Qualifying for the Masters Cup is the goal set by Colombians Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah, which is why they will make a European tour in which they will seek to qualify for that tournament that will be played in Turin this year.
“We are there in the race for the Masters Cup, the US Open allows us to get closer to that goal,” Farah said at a press conference in Cali referring to the US Open, in which they reached the semifinals this month. In the Grand Slam, the Colombian couple lost to the best duo in the world, made up of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, with partials of 7-5, 4-6 and 7-6.
After putting on a good Australian Open, Cabal and Farah sealed Colombia’s 3-0 win over Turkey in the Davis Cup World Group I series with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ergi Kirkin and Cem Ilkel on Sunday , with which the country will dispute the March qualifiers. That for both, assured Farah, is a motivation to face the remainder of the season.
REST
After seven weeks of competition that culminated on Sunday, the Colombian duo’s plan is to “have a break, get the body ready again, have a good two or three weeks of physical preparation, of tennis, to endure what is end of the year”.
“At the end of the year we are going to go to Europe, we still haven’t decided if we are going to play an ATP 500, which is in Kazakhstan, a bit far away, so maybe we won’t end up going. If we don’t go, we will start the tour again in Italy, in an ATP 250 in Florence, to then play another 250 in Stockholm or Belgium,” Farah said. Then they plan to play the ATP 500 in Vienna, which they won last year, and finally the “ATP 1000 in Paris”.
“Hopefully we can get to that appointment that is most precious to tennis players,” he said in reference to the Masters Cup.
FEDERER AND WILLIAMS RETIREMENT
Before the withdrawal of Serena Williams and Roger Federer’s announcement that he will leave the courts, Cabal assured that “icons are leaving” and that nobody wanted these days to come. “It had to come one day, but nobody wanted it to come soon, really. Two icons are leaving, two great athletes in the world who have been images of world sport. Icons, legends, examples are leaving and the truth is that we were very lucky having seen them,” he said.
The Colombian spared no praise to refer to two of the best tennis players in history, whom he valued “having seen everything they achieved as athletes because they mark an impressive legacy in sport.”
