Seven years. That is the time that Florencia Moreno has been a professional. The 32-year-old tennis player always dreamed of playing a Paralympic Game and she achieved it: she is classified and ready to participate in the competition that will take place in Tokyo between August 24 and September 5.
Originally from the Buenos Aires town of Cañuelas, this year she was able to resume activity after 14 months and he’s already in his best shape to go for the golden dream. This year she was crowned champion at the Mega Saray Open, in Turkey, and in singles and doubles (with the Spanish Lola Ochoa) at the Leibnitz Open, in Austria, and at the Sirius Open, in Croatia. What’s more, was a finalist, again in singles and doubles with Ochoa, of the most important competition in adapted tennis, the Wheelchair Tennis Tournament 2021 Antalya (ITF 3), which took place in Australia. Located at number 17 in the world rankings and a week before she gets on the plane that will take her to Japan, she spoke with Girls with Balls to share your story and your expectations for these Games.
–How are you preparing for the Paralympic Games?
–Every day I wake up thinking about what aspects I can improve, adjusting some things so that they are better and, those that are good, trying to improve them even more. That is the life of the athlete; every day overcome.
–Are the Paralympic Games the highest goal of your career?
– Yes, without a doubt it is the greater objective. Five years ago I decided to qualify for the Games and I was working very hard to achieve it, so when I did it was very strong.
–In 2019 you won the bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Lima. Are the feelings when you represent the country different than when you do it on the individual circuit?
–They are different things: representing the country is something unique, it is the most beautiful thing an athlete can aspire to. When you are in a Pan American or in an Olympic Game, you are Argentina, and that changes a lot, the atmosphere, the clothing … being all the time with the National Team clothing, there is nothing that can be compared.
–How do you see adapted sport in Argentina?
– I see it very well but I think it needs more diffusion so that more athletes can appear in the different disciplines. I think that today there are many places in the country where unfortunately it does not reach, or only one or two sports are known by a famous athlete. Also, in recent years thanks to social networks, much more is becoming visible.
–Sos number 17 in the world ranking. Could you make a living from tennis if you didn’t have the ENARD scholarship and the support of the sponsors?
“No, without them I wouldn’t be playing tennis.” It really is very different from conventional tennis because in adapted tennis, even if you become number one in the world, you cannot live only from sport, while in conventional tennis, when you reach a certain ranking, yes. To give you an idea, for winning a Grand Slam in adapted tennis your prize is 1% of what a conventional tennis player wins for the same tournament.
Florencia’s life underwent a drastic change due to a traffic accident in the center of Cañuelas. She was eleven years old at the time and, to save her, her right leg had to be amputated. “After that I tried to have a relatively normal life but at the same time, in some respects, I had not finished accepting my disability”, he relates. Among those aspects that aroused resistance was the chair, the means through which today he is about to compete in the highest event in world sport: “I did not want to sit in a wheelchair because I felt that I did not have such a serious disability to do so, and today I feel that it is an element to play tennis”, share. In his case, the sport allowed him to accept and it was also a path of well-being. “Tennis improved my life in many things, it helped me personally and also in my lifestyle., which today is healthier and healthier, because that is what it takes to be a professional ”, he describes.
“Do you remember the first day you went to play tennis?”
-It was by chance. A friend of mine from Cañuelas, who also uses a wheelchair, told me that there was a school, if she wanted to go try it out. I doubted a lot because I had never played tennis and on top of that I was in a wheelchair. I went with many fears, I remember that I sat on the chair and was terrified, I said “I’m going to fall.” Until I tried and realized that it was different from the chair that people use every day and that, being tied down, you have a bit of security not to fall. I liked the atmosphere and at first I started slowly, once a week, it was like a hobby for me. But over time I became more and more hooked until I wanted to start competing, and then I decided to go professional.
– Does the way in which adapted athletes are treated or named bothers you?
–I love being introduced as a tennis player or adapted tennis player because that is how I feel that I was able to separate what it is to be a person with a disability who does a sport, from being an athlete. I am an athlete regardless of whether or not I use a wheelchair.
–Sport in many cases is a way of passing and unloading in life situations or in day-to-day life. Is it the same in your case?
-Yes, totally. I think for any athlete you ask, it’s a ground wire, it helps you in a lot of ways. Hopefully my example will serve so that many also try, start playing and also become their ground wire.
The dream continues
The first Paralympic Games were held in 1960 in the city of Rome and, although they are not so popular in our country, Argentina was present in all its editions and has won more medals in this competition (31 golds, 61 silvers and 64 bronzes) than in the traditional Olympic Games (21, 25 and 28 respectively). The delegation that will represent the blue and white flag in Tokyo has 58 athletes, 39 men and 19 women. Yanina Martínez will seek to defend the gold she obtained in Rio 2016 in the 100 meters T36 and Los Murcielagos will try to equal or improve the third place of Brazil.
* Juan Manuel Álvarez Fesquet, Florencia Pereyro, Sofía Martínez, Ornella Sersale.
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