In the Argentinatennis encompasses much more than the two weeks of a Grand Slamthe series of Davis Cup or the juicy prizes that the ATP. Its B side is built on any ordinary court, where illusions, dreams that fell by the wayside, and stories that rarely come to light coexist.
260 kilometers from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aireson the banks of the Salado River, is located Junin. was born there Nicolás Rodríguez Esturoon April 22, 1988, within a family that loved motorsports. His father, Guillermo Serenade Rodríguezhe was a pilot and came to race in the Road Tourism in the late ’80s. Nicolás, on the other hand, chose two paths that were as different as they were challenging: motocross and tennis.
For a time he practiced both sports simultaneously, until, when he was still a child, the results with the fluorescent ball began to set his pace. Later, in his time as a youth player, Rodríguez Esturo occupied the first position in the national ranking and, at 17 years old, he took the step towards professionalism: He won his first ATP point. It was the year 2005.
“The ranking and the first points are a complex issue. Many times, the tennis players’ focus is focused there and that is usually limiting. In La Paz, Bolivia, I played against the 380th in the ranking and it was a very tough match that I won after four hours. That point meant a lot to me then: I felt like I was already inside something bigger.cried with emotion. But then it became something without much meaning, not because of the arrival of other points, but because I felt that I had to take it as something normal to be able to think about greater objectives,” he recalls in a conversation with Infobae.
2012, however, marked a turning point in Nicolás’s life. What for weeks had been a bodily discomfort and the feeling that something was not right, finally revealed itself. At 24 years oldin the middle of preseason and about to embark on a tour of Europe, received devastating news. The discomfort had become unbearable and, after a series of studies, the diagnosis finally appeared: multiple sclerosis.
“I started with very bad symptoms. I was electrified all day and extremely fatigued. I felt like voltage was being passed on to me. Little by little I also began to lose vision in one eye and I could no longer focus on the ball. He was wrong, simple as that. Imagine what that means for a tennis player,” he says.
And he goes deeper: “It’s a blow that you don’t understand, that you can’t believe. I asked myself all the time: why me? When the diagnosis came, I underwent an outpatient treatment that destroyed me physically: I lost a lot of weight, my muscles became loose and I felt like I was living in a body I didn’t recognize. By then, I had already stopped playing”.
Even though the life he had built suddenly vanished, Nicolás Rodríguez Esturo found a purpose: discover what was beyond tennis. “From one day to the next, I knew my life had changed forever.”and that is not easy to digest. It was catastrophic, but it didn’t take me long to adapt. I began to enjoy family, friends, projects, traveling in tourist mode.”
To replace the sport that had been, until then, his reason for being, Nicolás turned to his other passions: art, nature and a healthy lifestyle. Together with his partner, Martinamoved to a small coastal town, Green Sandsin the match of Loberiaal south of the province of Buenos Aires. “There we began to build our house with our own hands, living in a tent in the middle of nature, without neighbors nearby. It was an incredible experience, of a lot of personal growth for both of us,” he says.
In that environment, he became a fan of surfing and deepened his bond with music, which he shares on his social channel. YouTube. There, and for whoever wants to listen, Nicolás Rodríguez Esturo is Nico Rodes.
Although he had stayed away from tennis for more than a decade, in 2024 he felt a tingling sensation again that, over time, turned into a desire to play again. “It started like a seed that sprouts very little by little. I got hooked on watching games again and it also made me want to be on the move. That’s when we started playing with my brother Felipe. The truth is that every game or training session we did was a beautiful moment. After I started playing more often, I asked myself: Why not compete again? Yes, I am no longer the one who gets stressed on a tennis court. Now I can enjoy”.
Thus, with short but firm steps, Rodríguez Esturo returned to play some tournaments. Although multiple sclerosis has no cure, there are conditions where patients can lead a normal or almost normal life, even years after diagnosis.
“I believe that, just as we get sick, we also have the ability to heal. I chose to believe. Day by day I believed I was healing. I learned to meditate, to eat healthy,” notes Nicolás, and adds: “There is a point where tennis and life connect: if you believe you are going to win, you are already taking steps to make that happen. Now, if you think everything is going to be difficult, get ready, because that’s how it will be.”
On November 30, Rodríguez Esturo reached the final of the fifteenth stage of the professional circuit of the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) in it Mariano Moreno Club and Library. He began his participation from qualy and was chaining triumphs until reaching the definition, where he fell to Pablo Mikito Maccarone.
“I enjoyed it like never before. When each game ended, a lot of emotions and memories came flooding back. Before playing the tournament I felt that I was going to do well,” he says, and warns that he wants to go for more: “I really want to prepare well for next year. I want to see where I can go. Today I only think about enjoying.”
