to the circuit after suffering injuries to his abdomen at the end of 2022 and to his right leg prior to the Australian Open. Thus, the current No. 2 in the world (Novak Djokovic snatched the top in Melbourne) chose the centennial Buenos Aires tournament to officially return to competitions. On Friday he set foot on Argentine soil in the morning and during the afternoon he trained at the mythical BALTC.
“This is my first tournament in almost four months, obviously I want to win it but it won’t be easy after not competing for so long, against very good opponents who come with a rhythm of matches. It will be a good experience to play in Buenos Aires, he told me something my trainer”“Charly” pointed out on Saturday before causing the madness of hundreds of tennis fans.
Two elite players with colorful, almost anachronistic tennis, unusual in these latitudes, will also be part of the game. The British Cameron Norrie (11) and Italian Lorenzo Musetti (18 and owner of an exquisite one-handed backhand) complete the trio of stars.
The Argentine public will be able to enjoy the three best Albicelestes in the ranking: Francisco Cerundolowho arrives with physical discomfort in the right hamstring and with a retirement in the Córdoba Open, diego schwartzman and Sebastian Baez. In turn, they were invited to the main draw Guido Pella and Facundo Diaz Acosta (The last wild card was for the Austrian Dominic Thiem, champion in 2016 and 2018).
Precisely, the oldest of the Cerúndolo is a candidate for the title, despite his physical discomfort. For the porteño “winning Rio would be very good for me because of the points, but winning in Argentina is not comparable.” For that, he must avoid Alcaraz’s pitfall: “After not playing for so long, it’s never good. The first games are always difficult. It is a good time to grab him and beat him, without a doubt, ”he analyzed in dialogue with Ámbito.
A priori, it was not in the plans for Alcaraz to play in the ATP in Buenos Aires. The first contact, during the past year, between the organization of the contest and the manager Albert Molina it turned out sterile. However, everything changed after the injury to the Spanish right leg.
“The manager told us that it was not on the calendar, so there was nothing to do. But at the end of the year I had taken a few days in Uruguay and one day I was going to have lunch with my family and the phone rings. It was Molina. It was a surprise”Martín Jaite, director of the Argentina Open, told Ámbito about the behind the scenes of the arrival of the champion of the last US Open.
Once the participation of the Murcian born in 2003 was confirmed, the former captain of the Argentine Davis Cup team had to “do numbers”, both with the tournament owners and with the Alcaraz working group. “We agreed to go forward. Everything happened very quickly but it went well”, says the director of the contest from a distance.
The participation of “Carlitos”, as he himself asks to be told, goes beyond the revaluation of a main draw that already had its own weight. It is that in Tennium, the company that owns the Buenos Aires event, they are betting on a key fact that was advanced by this means in 2022: going from the ATP 250 to 500 category.
The only tournament that delivers that many points in the region is Rio de Janeiro, a place that has the economic strength but without the legendary tradition of Buenos Aires, which has been played since 1893 and through which figures such as Guillermo Vilas passed. , Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ivan Lendl and Rafael Nadal, among many others.
As stated Martin Hughes, one of Tennium’s partners, the decision is already made in the company based in Barcelona. Only the final pronunciation of the ATP remains, which would welcome an upgrade in the region and revitalize it at least in terms of categories. There will remain a larger discussion in the future that includes tennis roots: resist as brick dust tournaments or mutate to hard courts and attract figures of a higher caliber, something that today seems complicated due to the distances and the surface.
To carry out an ATP 500, the organizers of the Argentina Open must not only spend more money for prize money and guarantees, but also in infrastructure. One of the biggest changes that it will need will be that of the second stadium, which can currently hold 600 people, a capacity below the circuit standards for this type of tournament.. On the other hand, the legendary Court Central Guillermo Vilas, for almost 5,000 attendees, would not have major modifications.
However, the crux of the matter is not in the stands, but in the surroundings, since the offer of activities in the BALTC must be higher than usual and from the organization they assure that the current scheme is within the physical limits that the property allows. One possibility that is being studied is to request authorization from the City Government to occupy a part of the Bosques de Palermo, although this will be determined once the upgrade is confirmed.
The Argentina Open went from ecstasy due to the presence of Juan Martín Del Potro to receiving the great star of the world circuit, Carlos Alcaraz, the youngest No. 1 in history and with multiple precocity records. The tournament, meanwhile, is reaffirmed as one of the most traditional on the tour.
“Buenos Aires has history, it makes up for the infrastructure problems that we have in Argentina in general, due to this issue of good human resources, good treatment. The history of tennis in the country also helps a lot, there is usually a stable amount of public that gives you stability to hold the tournament”Jaite closed.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
