Tennis Christian Garin admits it after his non-qualification for the Olympic Games: “I regret not having gone to Tokyo; It’s very hard to miss Paris 2024”

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will begin next Friday, July 26, with the opening ceremony. On this occasion, Chile will be represented by 48 athletes for the various competitions that will take place in the French capital.

Among them there will be three tennis players: Tomás Barrios, Nicolás Jarry and Alejandro Tabilo. Even though Christian Garin had the opportunity to register, this time he was unable to achieve his goal. to register for the Games .

Faced with this situation, the current 106th in the world shared his feeling of having missed the rings test.It’s very hard. It was an important goal that I had, I’m not going to lie to you. I was very disappointed and I still am. I had a very bad time because I wanted to be there no matter what. . That’s what sport is. I had some difficult moments physically and a depressed morale because I couldn’t compete as I wanted, and obviously that has consequences, like not being in Paris. I try to move forward, to continue working ” he noted in a dialogue with Clay.

He also expressed his regret at withdrawing from Tokyo 2020.Tokyo was tough, I feel like now that time has passed I regret not going . But it was a very difficult time, people who know me know that it was very difficult for me to travel, I was testing for Covid every day… I didn’t feel well. I was with Franco (Davín) at that time and he told me that my energy wasn’t good. It was a difficult tournament, more than half of the draw was canceled,” he recalls.

“Obviously, it was in the middle of a pandemic. There were several reasons. I had also caught Covid, you had to get tested every day for a week before traveling and I skipped one because I forgot, a lot of things happened. Now I regret not going, but mistakes are made. A tennis player has to make many decisions and some of them go wrong. I regret it, but it doesn’t bother me much either. I accept the consequences and move on. “, he added.

In any case, the Olympic dream has not disappeared from Garin’s mind. In fact, he has set his next goal at Los Angeles 2028.Yes I hope so. I’m going to be 32. I hope to play “.

Garin also took the opportunity to discuss the Davis Cup finals, where Chile is in Group C alongside the United States, Germany and Slovakia. These duels will be played in an unprecedented manner in the Chinese city of Zhuhai, between September 10 and 15.

Regarding the fact that it will be played in the Asian country without the presence of the local team, Gago considers it “a desaster “.

“The truth is that I have felt for a long time that the Davis Cup has lost what it was. The times we played in Chile, we played with a full stadium and an incredible atmosphere. There, we are favorites because we are three venues, the stadium, the people are playing in our favor. YesI feel like I will never be able to play the World Group in my country. Now they put us in China… I have played thousands of tournaments in China and there is never anyone. There will be no spectators. I don’t know what is the reason why I am going there, it must be an economic reason. . The Davis Cup has always been a very emotional competition, I think, and I’m playing in China now, it’ll be crazy ” he said.

Garin was also asked if he feels valued in Chile after being ranked No. 17 in the world, winning an ATP 500 and reaching the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.

“In my country? Yes, obviously, there are people who appreciate a lot what I have done, coming from a country where the federation practically does not exist, and tennis players come out with a pure family effort. “, he stated.

“There are people who don’t respect you and insult you, criticize you and don’t know your real problems, but I try to stay with the positive, with the good, and I’m happy with that. Now that I’m a little older, I realize how difficult it is to get to where I am. I was at the top, now that I had to go down I see other realities. Sometimes the treatment of players in tournaments is not good, and I had to experience it lately. “he added.

Regarding the work with Gonzalo Lama, he indicated that “we have worked hard since March despite a lot of pain and lack of physical form. The beginning was very difficult, we defended many points, and despite that we progressed and well, we got results, but the problem was not the tennis, it was physical. . I don’t talk much about what’s happening to me, I got sick twice too. I focused on physical preparation and it went well.