Exultantly, the “Witcher” shouts, racquets a ball to the stands, and waves his arms. After 7-6 (5) and 6-4 over the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, he achieved the second victory of his career at the ATP in Buenos Aires. The victory represents a special prize: he will be the Spaniard’s rival Carlos Alcaraztop favorite, in his debut on Thursday.
Ugo Carabelli is a special, authentic character who has no filters. “It is a reward for how I have been working, how my team is leading me. I’m in a good moment, I won a Challenger last week –Piracicaba, in Brazil-“analyzes the 24-year-old Buenos Aires man, currently 134th in the world and who reached 96th last August.
“Thursday is going to be crazy. Last year I couldn’t face him, but I played before him and the weather was incredible. I try to take it easy and not start crying, ha”throws between humorous and sincere.
The City is not just another place for the fan of San Lorenzo. She lives five blocks from the mythical BALTC, and more than once, during the editions of the Challenger that is held at the Racket – located a few meters from the centenary club – she escaped home to eat mom María Marta’s milanesas.
Precisely, Ugo Carabelli said that his mother shelters several of her son’s generation colleagues who need a hand in the middle of the difficult career. “He’s been doing it for 10 years. He has always been dedicated to tourism and loves it. But since they are tennis players too, I hardly see them. When we can we all have dinner together and share the time”account.
According to the organization of the Argentina Open, Ugo Carabelli is the first ball boy to play in the main draw of the tournament. The tennis player’s hilarious memories do not seem to be the best for the authorities. “Martín Jaite kicked me out of the players’ room all the time because I stayed playing the Play Station”he says smilingly, with a smile that further accentuates his resemblance to David Nalbandian.
And the confession of the pranks does not end there: “I was doing quilombo all day, I lived here in the club. When there were ball boys cuts, I was always the first. We stole ice creams and exchanged them for balls. “We laughed all day.” The laughter of the attendees filled the atmosphere.
The last definition is about his beloved San Lorenzothe fault of his father Gustavo who “is sick in the head” from the “Cyclone” and passed it on to him. “When I can I go to the field. I used to go to the popular, but due to hip problems I started going to the stalls. Today the first thing I did was look at how I was going, and we were losing. I am a fan, I have the shield tattooed”he concludes.
The “Witcher” is happy, especially for an important victory that fuels him and that will allow him to have a demanding test against the Young Wonder. In football he didn’t do so well: San Lorenzo drew 1-1 at home with Estudiantes.
The shadow
There are no answers. There are no joys. The free fall is endless. Diego Schwartzman cannot stop the negative spiral in which it has been immersed for almost a year and a half. This cursed Tuesday could not change his luck and lost 2-6, 6-1 and 6-4 against the Colombian Daniel Galán.
So far this year, “Peque” has played four tournaments. In Oceania he was unable to advance in two Qualies; in Córdoba and Buenos Aires he lost in the first round. Last season he concluded with a striking record: 13-25 (with several tournaments eliminated in his debut).
“If some victories don’t appear so I can enjoy the court, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stretch it. “I have it very clear”, he points out. The phrase, with the aroma of retirement, leaves the atmosphere silent.
Schwartzman did not dodge any questions. His characteristic frontality was noticed the moment he entered the Argentina Open press room. The worrying look; the hands, always supporting the head; the tone of voice, broken. “I appreciate how people treated me. But the feeling is sadness and anger, this is a place where I did it well so many times”elaborates laconically.
“I swear I don’t know what the cause is… We’ll see if I can find solutions in the next few months, if not, we’ll see…”. Uncertainties about an imminent end hover over the BALTC, despite the last victories in 2023 that generated a different hope for the new year. But the results falter again.
Next week he will play in the ATP 250 in Los Cabos, in Mexico, and on cement, although “It is difficult to wake up tomorrow, feel like training, changing surfaces, traveling”. “Supporting myself mentally day by day with the results I have is complicated. On the court you forget a little, but there is very little gasoline left in the tank,” she closes with concern. The coming weeks predict a dark path for Schwartzman, who knows and knew how to put up one more battle.
The good bye
Federico Delbonis enters smiling. He is no longer a tennis player. The ATP circuit; the glorious night of Zagreb in 2016 in which Argentina, finally, was able to lift the Salad Bowl of the Davis cup; that day in Hamburg in 2013 when he defeated Roger Federerhave already remained in the pages of a book that was finished writing.
Champion in San Pablo 2014 and Marrakech 2016, both on clay, the 33-year-old from Azul, who reached 33rd place in the ranking, closed his professional stage because “he had unbearable pain” in his hip, a problem he has had for years. “It’s what I wanted”, he says happily; the physical effort to train was already too high.
The future is still unclear and the present has his family as the protagonist: “What I am clear about is that I want to have time for myself; participate more as a father and as a husband. I have eternal gratitude to my family and my wife. I’m very well”, says Delbonis, the last Davis Cup hero who was still active and who has already said goodbye. That unforgettable quartet that broke adverse history is already enjoying the warrior’s rest.
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.
