He comes from winning the Pro Tour in the Itapúa club, a tournament that takes place in Posadas, where he beat missionary Thiago Messa in the final, in a very tight 2-6, 7-6 and 7-6. In the remainder of the year he will compete in four more tournaments and His objective is to add as many points as possible in order to be better positioned in the ATP Ranking.
Although this year he played 8 tournaments professionally, in the period from January to July he played only one, so the greatest wear and tear was made from August to this part, where he competed in six different tournaments. He had to travel and go through all kinds of places: from competing in Polvorines, Province of Buenos Aires, passing through Santa Fe, to Córdoba and Misiones.
In addition, before the end of the year the main challenge comes: playing the Pre-Qualy Argentina Open 2022 which starts on December 19. The one who wins the Pre-Qualy has the ticket guaranteed for the Argentina Open 2023.
“I remember that match, I lost the first set 6-2 but I had already had some good feelings and there I went looking for it with everything. I didn’t know if I was going to win or lose the match, but I was being very aware that I was playing the best tennis of my life”, says Damian Frutos, referring to the final played in the Itapúa Pro Tour in Misiones.
“I was able to win it having saved some match points and It was like a kind of click of my whole lifeBecause I knew that one day I would be able to play like this, and seeing it reflected in such a high tournament gave me a lot of confidence. From there I began to do better in tournaments”, he summarizes.
In addition, he adds: “This year I learned a lot, I felt it as a year of transition for me, because beyond the results and everything, I am constantly learning these questions about how to organize myself better... and on top of that I had started with the occasional injury, outside of sports… playing soccer, and the truth is that those moments, when I broke a finger and sprained an ankle, were moments that helped me think and reaffirm my conviction that I wanted to dedicate myself to this”, he says.
The international classification depends on how he is positioned in the national ranking. The better position in the ranking, the more chances of playing different tournaments of international stature you have.
“With a lower national ranking, the doors are beginning to open for me to play internationally. I’m still waiting, to see what appears on that side, for next year’s calendar,” he says.
On the other hand, there is a curious fact, and it is that he is the best ranked in the entire Lomas de Zamora Party. “From that place I tell you that my esteem raised me a bit, because Lomas is quite large,” he highlights.
your tour
He started playing tennis at the Banfield Children’s Country Club around the age of nine, but just as one of those activities that take place at the club, since he liked to do everything from swimming to soccer. However, it was not until he was 11 years old when he managed to federate in the Under 12 Category, and from that moment, between the ages of 12 and 14, he began to play tournaments with greater continuity.
He remembers that, being in the 95 category and being born in December, he had to compete with boys of the same age but who were born in January, so there was a noticeable physical difference: “I was 13 years old and measured 1.20 At most. It took me a long time to hit the growth spurt and the truth is that it was quite frustrating because sometimes I played with guys who were 40 centimeters taller than me, and already had another degree of development and another strength. I gave it my all and put all the wave but sometimes it got very complicated”, he says.
After that stage, he continues playing but decides to dedicate himself to competing in less demanding tournaments such as those that take place in interclubs, and it is at the age of 17, during the last year of school, where he began teaching tennis.
“They allowed you to do it while you were in your last year of school. That’s where I got into the profession,” he says, and completes: “The truth is that during the last years of school I was training and competing a lot, so the school had it in background, and I took almost all the subjects, but I gave up in December and February and ended up passing”.
Despite this, before getting fully into tennis, he had begun to study Logistics Planning, where he studied until the third year, a little more than half, until he left.
On the other hand, in this month, November, he has a delivery date for the final practical work of the Master’s Degree in High Performance that he is studying, which serves to complement his studies both as a teacher and as a coach.
Grass, brick dust or cement.
“Everything that is here in Argentina and mostly on the South American tour is brick dust, although from time to time there is some cement, but the vast majority is brick dust, and I have the prospect of doing more cement training because the idea is to travel next yearand in Europe they play much more on cement”, he argues, adding: “On the one hand, what I am aiming for at a European level is to enter the interclub circuit there, there are different circuits where it is played, France, Spain, Italy , Germany”.
However, not everything is rosy: it is well known that, in general, for an athlete to be able to dedicate themselves fully to what they are passionate about, that is, to take the leap of professionalism, they must sacrifice and leave many things behind. . In an attempt to find an alternative source of income to cover the necessary costs of training, materials and tours, Damian had moments where he dedicated himself to distributing both diet products, nuts and seeds, as well as working for PSA, the water purification company.
In this regard, he remarks “Something that began to happen to me in these last tournaments, beyond enthusiasm and motivation, was that one day I would finish playing and go to the club to teach 4 hours and I had a feeling of That for my sporting performance the best thing was not to do that, but the truth is that I was well aware that in order to travel and to do well I needed and need to add income, I need to add points in the ranking and also issues at the level of the curriculum “.
In search of the Argentina Open
The Pre-Qualy of the Argentina Open is a pre-qualifying tournament that is usually held during the months of December and February in Buenos Aires, and whoever comes out champion, obtains the direct classification for the Argentina Open. The previous edition, in 2021, took place at the Lawn Tennis Club and was played between February 2 and 6. The current edition will have a start date for December 19.
“If I win the prequalification there I would be playing the Qualy of the Argentina Open in February.. and there it is already a much higher ATP level. In those tournaments, It is normalfor instance, let guys come who are ranked 400 in ATP.. that to give you an idea in ATP there are more or less 1800, 1900 players. It would be a very high level,” he highlights.
He also adds: “This comes from a road traveled. Little by little I grew and improved, and I began to beat guys with a lower ranking more often. In that sense it will be good to be able to face people of a better level and see what feelings I am having. So I hope they follow the results”.
About the end, Damian gives us an infidelity: “The day before I played in the final of the tournament, Juan Ignacio was born, who is my first nephew, and I was excited about that, and since he was born the day before, I said laughing: that’s it, tomorrow I win the cup,” and concludes: “Everything was coming very well directed and aligned, it could not fail.
