The offer of a big promise in world tennis shakes Marcelo Ríos: ‘Starting from the bottom and doing what Ferrero did with Alcaraz is something that motivates me’

“Every day, something happens to me. You know that there is not a day when something does not happen to me. Hey“, He says Marcelo Rios , of Sarasota, to justify in his particular style the novelties which emerge in his life and which greatly excite him. At 46, the former world number one is motivated with a few plans starting to take shape and this promise to give a radical turn to his peaceful life if they materialize. It’s up to him to decide.

And it’s not just any decision, but one that involves his environment and that would put him back at the forefront of tennis. It’s been a few days He received an offer from Chinese Juncheng Shang, better known as Jerry Shang, one of the great promises of world tennis and despite being only 17 years old, he is already showing signs of having the equipment to be at the top. A chance meeting was enough to light a fuse that the left-hander thought was off.

“I went to say hi to Shapovalov and he (Shang) appeared with his dad. And then Red, who coached me for a while (David Ayme, Nick Bollettieri’s right-hand man), told me I was playing amazing . I watched him for a while and the truth is he hit the ball very well. “This is the Nishikori to come” , he told me. Time passed and it came out.

The conversations took place on the phone with Max Eisenbud, the player’s agent and representative of various international personalities such as Maria Sharapova and Briton Emma Raducanu. “Sharapova’s ex-manager called me and said he had a Chinese player who just turned 17 and is 1.83m tall, which is rare for a Chinese. He is left-handed, he plays like me, but with much more power. He is 370 years old, has won four professional tournaments and qualified for Indian Wells. I saw him play here and he came to ask me for a picture,” he says.

Indeed, Jerry he was number one in the junior world last year, being a finalist at the US Open and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon of the category, and is already taking its first steps in professionalism, surpassing the ATP rankings and even playing the Masters 1000 in Miami and Indian Wells. In the latter, he had the luxury of winning the quality in a top 100, the Argentinian Francisco Cerúndolo. The Chinese promise has precisely the Chilean as its maximum reference, who reveals it thus: “The director told me ‘Do you know what’s going on? dude Marcelo Rios is raw. He thinks it’s you.

Ríos confesses that the call made him happy because someone was looking for him. “I’m not like Capdeville who goes around Instagram offering to train, and I told the manager that I didn’t want to be like Ivanisevic or those very good tennis players who accompany players in the Grand Slam and in major tournaments and they only travel 10 weeks a year. It’s like a lie, because for me the coach has to be above the asshole and know what he’s doing. As this Chinese has four shades working with him: trainer, PF, masseur… He has a team that will tumors“, he underlines.

The offer has Ríos analyzing all the variables. He even turned to his former agent Jeff Schwartz to consider the proposal. “I said (Shang) send me a draft with what he wants, offers me and how many weeks. I see him with Jeff and he told me to think about it, because I don’t care. didn’t imagine in there.” warns.

One of the images that comes to mind comes back to small tournaments. “As he is 300 in the world, he will have to play challengers. So it’s not that simple either,” he said. And he adds: “What happens to me is that I have a family and suddenly I find myself alone with the asshole, instead of having fun, which happened to me the same thing when I I retired. But my wife told me she would come with me. Also, my children will do home school next year and could study online. So, according to them, they could also travel with me.

But beyond all the analysis factors involved in this proposal, the Chilean’s motivation is great and it is reflected in a current example: “I think it’s a Hey complicated, but I remembered Alcaraz, who was caught by Ferrero when he was little and now has 7 in the world. So, I started looking at the asshole and never has a Chinese been in the top 100. If you can do this, you are already achieving something important.

“What happens is that forming an asshole and inserting it yourself is something entertaining. It is not to take away the merits of Massú, but he grabbed a dude already good (Dominic Thiem) and, more than that, what are you going to do. Here, on the other hand, starting from the bottom and doing what Ferrero did with Alcaraz is something that motivates me” confess.

The final decision will come later this month when Ríos and Shang meet. “There is nothing closed. I will meet him in the last two weeks of July , because he is here and I told him that I needed these two weeks to meet him. We are going to talk, train together and see what happens,” he announces, while stressing that another of the things that motivates him is the way his future pupil envisions his career. “Mentally the Chinese are very good when they are assholes” he argues.

That’s not the only offer Chino has received, as a few years ago he was set to switch Sarasota for Asia. However, the Covid-19 had its effect and the project was frustrated. “They offered me to go to Japan to train for four million a year for four years. My whole family was going to go with me, we talked, everything was ready and shit with the pandemic. He had discussed everything. The only thing I wanted was a good home, a school for my children, but in the end it didn’t work out.”

If the Vitacura left-hander agrees, he will make his debut as a coach, since his previous experience was as an assistant to Nicolás Massú in the Davis Cup and he had already been unsuccessfully probed by the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and other personalities.

On October 14, Marcelo Ríos will return to the track to play an exhibition with the Spaniard Álex Corretja, in the Monticello Great Bullring , from San Francisco de Mostazal. The meeting was scheduled for last Friday, but discomfort in the left-hander’s hip prevented it from taking place.

“The first time, I put hyaluronic acid, which served me for a month. Then it started to hurt again and I had stem cells, which didn’t help at all. I couldn’t do more than that. Now the only thing left for me to do is get the surgery or keep it until I can’t take it anymore. I plan to train, put on hyaluronic acid and infiltrate the day before the exhibition. Grace is that people see something good” reveals the former world number one.

The disease interferes with certain activities. “I go to the gym and nothing hurts me, but when I run or bounce or sprint I kinda feel it. Where I shit the most is when I’m lying down, trying to sleep and rolling on my side… Or when I have lunch and sit for a long time. Also when driving. Now I’ve bought a Lamborghini and because it’s so low, I walk with my leg bent and have a hard time getting down,” he says.

“Hip shit, cartilage doesn’t exist and it hits me bone to bone. Then, it is necessary to operate and the recovery is a little bastard; It’s like four months, using a few crutches and doing rehabilitation. I thought the older you were, the heavier the recovery, but according to the doctor, no. Of course, with what I do, jump and do thousands of hello, I can throw the iron. He’d rather he put up with it until he’s older and not do the same Heybut that will depend on how you handle the pain. There are good days and bad days, but I have to have surgery, I have to do it. I will try to make it work as much as possible,” he said.

Precisely, a dilemma also arises on this question. “I ask the doctor what he can do the most. Enough said… Maybe I have a very high pain tolerance or I’m screwed and keep going on and on. So, I asked him if I keep going on and on, can I get lame, and he said no; that I can do shit with my hip and then he operates on me and I’ll be fine. Hip surgeries are successful and I have friends who have had surgeries and have gone well,” he adds. In any case, this option destroys the idea of ​​wanting to replay a professional tournament and trying to be the oldest tennis player to win one. “It’s impossible” he resigns.

“I’ve had back pain all my life, but the pain in my hip has been bad because it won’t let me do things. walking and suddenly there is a sting like an electric shock and there hit the cry or you fall asleep with your leg up. I have zero elongation. Even if I play football with Marcelito, I can kick with both legs and it doesn’t hurt, but when I take a shower and it’s colder there, I go to the ridge, “he laments. -he.

Of course, these days everything is not so complicated, since he continued to prepare the exhibition and knew how to manage his emotions: “Now I feel good, strong, powerful…I’ve lost five pounds of fat. So I feel better.”

In any case, he guarantees his presence in the match against Corretja. “I will try to do my best, I can infiltrate to play without any pain. I also asked the doctor if I could play shit on my hip and he said no. So I will have no problem being exposed. Then I have to decide when to have surgery, thinking about everyday life.”