After a successful 2019, in which they won two of the four grand slams, Wimbledon and the US Open, establishing themselves as the number one couple in world tennis, Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah They are living in 2021 where their results have been far from initial expectations.
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The year had started well, they won two ATP 250 tournaments: in Dubai, in March, and Barcelona, in April. “In life we had had a number one at the ATP level like they were. For tennis this classification represents a lot and having those ranks. It is not easy to win titles in doubles with the moment you live in the category; for them, having won in Dubai and Barcelona represents very valuable triumphs in their sports career ”, Alejandro Pedraza, Colombian tennis coach, told EL TIEMPO.
However, and although that start was very good, today the national doubles players are not even among the top ten players on the ATP list and there have been more times that they have fallen by the wayside this season than the titles already mentioned.
Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah
Néstor Gómez – THE TIME
As for grand slams, a category of tournaments that you already know, those that catapulted them to the top of world tennis, their best performance was in France, at Roland Garros, where they repeated the result of 2020 and were eliminated in the semifinal against the local and ultimately champions Nicolás Mahut and Pierre and Hugues Herbert by 7-6 (2), (2) 6-7 and 4-6.
At Wimbledon, a tournament where they arrived as brand-new defenders of the title (it was not played in 2020 due to the pandemic), their performance declined and they reached the quarterfinals, when they fell against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury by 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6 (2).
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Earlier, at the Australian Open, they fell early, in the second round, against Kazakhs Alexander Bublic and Andrei Golubev by a double 6-4.
More recently, at the US Open, they were out in the first round, after losing against Poles Hubert Hurkacz and Szymon Walków 6-3, (2) 6-7 and 6-3. A distant performance to which they signed in 2019.
In ATP tournaments, apart from Barcelona and Dubai, they reached the semifinals of the 250 tournaments in Doha and Eastbourne. As for Masters 1,000 they reached the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Cincinnati, while in Toronto they reached the quarterfinals.
In Rome, the first ATP tournament won by the doubles players in 2018 and whose title they repeated in 2019, they signed a fleeting performance, being eliminated in the first round. For the Tokyo Olympics, in which they were one of the great cards to obtain a medal, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals: they lost against New Zealanders Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus.
From the sanction to the covid
You have to continue with the illusion that you can achieve goals again. They can’t stop dreaming, they have always been dreamers and that’s why they are where they are
In the midst of the great performance of 2019 and the discreet performance of 2021 there were determining factors that undoubtedly took their toll on the couple.
First, the sanction that he applied at the beginning of 2020 on Farah for testing positive in a doping test and that was lifted in February of that same year, which forced Juan Sebastián Cabal to play the Australian Open that year with the Spanish Jaume Munar, where he reached the second round.
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“It was a process in which he not only had to invest time and mental wear and tear, but also money in lawyers top on an international level. That has an influence ”, Felipe Berón, Colombian tennis coach, told EL TIEMPO.
After this sanction came the covid, which ended up hitting the couple and the whole world. During the first months, the lack of activity in athletes of their age (Cabal, 35 and Farah, 34) was decisive in their performance decline, even more so considering the disparity in activity during the highest point of the pandemic between South America and the rest of the world. This allowed the level of other couples to be maintained while they were on hiatus.
“It may be the couple that was affected the most by the pandemic in terms of lack of rhythm. It is no secret that during the pandemic, competition continued in Europe and the United States. In South America, especially in Colombia, we were locked up for a long time. They did not have the opportunity to train for several months and it showed when they returned, ”said Berón.
Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah are a dreamy couple. They have already written their name at the end of titles in the history of Colombian sports and now it is time to seek their best level to resume the path of good results to which they are accustomed. This, while burning the last years of high level that remain in world tennis. Then it will be the end of an era for Colombian sports.
“Age naturally makes the expectations of having degrees lower than they were obtained a couple of years ago, but we must continue with the same illusion that goals can be reached again, they cannot stop dreaming. They have always been dreamers and that is why they are where they are, ”Pedraza said.
For his part, Berón affirmed that it is a transition and the doubles players will have a rebound. “They are at that moment of physically recovering, of getting back into the rhythm of the game, of the competition. They are reinventing themselves to get back on top ”, he said.Hugo Santiago Caro
Editor of EL TIEMPO
In Twitter: @HugoCaroJ
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