Since his arrival in Acapulco in the year 2000the Mexican Tennis Open It has become an obligatory stop for the exponents of the ATP. Grupo Mextenis managed to make its ATP 500 one of the favorites among the best players in the world, who year after year find it the ideal place to prepare for the tour prior to the first Masters 1000 of the season in the United States.
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The fans and organization of the event were left with the desire to complete the circle with the ‘Fantastic 4’. And again, Roger Federer declined the invitation to come to play an official tournament in Mexico and satisfy his large fan base in the country with an exhibition that he played in 2019 at CDMX.
“The thorn is to have brought Roger Federer, I would have loved that. Having brought Federer would have been the complement of these 20 years”, acknowledged a few years ago Raúl Zurutuza, director of the AMT.
The main reason why the “Swiss express” has not played in Acapulco was the connection he has with the ATP 500 in Dubai, a tournament scheduled for the same week on the calendar. In addition to being the top winner of the contest with eight championships, he feels a special commitment as it is the city where he lives with his family.
Federer had a multi-year contract with the Dubai tournamentsomething unusual in the “white sport”.
Roger himself recognized prior to the exhibition that he played against Alexander Zverev in the CDMX Bullring, that “I would love to play in Acapulco, but one cannot have everything. The issue of the date complicates everything.”
The eight active players who already know what it means to win a Grand Slam have come to the Mexican contest. From Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, to Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz.
“Except for Federer, who we already understood that Acapulco will never play in his life, they have all been: Rafa (Nadal), Nole, (Andy) Murray”, Zurutuza pointed out in an interview conducted by ESTO on the 25th anniversary of the AMT.
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Federer did play in Mexico
Let us remember how the greatest of all time managed to play two duels in Mexican territory, the first in 1996when At the age of 15, he played in the Casablanca Cup and later, in 2019, filled the Monumental Plaza de Toros in an exhibition duel against Alexander Zverev, in one of the most emblematic matches that our country has had in the history of white sports.
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