“Things happen for a reason”, releases the 22-year-old from La Plata in dialogue with Ambit in an impasse of the Challenger of Buenos Aires, which takes place at the Racket Club. His story includes an arrest, deportation and a positive test for coronavirus.
Etcheverry played his last tournament at the Challenger in Banja Luka, Bosnia, in early September. After losing in the semifinals to the then champion Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, began his trip to Poland. But in Germany everything changed. A mistake imprisoned him for a day.
The 138th ATP rank had exceeded his time limit in Europe, set at 90 days – with a trip to the US Open in between – and the Cologne airport authorities pulled him out of line and handcuffed. He was detained for 24 hours. Then an odyssey began to return to Argentina, with stops and delays. It took him three days to return to the country once he was authorized to return.
The chaos did not end there. The horror movie had one last act before the final denouement. Upon entering Argentina, three days after leaving the Old Continent, his PCR tested positive. Despite the problems, the ward of Carlos Berlocq time for a thought in your favor: “Luckily they did the test, because otherwise I would go to my house and I would infect everyone. Surely I hit it when I left there; for all the trouble in the airports there were a lot of people. In Istanbul the amount of people waiting was hellish “.
The Buenos Aires Challenger quarter-finalist – this Friday he fell in three sets to Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, the tournament’s top favorite – recalls that he never felt bad and only had mucus. “At the time I thought I had nothing. Sportingly, it didn’t affect me either, all the studies were good ”, clarifies the 1.96-meter tennis player with a calm and sapient character.
“I wanted it to end, to be with my family, my friends. It was a journey that never ended, something that I did not expect “, synthesizes Etcheverry, champion this year of the Challengers of Trieste and Perugia. Today he chooses to highlight the reunion with his loved ones and the renewed energy due to the bad drink. “I lost six weeks, but it will remain as an anecdote”, he reflects.
One of the keys in his fateful journey was the particular moment of Argentina. “It made it difficult for us that there were no flights to return. The country made things very difficult for us, so we had to find a way to continue competing otherwise we would fall behind. There were a lot of people, outside of the tennis world, who had the same thing and there were no exceptions. These are things that you never think will happen to you “, remarks.
In the midst of his odyssey, he began a dialogue with Argentine diplomatic authorities to unblock his situation and “see how to continue, what consequences it has and explain my situation.” “I didn’t do it on purpose, I wanted to compete in an ATP tournament and at no point was my intention to stay in Europe longer than I should”, aim.
Between practices and competitions on the South American challengers tour, Etcheverry doesn’t sit still. While the world still arranges its pieces after the brutal Covid-19 pandemic, he is evaluating how to get around the complications and stay on the road.
“We are investigating special permits and visas, but they only work for one country, not for the whole of Europe, and it takes between six and seven months. And the ATP calendars come out a month before, everything is very complicated and nothing can be scheduled ”, he points out. Tennis, like all sport and the planet in general, sustains itself as best it can.
“Luckily we were able to compete again. We must value that we can do what we like, we work at times when people had a very bad time “, points out Etcheverry, a gymnastics fan and who this year won his first ATP match in Córdoba.
“Tennis has a difficult aspect that is travel and there are restrictions. I estimate that in 2022 it will normalize much more, there will not be so many complications to travel. I hope that we no longer have to program week by week, whether or not you can enter a country or what papers are needed “, close. His family awaits him in the corridors of the Racket. He is no longer far away, he is no longer alone.
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
