Alejandro Tabilo’s impressive physical change that took him to tennis’ elite

Alejandro Tabilo is playing the best tennis of his career , after going through complex moments. Yesterday he reached the final of the Chile Open, completing a remarkable campaign that began with the ATP 250 title in Auckland. Behind this campaign, yes, there is a story of great improvement.

Born in Toronto 26 years ago, the left-hander has always been linked to Chile, since his father had a folk group and rehearsals took place in the family home. From a young age, he attracted attention for his play, earning him a four-year scholarship to the Nick Bollettieri Academy. , where he also studied. He decided to play for Chile in 2016. Precisely, in September of the same year, he faced Nicolás Jarry in a Futuro in Canada. His father challenged him: if he beat the current world number 23, he would have the authorization to defend the homeland of his ancestors. And that’s how he clearly defeated Jaime Fillol’s grandson.

Already Chilean, he broke into Futuro 6, which was played at Club Santiago. Against all expectations, the left-hander won the title, in interesting conditions. This, yes, The general comment was that if I wanted to go far, I needed to lose weight. Measuring 1.88 meters tall, he weighed around 100 kilos.

The following years were not entirely happy. Some sporadic good results and a nomination for the Davis Cup series against Argentina in 2018 are part of this period. However, it was not consolidated. At the same time, he suffered very sudden weight loss. Too abrupt.

“With Tabilo, we started in Odesur. He arrived with a lot of lack of confidence in his tennis and also with a significant weight loss. He arrived weighing 65 kilos, while he measures 1.88. We decided with all the technical staff to stop it for almost three months until the second week of September. We stopped tennis training and made him gain weight and eat more. We did well then, as he gained eight kilos in a month and a half. . And when he started training again, to our surprise, he did amazing things. We know he plays very well,” Guillermo Gómez, his coach, told Deportivo a few years ago.

The extreme thinness caused a lot of concern among the new technical staff. “We have done all the necessary tests. We even saw the psychiatric and psychological part. We wanted to exclude everything. He made the decision to eat less and give up carbs, and it spiraled out of control. Today, thanks to Carlos Burgos (former PF of Fernando González), Meds, Marcelo Clavero and Ignacio Jojot, who made a huge sacrifice, he has improved a lot.” emphasized the coach of Tomás Barrios, who is also a coach.

“I had very little muscle mass, I needed food and supplements. Until he had acceptable lean mass for high performance, we couldn’t let him compete. » added PF Clavero.

Tabilo revealed why he decided to lose weight: “The truth is that I had lower back pain during a tournament in Tunisia and When I lost weight, the pain went away, but it went away. But when I entered the Alto Tenis academy, they did a medical and nutritional assessment on me and the process began.

In addition to organizing his physique, the national tennis player also decided to settle in the country, in a process that he described as “very intense but at the same time full of changes.” “First of all, making the decision to move to Chile and work with Guillermo’s team, who already knew them in tournaments and who was not wrong. They are one hundred percent professional and passionate about this story. Also the support of our captain Nicolás Massú, who invited me to the national Davis Cup team. A dream. There is also Yogurt de Mora and Julio and Patricia, who welcomed me like a member of the family. Furthermore, the change in tennis has been real and significant. And I want more,” he added at the time.

Gómez explained at the time that the function he and his team performed with Tabilo goes beyond what is related to racketeering: “More than doing psychological work, we are doing something that allows him to have a little more roots here, with a stable coaching staff. The idea is that he has support that we previously thought he didn’t have. With this he improved a lot.

His father, Ricardo, does not hide his joy at the transformation of his son during this season: “We’re happy because he’s getting back to being the animal he was mentally when he was a junior. “He’s playing amazing.” And time has proven them right. Today, Alejandro Tabilo is already in the top 40 and dreams of his second ATP crown.