None of the seven Argentine singles players located within the top 100 in the ATP ranking will play next Saturday, February 7 and Sunday, February 8 in Busanwhere the team Davis Cup captained by Javier Fran will visit South Korea for the first round of the qualifiers. They will say present, however, in the event that the national team advances in the competition and manages to reach the Finals that will be held from November 18 to 23 in Bologna. This situation opened a debate and was Federico Coria, even at the risk of breaking the relationship with some of his colleagues on the circuit, who expressed the strongest opinion on the matter.
“The AAT (Argentine Tennis Association) should issue a regulation: those who do not represent the National Team or those who say no, cannot play again for that year. I have no intention of criticizing Frana or the boys, it’s just an honest opinion,” Coria said via stream, which generated division among tennis fans.
It was known on November 23, when the draw for the qualifiers and it was learned that Argentina had to travel to Korea to play on cement hours before the start of the South American tour of tournaments on clay, which would result in many casualties. Then, those summoned were Thiago Tirante, number 103 in the world, Marco Trungelliti (130°) y Federico Gomez (190°), in addition to the double players Andrés Molteni (26°) y Guido Andreozzi (32°).
“It’s impossible, impossible. It’s not viable,” had anticipated Clarín Tomás Etcheverry, number 57 in the world, regarding the possibility of the summoned players going to Asia and after an express trip competing in the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires on the clay of Lawn Tennis.
Coria put himself in the place of Etcheverry and also of Francisco Cerúndolo (21st), the singles who gave the country hope of lifting the Silver Salad Cup again last year. And also to Horacio Zeballos, number 5 in the doubles ranking and winner of two Grand Slams in 2025. “It’s a shitty date and it’s on the hill of the ortho,” said someone who is venturing into the stream while going through the final part of his career.
However, he came out in defense of those who will travel to Asian territory. “They win in Korea and for the next series all the top players return. Everyone is going to forget about these kids,” he pointed out. And he expanded on this: “There are many players who are not going to want to go to Busan because they know that in the next series they are not going to be called up. And the truth is that they are right. Then the starting team returns.”
Then, Fede seized on a recent precedent to support his proposal and it was the one starring David Ferrer, captain of the Spanish team that decided not to call Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for last season’s Finals after the blonde from Malaga was absent in previous qualifying rounds. “As he is Spanish, we applaud Ferrer who told Fokina: ‘No, you dropped out of everyone, I won’t call you even if you are 20 in the world and we need you’“, argument.
