More aggressive tennis, anthroposophy and top physical condition: the secrets of Christian Garin’s rebirth

After four hours and 34 minutes, Christian Garin (43rd) cannot believe it. He raises his hands to his face with emotion. For the first time, he is in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, after defeating in five sets to the Australian Álex de Miñaur (27th). And he does it no less than at Wimbledon Cathedral. There, only Luis Ayala, Ricardo Acuña and Fernando González were the only Chileans who could reach this round.

Displaying a level of collection, the national tennis player shows a totally different face from the one he had at the end of last season and at the start of this one, when he could not find the answers to get out of a deep well, times when the support of his family and his closest circle of friends, who never left him alone, was essential.

The arrival of Pepe Vendrell revolutionized Gago. The Spanish coach was responsible for practically the entire brilliant career of Roberto Bautista Agut, one of the greatest examples of resilience on the circuit. The Hispanic player, the player from Castellón took him to the top ten and also had to face hard family blows with him, like the accident that left the tennis player’s father a quadriplegic and his subsequent death in the middle of the Davis Cup (where he was the hero of the title), and the unexpected death of his mother, aged only 52, while she slept.

Thus, the coach brought together three fundamental aspects in this research: in-depth technical and circuit knowledge, a thorough profile and being a motivator. “I met a player with barbaric potential. What you have to work hard on is confidence. Lately he has lost a bit of self-esteem and self-esteem. It needs to be put in its place, because on the tennis side, I don’t feel like I have a lot to change; yes there are small details that can be settled, especially the competitive instinct; to be a reliable player, to be a player who delivers difficult”, commented the coach, in an interview with Jock three months ago.

In this sense, one of the virtues that immediately stood out was the way Vendrell dealt with all the factors that put pressure on the Chilean. He was on top of every detail to avoid the psychological wear and tear he had been dragging on for a long time. And there, the work of the specialist was fundamental Marcos Acosta, known as the Coach of the Self who works a technique based on personal evolution centered on consciousness, whose orientation is anthroposophy, and its foundation is in the awakening of the individual self through intellectual and practical processes , according to its own definition. Today, Garin looks calm, very focused and competitive.

Another aspect refers to the way the coaching staff bases the game strategy, where Gago’s physical strength has been a great axis to develop the rest of the plan. This surprised Vendrell greatly when he arrived. “It is a bit like the Christian that we are building: that, when they see us, the presence we have on the pitch is that of a very solid player, with a lot of intensity and who takes the matches onto the physical pitch, where he has enormous potential. We do three-hour days on the track and it doesn’t even end up being tired! Has supernatural physical strength “, greeted the technician. In fact, in the game against De Miñaur, this was fully demonstrated, as he maintained the intensity throughout the game. They’ve been in charge of this front Cristian Madariaga, his usual physiotherapist, and PF Javier Bustos.

On the other hand, the technician worked in improving the aggressiveness of their shots. Today, his forehand is much more solid and loose. This allowed him to increase his game-winning stats. For instance, in the match against De Miñaur he got 56 winners against 31 of its rival. Meanwhile, his backhand, which has been called his strongest shot in years, has become not only an excellent offensive tool, but also in a huge weapon with defensive facets. “I’m happy and I’m playing very well. It’s the way I like to play and I’ve been working for a long time to be aggressive and my intensity, I’m more aggressive with my serve and that makes the games depend on me”, traced the first national racket a few days ago. from.

These changes also fed the hierarchy of the national tennis player, who under the wing of his coach not only allowed him to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his history, against a rival who had never won a set in his three previous encounters, but also got the top four ranking wins in a Major the most important being that obtained on his rival on Monday. “Work, work. The price comes now sums up the Chilean on the secret of his success.

Although Wimbledon does not award points, due to the sanction imposed by the ATP for the veto of Russian and Belarusian tennis players, and Garin will leave the top 50 in the rankings for not being able to defend last year’s round of 16, the concrete thing is that these two weeks will be engraved in his heart and that if he continues in this line, his return to the top 20 will only be a matter of time.