*The question that confused Guillermo Barros Schelotto
An environment of surprise and laughter was experienced during the press conference after the tie between Independiente and Vélez Sarsfield when the coach The Fort Guillermo Barros Schelotto was consulted, unexpectedly, about the imminent end of the Australian Open between Carlos Alcaraz y Novak Djokovic that they played this Sunday and that ended with the Spaniard’s victory in four sets against the tennis legend.
The Argentine coach, known for his extensive career in football, was encouraged to predict the outcome of the tournament and opted for the young Spaniard. The conference was focused on the development of the duel between Rojo de Avellaneda and his team when the comparison between football and tennis arose, and Barros Schelotto had to answer if he preferred his team to look like Alcaraz or Djokovic.
Taken by surprise, the technician responded with sincerity and a relaxed tone. “The truth is I’m not a tennis specialist, I don’t know. Alcaraz is the Spanish one, right?”he said between laughs and generated a funny reaction in the room. Shortly after, he stated his preference for the young Spaniard: “I think Alcaraz is going to win, ha. Because Djokovic has already won a lot”.
Immediately afterwards, the former Boca Juniors coach explained his reasoning by highlighting the energy of youth that the current world number 1 has on the ATP circuit, which he linked to his own recent decisions on the team: “I’m going for Alcaraz. Today I bet on Alex (Verón) in the last 20 minutes and we almost won, so I bet on youth”.
The Argentine coach’s intuition was in tune with what would happen later at Melbourne Park. The 22-year-old tennis player and world number one for 56 weeks beat Novak Djokovic with sets of 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 y 7-5 in the final played in the Rod Laver Arena.
The match lasted three hours and, with this victory, the Spaniard added the 25th title of his career and established himself as the youngest tennis player to complete the Career Grand Slam in the Open Era. Alcaraz, who already had in his record the achievement of two victories in the US Open, Wimbledon y Roland Garros In previous seasons, he completed a remarkable run at the Australian Open, leaving out Adam Walton, Yannick Hanfmann, Corentin Moutet, Tommy Paul, Alex de Minaur and Alexander Zverev before reaching the final.
In the decisive match against Djokovic, the start was complicated, as the Serbian dominated the first set. However, the Spaniard came back and, with a solid serve and precision, managed to turn history around. The public witnessed a historic event: Alcaraz, at 22 years and 258 days old, surpassed the record of Don Budgebecoming the youngest to win the four major titles. Only five other players have reached this milestone in the Open Era: Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and his own Djokovic.
Regarding the duel that Independiente and Vélez played for the third date of Group A of the 2026 Apertura Tournament, it had the peculiarity that one player was the author of the two goals: the Vélez defender John Gordon He put his team ahead and, shortly after, scored against the home team.
