“It’s a great opportunity for them to discover for themselves what a WTA tournament is”: women’s tennis is taking over the capital

The WTA tennis calendar is entering its home stretch. In fact, there are only a few tournaments left in a season that has already defined Iga Swiateak as winner of the Masters Tournament and new number one until 2024. In this final space, South America and Chile appear.

And this Monday officially begins the main draw of the LP Open by IND, the most important women’s tennis tournament in the country. A category 125 event for the WTA and which will count among its protagonists three players from the Top 100. There will also be Grand Slam semi-finalists, Pan-American medalists and two Chilean tennis players.

This combination of factors and growing organization in recent years make the tournament an essential stop for fans of white sports in Chile. Something that for the event director, Macarena Miranda , will ultimately contribute to the development of the discipline. “It’s a plus for our tennis and our players, not just those of today, but those of tomorrow. This is a great opportunity for them to experience for themselves what a WTA tournament is and not just on TV. “, he comments to Sporty from Hacienda Chicureo, where the competition takes place which will run until November 19 and which still has tickets on sale through Puntoticket.

For 2023, high-level tennis is expected. The alliance that the organization has established with the WTA of Buenos Aires and Montevideo has allowed more stars to come to the region. Among these figures, Mayar Sherif (49th) is the one that stands out the most. She is the first Egyptian to win a title at the WTA level (Parma 2022) and this season she has made a strong presence on the circuit. Additionally, she will arrive in Chile as the reigning LP Open by IND champion.

Diana Shneider (60°) is another of the most attractive names in the box. This 2023 she reached the WTA semi-finals in Hamburg and Guangzhou, in addition to the WTA final in Ningbo, where she lost to Ons Jabeur (7th in the world). All this at just 19 years old.

The Top 100 trident which will be in Chicureo is closed by Nadia Podoroska (77th). Argentina had its best moment in 2020 when it reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros, where it lost to Iga Swiatek. But she’s not the only tennis player in the tournament who knows what it means to play in defining Grand Slam events. Sara Errani, in 2012, reached the final of Roland-Garros and the semi-finals of the US Open.

Three Pan American medalists will also be present in Santiago: Laura Pigossi (gold in women’s singles and doubles), Lourdes Carlé (silver in singles and bronze in women’s doubles) and Julia Riera (bronze in women’s singles and doubles).

If we go to the national level, the two tournament invitations were intended for local tennis players. One of them will be Daniela Seguel and the other Fernanda Labraña, who have just competed in Santiago 2023. Both were also protagonists of the Chilean team in the Billie Jean King Cup. Antonia Vergara and Paloma Goldsmith received jokers for qualifying, but failed to make the main draw.

“All these initiatives finally bear fruit when we manage to maintain them over time, when they are not a stop and then never again. It has a lot to do with thinking about the future, with the belief that our players, Chilean and from the region, will make important points here. Our challenge is to do things next year that they can revalidate and why not get more points than the previous version and continue to move forward. The career of a tennis player is very difficult, especially here in South America, so we have to take it as a responsibility,” Miranda refers when talking about how the job is always about thinking about the future, both with the teams as well as with the organization of the event. .

Finally, the director and former tennis player reflects on the tournament’s distance from the city center. He has a clear opinion on this, saying that although the distances are not short, a lot of work has been done to include the whole of society. “We often say that it’s far, but it’s further to go to the big tournaments, where you had to take the plane. We have issued an invitation to tennis schools through the Chilean Tennis Federation so that they can come for free. There are many schools in the community that will participate, many organizations. We also wanted these tickets to be accessible to the public. From Monday to Friday, they are only worth 5,000 pesos, because we want it to be an event that everyone can participate in. he concludes.