Tennis Focus: Turning Passion Into Performance

the season ATP 2025 was a year of great growth for several Argentine tennis players. One of those who took a great leap in quality and managed to establish himself in the most important circuit of professional tennis was Camilo Ugo Carabelli. The 26-year-old from Buenos Aires established himself in the elite thanks to good performances that allowed him to play in his first semifinals at that level, sneak into the top 50 in the world ranking and finish last year as the third player. albiceleste best located, on the 49th step.

Reviewing his path, it would seem that the consecration in the Rosario Challengerhis third tournament of 2025, was the starting point of his evolution. However, for him, there was no clic nor a specific result that has generated an important change.

“It was the best year of my career, for now. I am very happy because the results were coming, but there was nothing special. It was a string of good tournaments and with that I grew, I matured and played other types of competitions. Everything was the consequence of the work of many years. I trained a lot for this. For several seasons I have been working quite well,” he said in a conversation with Clarion during his time in the first edition of Road to Australiathe exhibition tournament that was played on a hard court built especially for the occasion in the main stadium of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis and which served as preparation for the first Grand Slam in 2026.

“There was also a bit of maturity, seeing things differently. Understanding that tennis is a job for me, that you have to have discipline. That helped me a lot. It was very difficult for me to travel, to leave my things here in Buenos Aires. I have quite a social life so I like to be at home. Thinking about tennis as a job made me able to leave several things aside without suffering so much, being more focused, being more professional and understanding that the path is that way,” he reflected.

-Did that new perspective help you to improve a little that love-hate relationship that you said a while ago that you have with tennis?

-There is always that love-hate relationship. I think 90 percent of players are going to tell you the same thing; Anyone who doesn’t tell you is lying to you. Because tennis is very difficult. We play every week and almost every week we lose, we fail (in quotes). It is a very hard sport, very individual, we are quite alone on the court, it is a lot of mental work. Plus it brings out a lot of things for you. And yes, seeing it as a job helped me take all that in a different way. Today, being older, I don’t regret having put aside everything I left behind to be here.

-You say that tennis is a lot of mental work. How do you approach that part of the preparation?

-I work a lot with the psychologist, I also have a mental coach, like most players. Because I feel that it helps me a lot to release the things that I have inside, to talk to a person who gives me their point of view.

-In strictly tennis terms, where did you see the greatest growth?

-I started to be a little more offensive. The level of the circuit is asking for it and the players you face are leading you to be more offensive. The same with the serve, which I felt I had to improve and I did. Beyond work, the level of tournaments and rivals also improved for me.

Ugo Carabelli started 2025 at 95th place in the ranking, but had fallen to 110th the week before winning the Rosario Challenger. After that celebration, he was one of the great protagonists of the South American clay court tour, in which he played in the first semifinals. ATP of his career in Rio de Janeiroafter getting into the box from the qualyand repeated result in Santiago de Chile.

In March, he surprised by reaching the third round of the Masters 1000 de Miamiafter passing the previous phase. In the main draw, victories were scored against the Americans Brandon Holt y Alex Michelsen (at that time 33rd) and said goodbye when he fell before Novak Djokovic. In July, he signed consecutive semi-finals in Enough (lost with Jesper de Jong) y Umag (con Luciano Darderi) and broke the barrier of the top 50. And although later, with some physical problems, he did not win two games in a row again, he closed the year with a good performance in the Paris Masters 1000in which he defeated Tomas Etcheverry in the debut and made him sweat in the second round to Alexander Zverevnumber three in the world, who needed three sets and more than two and a half hours to overcome it. The German praised him in the greeting on the network: “You’re playing amazing, keep your head up. You’ll be playing amazing next year.”

In addition, he had the pleasure of playing all four Grand Slams for the first time in his career and reached his best position in the rankings in mid-August, when he appeared 43rd.

“It was a super positive year, I learned a lot playing my first big tournaments. I found many new things, another level of tennis, another level of head, mentally. I learned a lot, I met many new tournaments and many new people too. A season of a lot of experience and a lot of learning. Hopefully next year will be better,” he summarized.

“Some things I achieved or experienced, I expected. The top 50 was a goal we had at the beginning of the year, we saw it as possible because we had finished top 100 at the end of last year. And it happened quite quickly,” he said.

“Obviously playing with Aile and twice with Zverev (NdR: The German beat him easily in Rome) is very good. Despite the defeats, you learn a lot and take away many good things. One dreams of being at this level. You see the tournaments on TV and to be playing them today and with the best in the world, is a very great satisfaction,” he continued.

Projecting 2026, the Sorcerer He wants to cross off two “pending things” from his list: win his first title ATP and debut in the Davis Cup. But when asked if he would dare to travel in February to South Korea for the series of Qualifiers which will close the day before the start of the Argentina Open 2026which would mean risking not competing or not performing in the only tournament they can play at home, smiled and asked: “Scratch that question, for now”.

And thinking again about this new season, which will start at the ATP 250 in Brisbane next week, he closed: “I aim to continue growing and stay mentally stable, enjoying the tournaments. One goal would be to get into the top 30. But above all, survive the circuit.”