Marcelo Ríos is no longer Juncheng Shang’s coach: “They didn’t give me any reason why we ended”

Ten wins, two losses, a challenger title, the final of another and a jump from position 362 to 195 in the world ranking in just two months of work. That was the balance left by the relationship between Juncheng Shang and Marcelo Riosa society that shook the world of tennis, but that after his participation in the Cary Challenger came to an abrupt end. From Sarasota, the former number one speaks with Sporting about this surprise decision, which he learned about by chance.

“They didn’t give me any reason why we broke up. They didn’t tell me ‘you don’t like how you dress up‘. Not even one hey. I learned this from my agent, who tells me ‘bad news, you’re not going to continue with Jerry’. I said ‘ah, perfect’. And I was just on the plane from Atlanta to Sarasota. I got out and caught Jerry and his parents off guard and asked them ‘so we’re done?’ They didn’t expect me to know, they thought to tell me through the agent. And the dad tells me ‘yes’. I replied ‘la raja, everything is perfect, but I would love to know the reason why we ended’. So, the dad starts talking and I don’t understand him or split. Then I say to him: ‘Jerry, can you explain it to me?’ And he replies ‘my dad says…’reports.

The response of his now former pupil left the left-hander with a series of questions. “I think this was a father’s decision. It wasn’t Jerry’s decision. Besides, the mom and dad hold each other all day and that hurts the asshole. I don’t know what the hell they’re going to talk about, but I know the mom was very happy. I told Jerry that I didn’t know him very well and to my dad that he couldn’t be fighting all day. He gets out of his mind, starts screaming or goes to hell. It is a very difficult culture. It’s super difficult to live with them, I’m not giving an excuse for anything, but let them kick me out and tell me ‘we did the first four rounds, shit’. But the guy made two finals and is 190. So, by results they can’t roam. But it’s the same. It doesn’t influence me. I tell you the truth: I wasn’t having a good time with the old man.”be honest.

Precisely, the relationship with the tennis player’s father had several episodes, which he describes below: “I had a run-in with him because in a match I told Jerry: ‘Finish it here’, as if to say ‘break him here so you don’t have to serve for the match’and dad understood any hey and got angry. She told me ‘Cut it, Marcelo’ and it exploded. I went to talk to him and he told me that I can’t tell him that, that he is 17 years old, that he is very young. The father tells me ‘it’s that you tell him to hurry up, because for you it’s easy, because you’re used to winning Monte Carlo, Rome…’. ‘What the fuck are you talking about. I decided to sign this contract to be with you, I knew what I was coming for. I am the only number one in history who is a coach in the challengers. And if I do it, it’s because I want to help him’, I replied”.

“There I told him that, if there was an age to train in one way or another, because I intend that at 19 or 20 years old he is among the 10 best in the world, as everyone does, and for that he needs to take off the chucha. He plays very easy, but he does not get the chucha. For me, a professional trains two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon, more physical. Two hours later, he wakes up at 12 noon… They have a different culture. Any pain we stop, the week that the father had Covid we could not train. The dude forward five steps and back 10″he adds.

Another factor that complicated things was the way they related. “Communication with him was very bad, since he didn’t talk much and everything I said to him, he answered ‘yes, yes, yes’. And what you want, when you have someone, is that they tell you the things they want to train, what bothers them or what is not right for them. Here there was no communication. Either because of how much respect he had for me or because he is like that. Nobody spoke anything. So, she could never know what he was thinking or what he really wanted. Thus, it becomes super difficult to train someone if there is no communication”regrets.

