The day a Chilean was one set away from winning Ronald Garros

I have the dream of Roland Garros and I have been close to it several times… but I have a small problem called Rafael Nadal (Novak Djokovic).

March is over, Cristián Garín says goodbye to Miami after notable games in the United States and Nicolás Jarry prepares – with his family – the clay season in Barcelona . In April, we will see him in Marrakech, the kick-off of the clay-court season which ends at Roland Garros. The road is long and the main stops on the tennis map -between Marrakech and Paris- are Estoril, Monaco, Madrid, Barcelona and Rome.

In these glamorous settings we dream of seeing our national rackets play and succeed, the best training for the big meeting in Paris. Finally, in May, many television stations around the world will tune in to the clay courts of the Roland Garros Stadium Complex while the main rackets of the world will work physically and mentally to play the final on the Philippe-Chatrier center court.

The bad news for our national rackets, is that there is a high probability that sooner or later they will meet Rafael Nadal on this trip , a player who for decades is almost instantly associated with this Grand Slam. And it is that since 2005 it is almost ritual: raph he enters the tournament with his bag and leaves with the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

It happened on 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 . If the numbers don’t dispel all doubts, I’ll put it into words: Rafael Nadal is still a favorite at Roland Garros And although injuries are his main opponent today, we will have to see what happens in 2023.

Rafael Nadal. Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, the tennis world is waiting to see if Rafa plays Monte Carlo and his uncle Toni Nadal, despite the little competition his nephew has had this season, He postulates him as one of the sure cards to lift the Cup with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.

From Chile, it is difficult to gauge what it means for our national rackets to face the fourteen times winner of this Parisian tournament. It seems an impossible feat, but there was a Chilean who reached two Roland Garros finals on these same slopes and left a world number one on the road.

The journalist Juan Carlos Cappello, in his book In five series, heLuis Ayala is asked about his biggest wins and losses throughout his long career. The answers to these questions are different, but the setting is the same: Roland Garros.

Listen to Ayala:

“In the French championship Pietrangeli hit me He beat me well and won the Cup at Roland Garros”.

Cappello’s counter-question: And lose the 1958 final, at Roland Garros, against Mervin Rose?

“Of course it hurts and it hurts sixty years later. But I must admit that after winning the unforgettable semi-final against Ashley Cooper, the world number one, in this same tournament, I arrived tired for the match against Rose. Physically and mentally. I didn’t find my game. I was in a nebula that I had never known before.”

For Ayala the victory over Ashley Cooper at Roland Garros It is the most important victory of his career. The Chilean beat everyone’s favorite, world number one, then Nadal at Roland Garros.

And in the United States we saw how Alejandro Tabilo beat higher ranked players and how Cristián Garín beat four in the world, Casper Ruud, in Indian Wells and who was about to repeat the feat of beating a world top 3. This time he couldn’t against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Miami, but in previous years he topped two No. 3s; Daniel Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. Not to mention that in 2022 he reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

Garin playing the match against Ruud. (Jonathan Hui-USA TODAY Sports)

Yet the press, the public and Social networks do not forgive Garín’s falls and every time he loses, they forget these feats and question their mental toughness, an attribute all experts say is essential for success in the sport.

Luis Ayala, in Juan Carlos Cappello’s book, gives us some ideas:

Why did they underestimate my 1958 campaign in Chile? Lucho Ayala asked in a press interview at the end of that season. “It’s the best of all my years in international competition. I reached the finals and semi-finals in most tournaments, but it seems that in my home country the bad games I played that year weighed more heavily.”

And it is that As mortals who don’t play tennis at the highest competitive level, it’s hard for us to measure the stresses and pressures our national racquets are under. . Not only do they compete with the best in the world, but they play on different surfaces, travel constantly and have to deal with a complex family life for which they often have little time. To get a little closer to what the Chileans are going through today as they start the clay-court season, I leave you with these words from Cappello:

“In the field Lucho had to adjust his strategies and the way he played ; Unknown surfaces, rivals with much more competitive experience, different climatic realities. Other than that, he was affected by the isolation that being away from family and friends meant, as well as the difficulties in communicating fluently with fellow athletes. Lucho didn’t speak English. Socially, he did not feel comfortable.

In a recent interview, Nicolás Jarry gives some details about the complexities he went through to reconcile top-level sport and his personal life. In the lyrics of the prince, It was not easy to find his way in a career initially led by his family and his experts, nor to find the balance between competition, training and family life. Little by little, Nicolás decided to start making his own decisions, including leading a nomadic life and participating in different tournaments with his wife and son.

And a year ago, precisely after his participation in Miami, the then world number 30, Cristian Garín, received severe criticism from the press. and said that, “Like any profession, and like everyone else, you go through crises and bad times, and I had very difficult months from all points of view (…) No one likes to hear or read bad things about you, but you have to know how to manage it”.

Jarry and Garin They talk about the importance of psychological support to cope with the pressures of this sport, the same as sometimes, Despite the recognized mental strength of Luis Ayala, they made him pass the bill. In five setsJuan Carlos Cappello shows us how the local press once highlighted young Ayala’s champion temperament, another the New York Times praised his courage, speed and determination…and when he lost the media, they didn’t. were quick to claim that Ayala was wrong to accept challenges for which he was unprepared.

In short, to succeed on clay, it is not enough to beat Rafael Nadal or other favorites, but rather manage the pressures of the environment, the family tensions, the relations with the team and especially the relationship with oneself . Nicolás Jarry, after very difficult years, concludes that his main learning was to have learned love each other and it’s worth remembering that perseverance and perseverance enabled Novak Djokovic to lift the Musketeers Cup in 2016 and repeat the feat in 2021, leaving Nadal behind twice.

So, as Nicolás Massu went viral, nothing is impossible, man, not even a man.

To be continued…

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Source: Latercera

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