In the Cerúndolo house, sport was always breathed. Francisco Cerúndolo, who is turning 25, and his brother Juan Manuel, 21, started playing tennis from a young age and never put down the racket again. While his sister María Constanza, 23, is dedicated to field hockey.
Far from being a hobby, the three managed to become professionals: Francisco Cerúndolo is the best Argentine tennis player at the moment, ranked 22nd in the ATP ranking, Juan Manuel is in 107th position and María Constanza plays as a midfielder in Belgrano. Athletic Club, won the gold medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games with Las Leoncitas and was a reserve for Las Leonas at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Los Cerúndolo, a family that breathes sport. Photo: Instagram @francerundolo
His parents had a lot to do with his sporting inclination. His father, Alejandro Cerúndolo, was a professional tennis player (he was among the best 310 in the world in 1982) and trained several tennis players, such as Mercedes Paz, José Acasuso and even Diego Schwartzman when he was a boy.
On the other hand, his mother, María Luz, was also a professional tennis player, although for a short time because she prioritized her university education and graduated as a psychologist at the UBA.
Also read: 30 years after the last Copa América that Argentina won before the Scaloneta: what happened to those players
Therefore, it is not surprising that family talks revolve around sports. This is how Francisco told it in dialogue with La Nación: “It’s good because we are always talking about sports and it empowers us. New things are learned and others are perfected. Sometimes, obviously, you don’t want to know anything else because you’re exhausted or you want to talk about something other than tennis. But we have the same vocabulary, we don’t have to explain things”.
Francisco and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, united by tennis
The birth of Juan Manuel was marked by tennis. “I was about to give birth, Toto [su marido] He was the coach of Martin Vasallo Argüello and we had gone to see a game in which he was playing against David Nalbandian. At one point things didn’t give for more and we went straight to the clinic. Toto was dressed in tennis, covered in brick dust. And that’s how Juan Manuel was born in a tennis context, ”said his mother, María Luz.
Francisco and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, brothers united by tennis. Photo: Instagram @juanmacerundolo
Although Francisco is now the one with the best results on the circuit, during his childhood everything seemed to indicate that his brother was going to be the best in the family. “I always went to school and trained much fewer hours than everyone else… and there my rivals took advantage of me at 14, 15 years old. It was bad,” he recalled.
And he continued: “We always walked the path together, each one in his category, but he won and I lost, and I always left before the tournaments. He always wanted to do everything perfectly since he was little and I learned many things, from eating to how to train better… it was difficult for me as a child, I was quite lazy and because of him I learned to behave, which I see today every day day”.
Read also: Goal against and drug bets: the day Escobar was killed after Colombia’s elimination from the 94 World Cup
Along the same lines, the first of the two to win an ATP title was Juan Manuel, who won the 2021 Córdoba Open. However, injuries and low performance relegated him just as his brother made a great leap in quality, achieving important victories before top 10 tennis players such as Casper Ruud, in the Bastad Tournament that he would later win, and Andrey Rublev, in the ATP 500 in Hamburg.
2023-08-13 20:30:47
#Francisco #Cerúndolo #turns #sports #family #Argentine #tennis #player #moment
