Marcelo Rios He is considered the best Chilean tennis player in all of history, since he managed to lead his country to the top in one of the most competitive sports of all. However, due to his particular personality, El Chino remained in the memory of many due to his famous phrases. Without mincing words and without fear of consequences, the athlete from Santiago declared what he wanted and when he wanted. In that sense, one of his most remembered phrases produced the hatred of all of Wimbledon.
Marcelo Rios He reached the top of the ATP ranking without the need to lift any Grand Slam. Of all surfaces, the Chilean tennis player suffered from playing on grass courts as in the historic competition in England, Wimbledon. In one of his presentations in the oldest tournament in tennis, El Chino got tired of the questions about his poor performance on that surface and launched his famous phrase “grass is for cows.”
“This comes out because I played at Wimbledon, we all know it’s grass, and I had a terrible time. I fell, I lost games I shouldn’t have lost, and at a press conference I was asked why my results weren’t so good on grass and I thought that grass was for the cows. It was my reaction because it was burdening me to go, England was burdening me and, for me, the grass is not for playing tennis. Tennis is played the way we grew up here, on clay; Soccer is played on grass, golf is played on grass, but not tennis.”explained Marcelo Rios years later.
Fuente: (RipleyChile)
His results at Wimbledon
The Lefty’s anger with the Grand Slam that takes place in London led him to despise the surface where great tennis players could establish themselves. However, the Chilean did not suffer the same fate as other colleagues. Ríos participated three times in Wimbledon and only in 1997 did he advance in the draw. The other two times he went in the first round.
