The Albacete tennis player, Alejandro Ortega, added an important sporting success last week neither more nor less than in the United States. Specifically, he sealed the DII Men’s Tennis Championship for the Barry Buccaneers after beating Columbus State’s Christian Garay in an exciting singles match.
The Albacete, who attended the tournament as number 2 of his university, defeated his opponent with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. “It is the most important championship here,” explained Alejandro Ortega to El Digital de Albacete about this tournament.
It indicated that “firstly each university is competing against the nearest universities.” However this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic he confessed that “we have had few games, we have been poorly prepared, but despite everything we qualified for the regional and won it.”
Subsequently, the champions of each region participate in a state-level tournament that “this year was held in Arizona, where we have managed to win the national title,” he commented, proud of his team’s triumph. Alejandro’s racket was decisive for his university to win this national tennis championship in the United States, so much so that he revealed that “the University wants to keep it.”
The Albacete recognized that in the United States “much importance is given to the last person who plays and gives the victory.” But he displayed camaraderie and applauded the work of his teammates, noting that “the last game is as important as the first.”
He confessed that “many times I have tried to imagine what it could feel like to achieve a victory like this”, but added that “the feeling of ending the game and seeing all my teammates come to celebrate is something completely visceral.”
Alejandro Ortega is a native of Albacete and studies Graphic Design at Barry University based in Miami. Some studies that he combines with his passion for the racket since with his triumph he raised his university as United States Champion in this men’s tennis championship.
Specifically, he has been developing his academic studies in the United States since January 2019, so “next semester I will be here for three years,” he clarified. Regarding his university studies, he stressed that “it is a not very common career among athletes but it is something that I like a lot”.
This man from Albacete “was so small that I hardly remember when I started to like tennis,” he pointed out. Specifically, he picked up his first racket when he was 5 years old thanks to the passion and love for this sport that his parents have transmitted to him.
That boy who played tennis now focuses his future on his academic training, but confesses to El Digital de Albacete that “I don’t think I will dissociate myself from the world of tennis.”
Regarding the promotion and commitment to university sports in the United States, he confessed that “here they have a very competitive spirit and great importance is given to this issue, so both in sports and academically they try to encourage you as much as possible” . He stressed that “there is a lot of difference in the level of support, infrastructure, financial support for all students” and added that “this unfortunately does not exist in Spain.”
/ Marta López /
