“If you beat Jarry, we do the paperwork and you play for Chile”: the unique challenge that marked the destiny of Alejandro Tabilo

Alejandro Tabilo is experiencing the best moment of his career. This year he has already won the Auckland ATP 250 on hard and he is today in the semi-final of the Chile Open, which already guarantees him his best ranking, Well, as of this Monday, there will be at least 45 worldwide. However, this path to success was fraught with challenges at first.

Born and raised in Toronto and the son of a Chilean mother and father, Jano grew up in a house full of Creole customs, which is why he always wanted to represent the country. As the saying goes, blood draws and that really is the case in this case. The link with the country has always been there. His father, Ricardo, said a few years ago: Sporty that a secret friend had to make a wish and that his son’s wish was to play tennis for Chile: “I had a folkloric group and we rehearsed at my house, so Jano was always linked to Chilean things. Plus, we were the first to have television there, so everyone went home to watch the Chilean matches.

With a promising career and a four-year stint at Nick Bollettieri’s Academy, Tabilo became an exciting prospect for tennis and although he championed Canada in the early years, he knew that at some point, he had to change the flag. Of course, his father doubted it. “We had an agreement with Alejandro, which was that when he entered the top 400, he would play for Chile, because if he was too low, they were going to beat him. However, he didn’t like this idea very much .” he remembers.

However, everything changed in 2016. Right after the series played between Canada and Chile in Halifax, a Futuro was held in the North American country on an indoor hard surface and, due to these vagaries of life, it crossed paths with a Chilean. “He had to face Nicolas Jarry. So I told him: ‘If you beat him, we’ll take care of the paperwork and you play for Chile.’ “He came in like a machine and beat him.” . Indeed, The result was 7-6 (6) and 6-4 for the left-hander who at that time was ranked 856, while Nico was 423.

Finally, in this tournament, he reached the semi-finals and, little by little, his career began to take off. Also in those years his physique was a big problem to go further, since he weighed almost 100 kilos. That is why a difficult transformation process began as soon as he joined the Alto Tenis Academy, under the leadership of Guillermo Gómez, his coach until today.

This afternoon he will face the controversial Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who eliminated Jarry, who after this defeat in Niagara, won the remaining three matches, all at challenger level and on clay. But this time, the two best rackets in the country will not meet for the first time in an ATP tournament. For Tabilo it will be the opportunity to enter the top 40 and reach the definition for the first time in Santiago. And, at the same time, avenge Jarry.