How the visit of Alcaraz, the world number one, to play the Buenos Aires tournament came to fruition

Melbourne is, at this time and until Sunday, January 29, the world capital of tennis. However, while the Australian Openthe first big of the season, the rest of the tour is preparing for what will arrive shortly. The South American stage on brick dustfrom the first days of February, will have an exceptional presence: the Spanish Carlos Alcarazthe youngest number 1 in history (an achievement he obtained last September, at the age of 19, when he won the US Open), will visit the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires for the first time, starting on February 13.

The Murcian is expected to arrive in our country on Friday the 10th at night or on Saturday the 11th in the morning, a day in which the ATP classification of Buenos Aires will begin on the courts of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. Carlitos will not travel with his coach Juan Carlos “Mosquito” Ferrero, who won the BALTC tournament in 2010. Alcaraz, who will lose the top of the ranking if Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas win the trophy in Australia, will arrive in Argentina with other members from his team and with some relatives, who are interested in getting to know South America (after Buenos Aires, the tennis player will travel to Rio to compete in the ATP 500). He will also be accompanied by his manager, Albert Molina, a frequent visitor to Buenos Aires when he worked as an agent for David Ferrer and Nicolás Almagro.

Alcaraz, who returned to training on a tennis court in the last hours (as he announced on his social networks), will be one of the four advanced players in Buenos Aires and will debut directly in the round of 8, on Wednesday or Thursday for the night (probably the first of two days). “When he arrives we will see how he is and when he plays; he is not defined yet. He did not make particular requests, nothing special; It’s very simple. We will put more security on him and he will have priority in transportation. But it’s not like we put up a shield around it. He is a boy who likes to be in the club, spending several hours there. It is not that he goes just to play, ”explained Martín Jaite, director of the Argentina Open. And he added, a few days before the 23rd edition of the tournament: “Alcaraz’s presence was a surprise for us. Sometimes you have to be a little lucky. Although we came very well with the painting, he gives it another shine ”.

Of the 22 titles awarded by the ATP in Buenos Aires, nine were with the Spanish flag: Carlos Moya (2003 and 2006), Tommy Robredo (2009), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2010), Nicolás Almagro (2011), David Ferrer (2012, 2013 and 2014) and Rafael Nadal (2015). The last Argentine winner was Diego Schwartzman, in 2021.

It happens that Alcaraz had not planned to play in Buenos Aires, but a muscle injury in his right leg altered his schedule, deprived him of the Australian cement and decided to start the season on a more “friendly” surface for the period after physical discomfort. Jaite said that in the middle of last year he had already communicated to Molina his desire to have Carlitos in the BALTC, but at that time the chance was not in the plans. Of course, in sport everything can change and that’s how it happened this time: a few days ago, given the new scenario due to the loss of Australia, the Spaniard’s agent contacted Jaite and told him that now there were chances to visit Buenos Aires.

Uruguayan Martín Hughes, executive director of Tennium, the firm that owns the Buenos Aires ATP, said that he was resting on the beach when he heard the news about Alcaraz. He returned to his deck chair after diving into the sea and saw that he had six missed calls from Jaite. After the impact of the opportunity, they began to work on the subject. Although, according to Hughes, they no longer had enough budget to disburse the guarantee that a player of the status of Alcaraz receives, they understood that they could not lose the possibility of having the young prodigy in Buenos Aires and they made the expense. “We couldn’t miss the chance to have number one, we didn’t do so many accounts, we had to move on. The card was at the limit, is, but it was armed. We could make the tournament cheaper, earning more money, but it is an investment that is useful for the future; a good seed planted,” Hughes celebrated.

After the injury, Alcaraz returned to training

The announcement about Alcaraz’s visit boosted ticket salesOf course: the day on Friday night (quarterfinals), like those on Saturday (semifinals) and Sunday (final), are already sold out. Unlike other times, the possibility of placing a tubular grandstand for a thousand people is not taken into account, since that physical place is occupied with tents for sponsors, the public and players. “The tournament, due to the infrastructure it has, is made for around five thousand people and the venue has to be comfortable for that number of people. There must be enough bathrooms, emergency exits… It is true that the tubular was once made, but in a different time, when our corporate business was smaller. Today, that is a very valuable source of income”, commented Jaite.

The tournament has a dilemma: who will benefit from the two free main draw invitations. “There are players like (Guido) Pella and (Federico) Delbonis, who played every year, this time they didn’t enter the draw and there is gratitude to them. There is also the new blood, like Juanma (Cerúndolo) and (Tomás) Etcheverry, who are off the list today. There are also the players themselves Tennium, which are part of the business and the strategy of the company. We are working on it, but there is no confirmation yet. We are not clear about it”, pointed out the tournament director.

Diego Schwartzman, Francisco Cerúndolo, Sebastián Báez and Pedro Cachin will be the best Argentines represented at the main draw. There will also appear the Spanish Albert Ramos Viñolas, the Italian Fabio Fognini and the creative but irascible French left-handed Corentin Moutet.

The South American tour on brick dust (vital for players in the region) will begin in the Cordoba Open, since February 6. Then it will continue in Buenos Aires, will extend through Rio de Janeiro (2/20) and end in Santiago de Chile, from February 27 to March 5.

A leap towards the ATP 500 category

Alcaraz’s visit, as well as those of the British Cameron Norrie (12th), the Italian Lorenzo Musetti (19th) and the Austrian Dominic Thiem (currently 98th, the 2020 US Open champion received an invitation), will take place in a context of high expectation for the Buenos Aires event since it aspires for the ATP to finally approve your upgrade for category 500, as has -for example- the tournament in Rio de Janeiro. Of course, the action is not so simple, since in addition to multiplying the prize money of the tournament, the Argentina Open must grow in infrastructure and, although the possibilities of materializing it in the Palermo club are given, it requires different development plans in conjunction with the City Government, the institution that has just turned 130 years old and the owners of the contest.

“The tournament is a planted oak, nobody turns it over. The tournament has been in Buenos Aires for many years,” said Hughes, speaking on behalf of the Barcelona-based company that manages other tournaments such as those in Antwerp (Belgium) and Barcelona. “Our company is ready for the tournament to be an ATP 500,” said the executive of Tennium-. There is a monetary question, because you have to buy those 250 more. The ATP is in the process of evaluating and seeing what scenarios there are. We understand that people from the ATP will come in February to analyze the tournament. Their decision was delayed, we thought that we would be about to achieve it, but in these months it will be defined. We have the support of the players, the government… optimism is very high. Two 500 category tournaments close together would be important to strengthen the region”.