Although they both live in the United States, their cultural background was a complex barrier. “The father claimed that I was very demanding, that we South Americans are a very different culture, that we are guys who go to the front. That he is not used to that. So I told my dad: ‘Let’s do something. You are the coach and I am going home’. I’m going to train him the way they trained me. And if at the age of 17 he has to get the shit out of himself, which nowadays everyone his age does, he has to do it. Alcaraz is number one at 19 years old. I told him that I was not going to compromise my way of training. ‘Not because you pay me good money, we are going to train the hour that I wanted‘. And I said to Jerry ‘that you are 190 doesn’t mean anything to me. I want you to be top ten, to win grand slams. That’s what I’m aiming for, not two challengers’. So, it was a lot of pressure for them, which is what they give me to understand, because there was no answer…”.

“I asked Jerry if he liked tennis, and he says ‘yes.’ ‘But do you like to look at it or do you like what’s behind it?’ I replied. And he asks me what is behind it, and I answer that it is suffering, having a hard time, cramping, physical preparation… he answers yes, but making me understand that he does not know that world and does not want to know it. . And that’s the only way. I was telling you that I asked for videos of Moyá de Nadal training or even Alcaraz, so that he could see their attitude. Jerry, no. He stands still, watching the points roll by. I have no explanation. I think that’s why”insists.

It also stops the family’s influence on the tennis player again. “Martin (Alund, the assistant coach) can’t believe it. He told me that he was the raja with me, ”he points out. And he claims that he sees a comeback as unlikely: “I do not think I’ll come back. The dads inside the court are terrifying. They do everything to him, he does nothing, she thinks. And the worst thing is that he speaks in Chinese and I don’t understand him at all. Suddenly she annoys him, because he understands when they’re screaming. I told my dad ‘I’m not up for this hey, that you get out of yourself. I have my name the same and I’m not up for a show every time Jerry plays.”

There are several examples of requirements. The most recent, last week, when after getting through the first round in the Cary Challenger, Ríos did not send him to rest. “He played lousy, after the game I told him we were going to train the shot. ‘What?’, he says to me. ‘Yes, to train’. I had him training for an hour and then the father was bothering me because how he took him to train after the game. So, I’m not going to trade my way of training for doing things wrong “need.

In the next round, Shang lost and made a racket by hitting the referee’s chair with his racket, whom he also insulted. “I didn’t realize it, because I was already leaving. I saw it later in a video. Something happened in the game with Thompson that influenced him. I have nothing to do with that. I never knew why he went to hell so much. It must have been something the old man said to him, because he spoke to him in Chinese… I told Jerry that we talk on Saturday, more calmly. There I was going to tell him that we were training like hell, because the first week we were incredible, but he needed us to train at least five hours a day. Because we weren’t going to get anywhere that way.”bill.

That match against the Australian, whom he had defeated in Lexington, precisely highlighted all the shortcomings. “Here I am the co-pilot and I am not the co-pilot. I told Jerry that ‘I can help you on all the shots, but the one who enters the court is you and you are not showing that mentality.’ The other day he was 2-0 in the third and they broke him and he sent everything to the chucha. Those match rolls are to show that he is upset. Then I asked him if there was something bothering him and he said that everything was fine, but these hueones they don’t go straight ahead. And that’s why I went to the airport.”reveals.

Marcelo Ríos recounts how the goodbye was. “I told him, ‘Jerry, I wish you the best. You play very well, but you lack a lot. You have a lot to learn. Good luck in the future…’. Anything you need, just call me…”. And note: “I think he did not want to, but here it is a decision of the parents and he has nothing to say.”

His conclusions about this brief but successful experience are positive. “I feel calm, because I helped him. Going up from 380 to 190 is a big step, and if they want a dude More jerk next door, perfect. But I’m not going to compromise. I am here to be top ten, not to be 150 or 200. He is very talented, he plays very well, he has a lot to learn, but he is very jerk. He is very comfortable. He told him that we should train in the afternoon and he didn’t want to, he told me that he had to do physical. The asshole is the crack, he needs to change that mentality and be a dog on the field. If he really got the chucha out, it could be very good”says.

Train another player? “The experience I had was not bad, but training a guy who is 10 in the world doesn’t interest me, because I can’t change anything. No catches my attention”he concludes.